


Agents of SHIELD Season 8

by EmilyJaneDancer



Series: The Return [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Agents of SHIELD Season 8, F/M, Quake spin-off, StaticQuake, dousy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 88
Words: 480,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26360197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyJaneDancer/pseuds/EmilyJaneDancer
Summary: Set after the events of "What We're Fighting For", this story explores the adventures of Daisy, Sousa and Kora when a person from Daisy's past arrives on the Zephyr Three with an urgent request from Director Deke Shaw from the alternate timeline. Daisy, Sousa and Kora get sucked back into the timeline that Sousa and Kora came from, only to discover that Deke's S.H.I.E.L.D. is drastically different from the one that they left, albeit with many familiar faces, both loved and loathed ones.Trailer 1 Link- [Episodes 1-4]Trailer 2 Link- [Episodes 5-6]Trailer 3 Link- [Episodes 7-8]Trailer 4 Link- [Episodes 9-11]Scenes Playlist- [Episodes 10, 12, 15-16, 18, 20 and 22 Scenes]
Relationships: Kara Lynn Palamas/Grant Ward, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Series: The Return [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1915504
Comments: 898
Kudos: 239





	1. Episode 1: Before, After - Chapter 1

**Episode 1: Before, After**

**Chapter 1**

Daisy couldn’t help smiling as she started at the swirling colours of the nebula that were spread in front of Zephyr Three. Her gaze drifted from her sister, Kora, to her boyfriend, Sousa. A year ago, she would never have thought that she would be here, with her family. After losing Jiaying to Hydra, Cal to the Tahiti program, Lincoln to Hive and then Coulson after the whole “Destroyer of Worlds” debacle, she had never thought that she would be here right now, with people who cared about her. People beyond the team that was. Her old team.

“How’s the team?” Kora asked her, glancing up at her sister. While they definitely had gotten past the whole “let’s kill each other” program, Kora and the others had never really bonded. If they ever hung out together again, Daisy was confident that they would, but she wasn’t sure it would ever happen. 

Although, admittedly, Daisy wasn’t sure how much she believed Enoch’s statement of their previous mission being their last one as a team. Fitz had given his whole spiel about spacetime and then, two years later, they had changed the timeline. And then changed it again about a year after that. Yep. Even though Enoch had seen the future, she didn’t believe that it was set in stone. Not after her experiences with time. 

“They’re good,” Daisy said, smiling. “I just wish we could see each other more than once a year though. Oh, and Alya is thriving...so maybe in like 20 years from now, we’ll get Deke 2.0?”

Kora snickered and Sousa cracked a smile. 

“Something tells me that Fitz would not be amused to hear you say that,” Kora replied and Daisy laughed. 

“If anyone can figure out a way to get him back it would be Fitz,” Sousa said. “He figured out time-travel to give Alya a normal life; he would be able to figure out a way to bring Deke back. Right?”

Daisy fiddled with her fingers. “Maybe. I’m no engineer, but the whole point of leaving Deke was to tether the two timelines together. Which would mean that not anyone could be the tether. It would have be someone from the original timeline...plus the Chronicoms are gone. I don’t think we’ll see the original Deke back any time soon.”

Just as Daisy spoke, a blinding flash of light filled Zephyr Three. Kora yelped, Daisy threw up both hands in front of her face and Sousa swung around, moving protectively in front of the sisters. 

As the light faded, Daisy squinted at the figure in the centre of the Zephyr. It was a man, wearing a helmet like Fitz’s when he had time-travelled; Daisy’s first thought was that it was Fitz. But that made zero sense whatsoever since he was obviously with Simmons. 

“Deke?” she spluttered, her brain going into overdrive. Had they somehow made him appear by simply talking about him? Crazier things _had_ happened.

The man pulled off his helmet, tucking it under one arm and Daisy’s heart stopped in her throat. There was no way. Absolutely no way she could be seeing whom she thought she was seeing. 

The man turned and saw the three of them staring at him. He raised both hands in the universal “I surrender” gesture and said, “Hi. Are you guys the Secret Warriors initiative? We need your help.”

Daisy felt faint. There was no way. Of course, she had seen Sarge aka Coulson’s lookalike, seen May be resurrected by Simmon’s healing pod and saved the other Fitz with Simmons. She’d even seen the Flint version be produced from the Monoliths. Not to mention the ruddy Framework which had brought back Ward, Trip and Hope from the dead, even if they were pixels of data on a computer. But in all her experiences, she had never seen this man before, no matter how much she had wanted to. In the last five years, she had become resigned to never seeing him again. And now….

“Lincoln?” she whispered, all the blood draining out of her face.

Lincoln turned to look at her. His eyes widened all of a sudden. 

“It’s you,” he said. “You must be...Daisy? Daisy Johnson?”

Daisy was vaguely aware of Sousa holding her up. Her legs felt like they were about to give out beneath her; if he hadn’t been there, she might have cracked her head open on the floor.

“You...you remember me?” she stammered, emotions surging through her like a whirlwind; if May had been there, she would probably have puked from the bucketful of emotions that Daisy was currently experiencing.

“Uh, well, kinda,” Lincoln said, scratching his head. “It’s a little complicated. You’re probably going to think I’m crazy, but I mean, I just appeared out of thin air, so you definitely think I’m crazy.”

Sousa couldn’t help but smile, despite his roving gaze between Daisy and Lincoln. “We’ve all seen worse, trust me.”

“Uh, okay,” Lincoln said. “I’ve seen you before...in visions. Visions of the future. Two Inhumans showed me. Raina and Charles Hinton. They showed me your face. You’re from the director’s timeline, right? This is where I am, right? The timeline that the director came from?”

“Who’s the director?” Daisy asked, trying to get a grasp on her footing. She focused on Lincoln. Lincoln who could, quite possibly, be real. And alive. Standing in front of her.

“Director Deke Shaw,” Lincoln said. “You do know him, right? And I am in the right timeline?”

“Yes,” Daisy said, pulling herself together. “Oh my God. Deke...oh my God. Deke rescued you? From the car crash?”

It was Lincoln’s turn to go pale. “How did you know?”

“Oh my God,” Daisy said; Kora stood up and Sousa helped her sit on the seat that Kora had just vacated. “Oh my God. Deke saved you. Deke saved you. Oh my God.”

Kora raised her eyebrows. “That man wasn’t kidding when he said he only wanted you to be happy.” 

Daisy pressed her fingertips into her forehead. “And Deke sent you to our timeline? Oh my God, I’m going to kill him.”

Sousa looked down at her and then back at Lincoln. His forehead creased into lines that Daisy did not have time to worry about. She glanced up at Kora, the only person on the plane who knew the turmoil going through her insides. Kora, who had seen the timestream and knew how much Lincoln meant to her. Kora, who had lived with them for the last year and also knew how much Sousa meant to her. Kora opened her mouth to speak, but Lincoln beat her to the punch.

“Listen, I don’t know what your beef with Deke is, but I need your help,” he said anxiously. “I’m really sorry to come messing up your life; I don’t know what either of us did, but Deke said that in an emergency, we could count on you guys. You guys are our Secret Warriors. The team’s been taken - kidnapped - and there is no one else I can turn to. The only other person who wasn’t kidnapped with the rest of the team has become the tether in the timeline. If you guys don’t want to help, I need to find her and get back.”

Daisy’s head snapped up. “I’m...I’m alive in your timeline?”

“What?” Lincoln’s face mirrored the confusion on Daisy’s.

Kora spoke up. “Not you, Daisy. I think...Bobbi Morse?”

Lincoln stared at Kora. “How did you know?”

Kora shook her head. “I’ve seen the timelines. It was one of the possibilities. Deke sent you and Bobbi to find-”

“James,” Daisy interrupted. “If you’ve already met Charles Hinton, you’ve already dealt with spacetime and deaths and Deke sent you and Bobbi to find James. Which means Giyera took over the plane with the rest of the team in it?”

“You both can see the future?” Lincoln asked. 

“No,” Daisy said, standing up. “I’ve lived it. In this timeline. Kora has seen the timestream. But if we’re your Secret Warriors….” She stopped talking as she realized the events that had already been set in motion. Events that she had failed to stop the first time, but was definitely not going to fail this time around. “Someone on our team is going to die.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Lincoln stared at her. “How did you know? I didn’t tell anyone what Charles showed me.”

Daisy gasped, leaping to her feet and rushing over to him. She hadn’t been this spontaneous in years; in fact, since she’d joined S.H.I.E.L.D and become a proper agent, she had had much better control over her recklessness. But today, she felt like she had when Lincoln had blasted her out of the Quinjet to save her from Hive, distraught, panicking, frantic, desperate. She grabbed the front of his fancy time-travelling suit with both hands and frantically asked, “Charles showed you that vision? He showed _you_ that vision?”

Lincoln frowned. “That’s what I said…,” he said slowly, a little wary and confused about the urgency in her voice.

Daisy pulled back, letting go of his suit and turning to Kora. “Kora...that means he’s me,” she whispered. “He’s me in this other timeline, right?”

As Daisy spoke, she realized how stupid that sounded, but thankfully Kora understood what she was saying. The men however, did not and exchanged a confused look. 

“Uh, Daisy, are you alright?” Sousa began, but Daisy was focused on Kora. Kora would understand. Kora had seen the timeline. Kora could tell them who was about to die and how to prevent it.

“I...I think so,” Kora began, her voice a little shaky. “It sounds like it, Daisy, but….”

Daisy turned back to Lincoln. “Lincoln, did Charles show you a vision of someone on the team with a cross necklace blowing up in the Quinjet in space?”

Lincoln looked staggered, but he nodded, confusion and anxiety written all over his face. “I don’t know how you know that, but if the director was messing with time-travel, I guess it makes sense that you would know what I saw.”

Daisy rounded on Kora again. “Please tell me that Lincoln is me in this other timeline,” she said. “You’ve seen the timestream! You’ve seen the future! Please tell me that I-,” her voice caught and the words that she wanted to say couldn’t come out. Not in front of Lincoln, who barely remembered/knew her. Not in front of Sousa, who knew that something was going down, but wasn’t sure what. Not after seeing Lincoln again after all these years. She couldn’t say the words: won’t lose him again. She couldn’t have this chance to say goodbye and lose him again. Not like with Jiaying. 

This time, she was going to change the future. Fitz had been wrong about spacetime. She knew that after the events of Deke’s future; she knew that after their whole debacle with the Chronicoms. This time, Lincoln was _not_ going to die. 

But that didn’t mean that she wanted Sousa or Kora to die either. It was a damn Sophie’s Choice. Daisy couldn’t pick a single one of them to die. She didn’t _want_ to pick a single one of them to die! She couldn’t live with herself if she let Lincoln die for her again. But she couldn’t live with herself if she let Sousa or Kora die for her either. As for Lincoln...would he be dying for her if he didn’t know who she was? Regardless of whether he remembered her or not, she didn’t want him to die. She couldn’t let him die. 

Her gaze flitted to Sousa. She couldn’t lose him. Yes, Lincoln had been her first love, but she loved Sousa now. Was it possible to love both of them at the same time? Yes, it surely was - that was a common movie trope - but in real life, usually picking one did not mean losing the other to death! 

What was the alternative? Losing Kora? Daisy balked at the very idea. Kora was her family. She loved Kora as much as she loved Sousa and Lincoln, just in another way. Kora had saved her life more than once in the last year; their bond had moved beyond just blood. Daisy couldn’t just let Kora become the sacrificial lamb. 

“I don’t know, Daisy,” Kora said. “I’ve seen the timestream, yes, but there are so many possible futures. The only thing that is set in stone is the past of the timeline that Lincoln came from. Which is the timeline that Sousa and I came from. I don’t know how the future goes from here because it’s always changing.”

She paused, seeing the desperation on Daisy’s face. When she spoke, she chose her words carefully, trying not to alert Lincoln or Sousa to the complexity of Daisy’s emotions at the moment. Although Kora could be blunt and brutally honest, she knew that alerting Lincoln and Sousa to the enormity of the situation at the moment was not what anyone wanted or needed. 

“Daisy...what I can tell you is that there are versions of the timeline where Lincoln lives,” she said finally. “But there are also versions when he’s the one in the Quinjet. There are versions where any of us is the one in that Quinjet.”

Daisy felt like throwing up. So there was still a 25% chance of any of them dying.

“Is there a version where no one dies?” Daisy asked. 

Kora squinted, thinking. “Maybe…” she said slowly, her gaze moving from Daisy to Lincoln to Sousa thoughtfully. “But not in the way that you’re thinking. It-”

A loud beeping sound started pinging from a metal contraption on Lincoln’s wrist, interrupting Kora’s train of thought. All of them stared at it; Lincoln grimaced and pushed a button to stop the sound.

“Guys, I’m sorry to have to rush you,” he said, looking up and meeting all of their eyes in turn. “But we only have one minute before I’m going to jump back to my timeline. I know I’m putting you guys in an impossible situation, but are you going to come with me?” He paused. “Please? Our team really needs your help.”

“I’m in,” Daisy said immediately and then glanced guiltily at Kora and Sousa. Poor Sousa. He had no idea what was going on, but, like he always did, was taking it remarkably well. But she knew that even though his face wasn’t showing his freak-out, he was on the inside. “You guys don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” she added, knowing even as she spoke that both of them were going to agree to go.

Both Kora and Sousa spoke up at the same time. 

“Are you kidding?” Kora asked. “I’ve seen this timeline’s past and I know a lot of the variations in the future. I’m a better asset for Lincoln than you are.”

“I’m in,” Sousa said immediately. “Whatever you need me to do.”

Daisy glanced at him and her heart swelled. This moment reminded her a lot of when she had been stuck in the time loop; Sousa had had no idea what was going on, but had been willing to help her every time. Now, he still had no idea what was going on, had the vaguest idea that Lincoln meant a lot to her, and was still willing to do whatever she needed to help her. She didn’t deserve him. Especially since she had no idea what her own emotions were doing right now. 

All three of them turned back to Lincoln. 

“What do you need us to do?” Daisy asked. 

Lincoln held up his right arm, which was fitted with another fancy contraption. “This device takes us back to my timeline. I have no idea how it works; the director made it, but he told me that to be safe, we need to touch each other for it to bring us all there. Otherwise, some people might be left behind.”

Kora raised her eyebrows. “Great. Not awkward at all.”

Okay. Daisy took it back. Kora knew to sometimes pull her words, but apparently, she only had a filter for the bigger issues. Kora might be the greatest asset when it came to the timestream, but she was also the greatest pain-in-the-butt when it came to stirring the awkward and romantic pot.

Daisy elbowed Kora as she approached Lincoln. “Uh, do you mind?” she asked awkwardly, holding out her hand. 

Lincoln took her hand and Daisy was hit with a rush of old memories. Them holding hands in the Quinjet after talking to James, kissing on the base, mock-sparring in the gym, even arguing about the damn vaccine. Oh, this was not good.

Sousa took her other hand, jarring Daisy back to reality. Good. An anchor. Something to remind her that it had been five years since she’d been with Lincoln. Talking with Sousa, laughing as she taught him how to use a typewriter, even their first kiss (that he didn’t remember) on the Zephyr in the stupid time loop. Damn. The way her memories were bouncing around in her skull, she might as well have been in another time loop. 

Kora took Sousa’s other hand, completing the human chain. 

Sousa spoke up. “So...what happens now-!”

Before Sousa could complete his sentence, all four of them were suddenly swept up in a blinding circle of light, something that hadn’t happened to three of them for a whole year, but felt as familiar as putting on an old pair of shoes. Not in a good way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The four of them stumbled into existence on the Quinjet. Quite literally. It had been awhile since Daisy, Kora and Sousa had time-travelled and Lincoln had only done it once before. Kora staggered into a row of seats, Sousa was pulled by her momentum to lose his balance and Daisy almost fell over altogether. Once they had rightened themselves, Lincoln hurried to the front of the Quinjet.

“We’re back,” he said, relieved. “In my timeline, I mean.”

Daisy exhaled a sigh of relief as well. Although she wasn’t thrilled to be fighting Hive again, at least they were in the right place at the right time. It would have been much worse if they had been thrust back into the 1930s or 1940s. 

She glanced around the Quinjet. It was more advanced than their 2016 version; it looked even more upscale than Zephyr Three. But that made sense, it had been decades since Deke had been in this timeline and that was Deke for them, taking concepts and designs and making advanced versions of their old technology. One thing hadn’t changed though; the rows of seats lining the side of the Quinjet. 

“I’m putting in the coordinates for the Hydra base,” Lincoln said from the cockpit as he pushed buttons on the screen. “Giyera took over Zephyr One and the team needs our help.”

“Wait,” Daisy said, holding up a hand as realization dawned. “Oh no. We’re going to Hive’s base, right?”

Lincoln turned to look at her. “You’ve faced him in your timeline,” he said, slowly. 

Daisy sat down on one of the seats that lined the side of the Quinjet. “Lincoln, you don’t know about Hive’s sway yet, do you?”

Lincoln stopped pushing buttons. “No. What’s Hive’s sway?”

Daisy glanced down at her feet. As she did, she realized that the seat she was sitting in was the one that she had sat in, next to Lincoln, her Lincoln, the original Lincoln, after he had told her about almost killing his ex-girlfriend in the car crash. That made her feel sick all over again. Or maybe it was the time-travelling. Either way, not great. 

“It’s...oh, I don’t know the medical terms,” she said. “Simmons is much better at this than me. Well, you’re a doctor, you should be able to grasp the barest minimum of it. He’s a parasite. And he controls Inhumans by releasing those parasites into our brains and making us love him. He brainwashes us.”

Lincoln walked over to her and sat down opposite her. “Can we fight it?”

Daisy shook her head. “No. And we wouldn’t want to if we were swayed. It’s a...connection. It takes over everything. We still have our desires and goals, but they’re all...reduced by a desire to serve Hive. When I was swayed, I still lo-... I still cared about my friends, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to turn them into Inhumans and have them swayed as well. He takes over us completely.”

Sousa sat down next to her and Daisy tried not to cringe as she realized that he had taken the seat that the original Lincoln had taken. This was a weird enough day as it was. 

“So that’s easy,” Sousa said. “I can go in and free the team. You three Inhumans stay up here.”

It was funny how strange their world had become that Sousa seemed to know that Lincoln was an Inhuman without him having created a single spark of electricity. 

“No!” Daisy, Lincoln and Kora said simultaneously and vehemently; Sousa looked surprised at the violent opposition to his statement. 

“It was just a suggestion,” Sousa began, but Daisy interrupted.

“Sousa, Hive kills humans,” she said. “With a literal wave of his hands. You’d be dead the second he saw you.”

“Okay,” Sousa said, wrinkling his brow in thought. “Different plan then.”

Daisy’s mind was racing in overdrive. “Kora, can you see what happens next?”

Kora shook her head. “I told you, the future is still changing. I don’t know what might happen.”

Daisy’s gaze flitted to Lincoln. “If Lincoln is me in this timeline, he’ll get swayed,” she said, a lump rising in her throat.

Neither Lincoln nor Sousa said anything; Kora was the only one who knew what agony Daisy had gone through during her withdrawal period from Hive, made so much worse by losing Lincoln. She interrupted Daisy’s train of thought. 

“Is that such a bad thing?” Kora asked. “If he’s you, he’ll live. That’s what matters, isn’t it?”

Daisy stared at Kora. Kora knew about the limitations of changing the future that Charles had shown Lincoln. Unlike the time with Deke’s future and the time with the Chronicoms, Charles’s visions currently had 100% accuracy, which was not good when Daisy fervently wanted to alter this future. 

“Kora, how could you say that?” Daisy gasped. “You think that I would be okay with you or Sousa dying instead?”

Her heart felt like it was tearing in two. Kora thought that Daisy cared more about Lincoln’s safety and wellbeing than Kora’s or Sousa’s. She had no idea how Kora could even consider that, but it hurt, to think that Kora would think that of her. Would think that she would give either or both of them up for Lincoln. 

Would she? Could she? Surely not. But if she didn’t choose, did that mean that fate would decide? She couldn’t lose any of them, she just couldn’t. 

“Wait, one of us-” began Sousa and Lincoln interrupted him.

“One of us is going to die,” he said. “Daisy said so, but I don’t know why she’s narrowed it down to the four of us as opposed to the entire team-”

Kora spoke over him, her voice resolved. “Daisy. You lost him once. It took you over three years to even consider being with someone else again. If you lose him again, what are you going to do? You’ll never forgive yourself for having had a second chance to save him and failing.”

“And what do you think I’ll do if I lose you or Sousa?” Daisy demanded, frustrated by the fact that she was likely going to lose someone all over again and the fact that Kora was right. Daisy had no idea what she would do if she lost Lincoln again. After five years, it was like the universe had decided to give her another chance at protecting and saving the man she loved. And if she failed, _again_ ….

Kora ignored her like she hadn’t spoken. “When we get to the Hydra base, go with Sousa. He can’t go alone, we all know that. If Hive finds him, he’s dead in a heartbeat. If Hive catches you, me or Lincoln, we’ll be swayed and Lash will save us. Let me and Lincoln go alone. He’ll sway Lincoln because Lincoln’s you.”

The unspoken words were what clued Daisy in to knowing what her sister was going to do. All her confused feelings about Lincoln and Sousa flew out the window, replaced by panic for her sister. She grabbed Kora’s hands.

“Kora, this is crazy. You’re literally setting yourself up to be the one in the Quinjet with Hive. You know what happened to Lincoln in the original timeline!” she protested. She couldn’t say the words, couldn’t say that Lincoln had died in the original timeline. But even though she couldn’t say it this time, she knew that, unless Lincoln and Sousa had become hard of hearing in the last few minutes, they would know that her timeline version of Lincoln had died. But she still needed to remind Kora that if she took on Lincoln’s role in this new timeline, Kora would die. 

Kora shook her head. “And you know what happened to _you_ in this timeline. When you killed Nathaniel in space. I saved you after you’d been killed. I can control energy. If Lincoln is the only one who can fry the manual controls, I’m the only one who can survive a nuclear blast in space. Without any help, that is.”

“Kora, no way,” Daisy said. “I’m immune to Hive’s sway, I should go alone! If you and Lincoln go alone, we won’t know who Hive chooses to sway. If I go alone, we’ll know that the other solo adventurer is one of Hive’s minions and we’ll be able to get Andrew to save you before you decide to destroy the base. Which, let’s be honest, all three of us could do.”

“And you won’t survive a nuclear blast in space,” Kora countered. “If your body is blown to smithereens, I can’t save you.” She paused. “Plus, we don’t know how long Lash’s immunity works. It’s been five years.” 

While the sisters were arguing, Sousa turned to Lincoln. “Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” he asked.

“Pieces,” Lincoln said. “I know Hive, I know Lash, I know we’re from different timelines...and I know our names. That’s about it.”

Sousa shook his head. “Technically not, Kora and I are from this one. But yeah...I think you’re about as confused as I am.”

Both of them speaking was enough to divert Daisy and Kora’s attention back to their confused presence. Daisy folded her arms over her chest. “Kora, please. You can’t go alone. You said it yourself; you’ve seen the timestream. You’re more valuable than me.”

“You’re the one with the Kree blood,” Kora countered. “And you’re the one who’s immune to Hive. That makes you pretty darn valuable.”

“So I’m expendable,” Lincoln interrupted. “I’ll go alone.”

“Two people have to go alone,” Sousa agreed. “Lincoln and I can go alone-”

“No!” Daisy said vehemently, appalled at the thought of Sousa going alone. Lincoln and Kora would be swayed if they went alone, but Sousa would end up dead. She didn’t think she could handle losing any other person in her life, much less Sousa. Strong, supportive Sousa. She couldn’t imagine life without him. Even if their attempt at a romantic relationship failed, she still wanted him as her friend. They had been through a lot together and she needed him, through some capacity in her life.

Could she survive if she lost Sousa? She’d never lost him before, but she could only imagine how terrible it would be if she did. If Lincoln were to survive, would she lose Sousa in his place? Was she just trading one for another? 

“Being swayed is better than being dead,” Daisy continued. “Andrew can save us if we’re swayed. As much as sticking May in a healing pod and saving another version of Fitz works, we’re trying to avoid dying here. At all costs.”

“I’ll go alone,” Kora interjected. “Daisy, you know it makes sense. I can survive being blown up in space.”

“In theory,” Daisy argued. “In reality, I _have_ survived being blown up in space.” 

“If you go alone, Lincoln _will_ get swayed,” Kora pointed out. “And he can definitely break out of the base. No matter what security features you or Deke put on the doors.”

Daisy raked a hand through her frizzy hair. “Better swayed than dead.”

“Like I said,” Kora repeated. “I can survive being blown up in space.” She paused. “Besides, the only person on the plane who doesn’t want me to go alone is you. Lincoln and Sousa would choose you over me in a heartbeat.”

“Whoa, where did that come from?” Lincoln began, but Kora suddenly snapped her head around to stare at him. 

“You still don’t remember,” she said. “I thought Raina or Charles might have triggered something, but you don’t remember the original timeline.” 

Lincoln frowned. “I’m from this timeline, Kora,” he reminded her. “There’s nothing to remember.”

Kora continued to stare at him. Daisy opened her mouth to speak, but Kora got there first.

“Raina was the first Inhuman you encountered, wasn’t she, Lincoln?” Kora said. “When Deke saved you and brought you to S.H.I.E.L.D., she showed you her vision of the future. Of you and Daisy. And she showed you Jiaying, didn’t she? But you didn’t know Jiaying. You just saw a woman telling you that your duty, your purpose, your destiny was to protect Daisy.”

Lincoln stared at Kora, colour rising in his cheeks. “How did you know that?”

Kora tapped the side of her head. “The timestream,” she said. “But what you didn’t know at the time was that Raina was showing you visions of alternate timelines. Not the timeline that you’d come from, but the timeline that had already touched yours and was going to continue to influence and effect in the future.”

Daisy frowned. Jiaying had never known about her and Lincoln; Jiaying had been dead before they had gotten together. But even as she thought that, she remembered that Jiaying had sent Lincoln after her and Cal to protect her. Even then, even twisted by Hydra, Jiaying had known who was supposed to protect her. It was enough to make her feel a whole rush of new emotions, this time towards her mother who was dead in both timelines. 

Lincoln looked dazed. “She told me ‘the thorn always protects the daisy’,” he said. “And she meant her...but in a way she also meant me.”

Kora nodded. 

Daisy felt as off-balance as Lincoln looked. No matter what timeline they were in, Lincoln was still trying to protect her. Even if he didn’t remember her. She turned to Kora. “Kora, what are you doing?” she asked.

Kora turned back to Daisy. “He’s confused because he doesn’t remember,” she said. “But remember what he did with von Strucker? Werner von Strucker. In the Theta Brain-Wave frequency machine. He used his electricity to enable von Strucker to access the memories that Coulson needed. He can do that again if he has access to the timestream. Which was literally housed in a machine, Daisy. I’ve seen it all. If I can see it...a machine runs on electricity. He can find the timestream in my head. He can remember. Everything.”

Daisy slumped back into a seat. “Remember?” she whispered, trying to squash down the hope that was rising inside her. Hope that he would remember her. Hope that he would see her the way he used to, with happiness and kindness in his eyes. Hope that he would love her again. 

“Everything,” Kora confirmed.


	4. Episode 2: Take Two - Chapter 4

**Episode 2: Take Two**

**Chapter 4**

Lincoln’s gaze flitted from Kora to Daisy and back again. 

“Why would he want to remember?” Daisy asked agitatedly. He could remember her. He could _remember her_. “It doesn’t benefit him to remember our timeline. It won’t even help us stop Hive.”

Why was she so against him remembering? Shouldn’t that be exactly what she wanted? Her eyes drifted from Lincoln to Sousa and then back again. If Lincoln remembered her, would he still love her? Could he still love her after all those years? After she had moved forward in life - not moved on for a part of her would always love Lincoln - moved forward in life, would he understand that? Would he still want her? 

“Won’t it?” Kora asked. “We’re going on speculation here, Daisy. We’re trying to save four people who might die with half-changed memories on your part and a gazillion possible futures on my part. We aren’t even sure who’s Hive at this point! Nathaniel Malick was supposed to be Hive at some point in the original timeline, but in this alternate one, you blew him up in space! If we want to have even the most remote chance of changing the future, like you did with Simmons and Fitz and Deke and the rest of the team that time with Gravitonium, Lincoln knowing what happened in the original timeline is the best possible chance of ensuring that.” She paused. “And Daisy, Raina and Charles already showed him you in his future. Returning his memories of you is what happens next.”

Daisy shook her head in denial, but it was more a futile act than anything else. Raina and Charles. If they hadn’t shown her to him, she would believe that he didn’t have to remember. But they had set it up. Those wretched future-predicting Inhumans. Them and their meddling with the future was almost as bad as the Chronicoms. 

“I’m in,” Lincoln said immediately when Kora had finished speaking. “I’ll do it.”

Kora looked triumphant. 

Sousa spoke up. “Wait, what does this mean?” he asked. “What are you going to do to him, Kora?”

Kora looked at Sousa. “Return his memories,” she said. “From the original timeline. The three of us are from this timeline, but our lives changed when we didn’t die, Sousa. Lincoln’s life is different because of what changed with the Malicks and me and you and everything that we did to fix the original timeline. You and I don’t have conflicting memories. But when I give Lincoln access to the timestream, he’ll remember his old world and his new one.”

“It sounds like the effect of the Framework,” Daisy muttered under her breath. Louder, she said, “It won’t give him split personality disorder? Like Fitz?”

The Doctor was one of her worst nightmares come to life; one of her best friends had become her worst enemy. It had been almost as bad as Ward. Except, of course, Fitz hadn’t lost himself completely to the Doctor, thank goodness for that. Even now, she feared the return of Fitz’s evil alternate personality. She still remembered Fitz as the first human who had accepted her Inhuman powers. He had changed after the Framework. She didn’t think she could bear it if Lincoln became twisted and dark like Ward; she would rather remember him as the man she loved, the Inhuman who had taught her that her powers were a gift, not a curse. Losing Lincoln as another crazy psychopath would be worse than losing him to death.

Kora shook her head. “Daisy, Fitz was manipulated by Aida and his twisted father in the Framework. Lincoln’s the same guy.” 

Daisy bit her lip. “Radcliffe told me that anything can change a life,” she pointed out. “Taking away one regret from the team drastically changed their lives. Not having Gordon and Jiaying-” _and me_ , she added in her head, “what did that do to change Lincoln?”

“Daisy, that’s the Lincoln he is now,” Kora said. “When he gets his memories back, he’ll be the same guy he is now, but he’ll be the Lincoln you remember. He’ll be the Lincoln who remembers _you_. Besides, this Lincoln is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. It’s not like he’s Hydra or Centipede! He’s one of Deke’s agents! Possibly Deke’s only Inhuman agent because you were never born and who knows where Yoyo is in the other timeline. Even if you don’t trust me on this, trust Deke.”

“I wish you wouldn’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Lincoln said, crossing his arms over his chest. “If this is the best way to save the team and all of our lives, then I’m taking it.”

Daisy cursed inwardly. It appeared having had no Jiaying or Gordon hadn’t changed his self-sacrificing ways. Kora was right; he did seem very similar to the Lincoln whom she remembered. Although he was more confident in himself and his abilities, more like she had been when she had been the leader of the Secret Warriors. Which technically he was now, even though he barely knew the three of them. Who were technically the Secret Warriors. Even though Sousa was not an Inhuman.

Kora glanced at the clock on the dashboard that Lincoln had previously been setting coordinates into and clicked her tongue. “We don’t have long before we have to parachute out,” she said. “Lincoln, if we’re going to do this, now’s the time.”

Lincoln nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Daisy stepped in between Lincoln and Kora, trying one last time to reason with him. “Lincoln, you don’t have to do this,” she pleaded. “You don’t need to remember the other timeline. It’s...it’s a lot of pain.”

Was it selfish of her if she didn’t want him to remember? It wouldn’t be him just remembering the pain; if he remembered, he would know what they had meant to each other. Maybe what they still did. She wasn’t sure anymore. 

But as much as she didn’t want him to remember, a much bigger part of her wanted him to remember as well. She wanted him to remember all the good times they’d had, even if it meant him having to remember the bad as well. She wanted him to remember their reunion after Maveth. She wanted him to remember her offering to let him leave and him wanting to stay. She wanted him to remember them promising to always be honest with each other in the Quinjet after encountering the Inhuman James. 

If he didn’t remember her, it would be easier for her. She could stay with Sousa. Steady, dependable Sousa. Sousa, who was likely incredibly confused by their back-and-forth conversations. Sousa, who was innocent in this whole memory mess, but was going to have to deal with the aftermath of her confusion and Lincoln’s returned memories. If Lincoln didn’t remember her, Daisy could pretend that she didn’t have any feelings for him. But that was a blatant lie, she already knew that, all her old feelings were returning and in full force. It was _Lincoln_ , after all. Her first love. 

If Lincoln remembered, she would definitely have to choose. And right now, she had no idea who she wanted. 

Lincoln’s blue eyes were steely and resolved; Daisy knew when she met his gaze that he was going to do it. Damn. Why did she always have to fall in love with the men who always, ultimately, did the right thing? The hard thing. The thing that would save the world. Her heart started racing again.

“But not only pain,” Lincoln said, speaking to both Daisy and Kora, but looking at Daisy in the eye.

“Not only pain,” Kora confirmed. “Lo-,” she stopped, her sort-of filter returning. “Uh, actually, let’s just go with not only pain.” She said this after glancing at first Daisy, then at Sousa, then back at Lincoln. “Yeah, let’s go with not only pain.”

Kora stepped around to Daisy’s side and held out her hand to Lincoln. “All you have to do is take my hand and feel for the memories with your electricity. You’ll be able to find them easily. And access the timestream. There are thousands of timelines in there, but I’m just going to show you yours. And...everything that happened since you died. Because that will catch you up on everything that’s happened since. If you want to see it, that is.”

Daisy glared at Kora. “You’re going to show him everything that happened since?”

Kora shrugged. “Dais, you can’t see the timestream from my head, you know that. If we still had the machine, then that would be a different story. But Lincoln’s an exception because he manipulates electricity. He’s the perfect vessel for the timestream. But yes, I can show him what happened since.” 

Lincoln hesitated. “If you want me to only see what happened before I die, I understand,” he told Kora. 

Kora shook her head. “If I show you only that, Daisy will have to tell you everything that happened since. Simmons had to give Fitz that talk once and that was no fun. It involved a second proposal, tea, the Doctor and Id Simmons, a child Jemma Simmons and...you have no idea what I’m talking about. But anyway, this is much simpler. It’ll be a crash course. Plus...it’s not Daisy’s choice. It’s yours.”

Technically, it wasn’t his choice. It was Kora’s. She didn’t have to show him everything that had happened in Daisy’s life since he had died. But Kora was doing what was best for the team. If Lincoln remembered everything, he could help Kora figure out how to stop one of them from dying in space. It wasn’t what Daisy wanted, but it was what all of them needed. 

And Kora had a really good point. Simmons had told Daisy about what had happened in the Cerebral Fusion Machine with Fitz and his freakout when he’d discovered that she’d married him, but a different version of him. Having Kora return Lincoln’s memories and show him what had happened in the five years since he’d died sounded a lot better than Daisy having to explain to him about his death and everything that had happened since with Sousa. If Fitz had freaked out about another Fitz, she could only imagine that Lincoln’s freak-out would be a hundred times worse seeing as Sousa was very clearly not Lincoln.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be. He’d died for her to live; he’d made it very clear that he loved her before he died. Maybe he would be happy that she’d found love again after him. But either way...she was a coward. She didn’t want to tell him. Kora’s memory return was really a blessing in disguise. 

Plus...she was already going to have to explain everything to Sousa. She hadn’t yet told him about Lincoln and what he meant to her and going through the talk once was going to be bad enough. She didn’t think she had it in her to do it twice.

Reluctantly, Daisy stepped back, yielding to Kora. Sousa put a comforting hand on her arm, but even his support wasn’t enough to make Daisy feel better at the moment. Her insides were a mess of turmoil and confusion, especially knowing that their talk was going to have to happen soon. 

Kora looked at Daisy. “You might be mad at me for doing this,” she told her sister. “But this is what needs to happen if we want to defeat Hive. I know this much in the timeline.” She paused, then added, “I’m going to pull a Deke here and say that all I want is for you to be happy. We all do. Even if Lincoln doesn’t remember it yet.” 

Daisy glanced at Sousa. His face was a mask of resolve; she wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling at the moment, but she had a pretty good feeling it was nothing too good. 

“Daisy, you don’t need to worry about my feelings,” he said in a low voice. “You just told all of us that any of us might die in a Quinjet in space. If Kora’s theory of returning Lincoln’s memories is one of the steps that’ll ensure that all of us live, then my feelings are the least of all of our concerns.” 

Emotions washed over Daisy in a wave. Sousa was putting the team before his own feelings. He knew that Lincoln meant a lot to her. And _Lincoln_ would soon know how much she meant to him. Sousa was willing to put her in a situation where she could get her old love back, just to save all of their lives. 

“Thank you,” Daisy whispered, dropping her eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was thanking him for. For being the steady, dependable one as always. For not blaming her for wanting Lincoln to get his memories back. For accepting that it had to be done. 

Daisy turned and met Lincoln’s gaze. There was an intensity in his eyes that made her shiver on the inside. While he might not remember who she was, he knew that they meant something to each other at least. 

Finally, she looked at Kora. Her sister whose face was as grim and stoic as Sousa’s. 

“Alright,” she whispered. “As long as it’s what he wants and not what you’re forcing on him.”

Kora turned back to Lincoln. “Do you want your memories?” she asked.

Lincoln looked down at Kora’s outstretched hand. In response, he took it. Then both of them collapsed on the floor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Daisy and Sousa raced over to them. Electricity was crackling like static all over Lincoln, and Kora was twitching. But their hands remained joined and when Daisy touched her fingertips to Kora’s forehead, she could feel through the subtle tiny vibrations in her brain that meant that Lincoln was controlling the electrical impulses that surrounded her memories and bringing them into his own brain.

“Are they alright?” Sousa asked, straightening Lincoln’s legs from the crumpled position he was in.

Daisy bit her bottom lip. “Yes,” she said. “He’s...accessing her memories. They’re just...experiencing visions right now.”

“Will they be out long?” Sousa asked. 

Daisy shrugged. “Hard to tell. When I got visions from Charles, it was only a few snapshots, really, so it was seconds. Kora’s trying to show him years. It’ll take a few minutes at least.”

“Good,” Sousa said, adjusting Kora so that she was in a more comfortable position. “We need to talk.”

Daisy dropped her hands from Kora’s forehead. “You’re right,” she whispered.

They sat down on the floor of the Quinjet, right next to Kora and Lincoln so that Daisy could monitor their vitals. She kept one hand on each forehead, feeling the vibrations in their heads as they watched the past. She wasn’t a doctor, but she did know from experience that she could quake Lincoln’s heart into beating again and, based on their joined connection right now, she could probably make him shock Kora back to life if it came to that.

Which hopefully, it wouldn’t.

Sousa folded his hands together in his lap.

“Why didn’t you tell me about him?” he asked. “He means a lot to you, Daisy, I can tell.”

Daisy looked down at Lincoln’s face. The face of the man whom she had fallen in love with. The face of the man whom she had never thought she would see again, except in photographs. Then she looked up at Sousa, the man who was always there for her, even when she kissed him and then told him that they had to trap a space robot. In all of her dreams and nightmares, she had never imagined being faced with the possibility of both of them at the same time.

“I didn’t tell you because...because you told me about Peggy,” Daisy said finally. “This is going to sound terrible, Daniel, but I honestly did it for the right reasons. You told me that you had fallen in love with Peggy but that she was still in love with her first love. The man who had sacrificed himself to save her and the world. And you told me that she had never gotten over him and that was what had ultimately driven a wedge between your relationship. You were never going to look at me the same way if I told you that I was essentially Peggy and that the ghost of Lincoln was always going to exist. Even if I told you I was over him, you would always have thought that I was with you because I couldn’t be with Lincoln. Because he was dead. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”

Even as she spoke, she was aware of how insecure she sounded. Hesitatingly, she added, “I didn’t want to lose you. Everyone who gets close to me...I lose them. I didn’t want to lose you because you thought that I couldn’t get over Lincoln.” 

There. She’d said it. At long last she’d told him the truth. About why she hadn’t told him about Lincoln. 

Sousa was silent for a long moment. Then at last, he said, “Daisy, running away from your emotions never works. Before I got together with Peggy, I was with a woman named Violet and when I was with her, I didn’t tell her that I had been in love with Peggy. She ended our engagement. Not telling the truth destroys a relationship more than the ghost of an ex-lover.”

Daisy looked down at her lap. She didn’t know what to say. Sousa had told her about Violet before; how he had been with her, but not why she had ended it. If she had known that, she probably would have told him about Lincoln, but it was one of those too little, too late moments. In a way, they were both to blame for that, but she couldn’t fault Sousa for not telling her about the reason why he and Violet had split up. At least he had told her that both Violet and Peggy had existed. She hadn’t even told him about Lincoln, although she had told him about her disasters of relationships with Ward and Miles. But now she didn’t know what she could say to make things better.

When Daisy didn’t speak, Sousa did. “You said that you thought that I would think that you were with me because you couldn’t be with Lincoln,” he said slowly. “Is that true now that he’s alive?”

Daisy didn’t have an answer for him. The possibility of Lincoln returning had been the last thing she’d been thinking about for the last year. How could she answer such a question when she wasn’t even sure what she felt? 

When Daisy didn’t respond again, Sousa spoke. “Maybe a better question would be are you in love with him?” he asked, his voice catching on the last word.

Daisy didn’t have an answer for that either. But she couldn’t keep silent; the more quiet she was, the worse it would be when she finally did speak to Sousa. Because she needed to make it abundantly clear that she still felt very strongly for Sousa, whatever her feelings for Lincoln were. 

Daisy bit her lip. “It’s complicated.”

“Daisy, you need to tell me the truth,” Sousa said, his voice raised as his temper, which she had rarely seen before, neared the surface. “Or our relationship, whatever we have between us is done.”

Great. Of all words Sousa could have used. That was essentially what she had told Lincoln in the Quinjet almost at this exact same time, in the original timeline. The parallels today _sucked_.

Daisy knew it wasn’t an ultimatum. Not really. That time with Lincoln, she had had a pretty good feeling he would tell the truth. And he had. The same was going on here. She was going to tell Sousa the truth, even though the truth hurt. Which he knew. 

“I don’t know,” Daisy admitted, not able to look at him in the eye. “Lincoln...he was the first person I ever fell in love with. I’d been with men before him, of course, - I told you about Ward and Miles - but he, Lincoln, was the first one I truly loved. I...I was still in love with him for a long time after he died. Three years, maybe. You were the first person whom I felt something for after he died.” She was being honest. At least Sousa would have that. 

Sousa was silent. Then he finally said, “Thank you for being honest with me.” He paused and then, slowly, said, “Were you ever going to tell me about him?”

The answer that he wanted to hear was, “Of course!” But Daisy knew that it was more complicated than that. Would she have told him? At some point, yes, she would have. He was already wondering why she got lost in thought sometimes, staring out the window at the stars in space, wondering if she was seeing what Lincoln had seen before he’d died. When the anniversary of Lincoln’s death had come around, she had been emotional all day. Kora had covered for her; she had told Sousa that Daisy was on her menstrual cycle, thoroughly embarrassing Sousa since it wasn’t a phrase that was casually tossed around in his time. It had been a blatant lie on Kora’s part, but Daisy hadn’t been able to come clean about the complexity of her feelings at that time. 

“Yes,” she said haltingly; Sousa picked up on her hesitation. 

“But you don’t know when you would have, do you?” he asked. 

She shook her head, unable to look at him in the eye. Finally, he said, slowly, as if he had been gathering up his courage, “When he wakes up, if he and Kora were successful and he remembers...what are you going to do?”

Daisy looked down. “Kora wants to show him everything that happened since he died, Daniel. He’ll know about you and me.” She couldn’t bring herself to use the word ‘us’ and, judging from the look on Sousa’s face, he felt the pang at the absence of the word as well. At least she had called him ‘Daniel’ and not 'Sousa'. That meant something. 

“That’s not answering the question,” Sousa pointed out.

Daisy avoided his gaze. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I care about you, Sousa, I do-”

“But it’s Lincoln,” Sousa finished. “Your first love. The Steve to your Peggy. The Fitz to your Simmons. Stars in your sky. Your everything.”

Daisy wasn’t sure why he was emphasizing how much she had loved Lincoln. Then she realized. She had never told Sousa that she’d loved him. She’d never told Lincoln that either. In fact, she hadn’t told anyone, aside from Coulson when he was dying, that she’d loved them to their face. She’d been able to tell Deke that she’d loved Lincoln and she’d now been able to tell Sousa that she’d loved Lincoln. But she’d never had the courage to tell either Lincoln or Sousa directly that she loved them. 

It wasn’t them. It was her. Which sounded stupid, but was very true.

Growing up, Daisy had never known love. She’d had friends, boyfriends even, but they had all let her down in the end. Each foster family she’d had had returned her to the orphanage. She’d found out later that that had been S.H.I.E.L.D., looking out for her, but regardless, those experiences had greatly reduced her ability to openly express her care for others. She’d found Jiaying and Cal, her parents, and had lost them almost immediately. Not having had much love in her life had made her fearful to say the words to anyone. 

The physicality of it all didn’t bother her. Hugging people, kissing people, she could do. She’d been the one who’d kissed Ward first; she’d kissed Lincoln before they’d started their relationship; she’d chosen to kiss Sousa in the time loop. No, it was opening up to people and admitting that she loved them, that was her white whale. 

Could she tell Sousa that she loved him now? No, she couldn’t. Not when she was uncertain of her feelings towards Lincoln. But she couldn’t let him believe that she didn’t care for him either. She couldn’t string him along. 

“Not everything,” Daisy pressed, looking up at him urgently. She needed him to know that she cared for him. She needed him to know that what she felt for him was real. “He was my first love, yes, but he died. My Lincoln has been dead for five years.” She felt the tears start to come and roughly forced them back. “I care about you. You know what you mean to me, Sousa.”

“Do I?” Sousa asked, pushing for the first time. Pushing her to confess something real. “Daisy, what do I mean to you?” He didn’t sound angry though, just resigned. “Daisy, you can tell _me_ what he means to you, but can you tell _him_ what he means to you?”

Daisy was stunned into silence. Sousa had figured it out. Her fear of being honest with her heart. 

All at once, Daisy was struck with a memory of Simmons telling Fitz, “You dove through a hole in the universe for me!”. Granted, she hadn’t been there, but Simmons had told her about it afterwards. Fitz had been asking Simmons what she felt for him and what she felt for Will. That memory felt extremely fitting at the moment. She imagined yelling at Lincoln, “You literally died for me!”. 

_Great._

“And now he’s back,” Sousa said, a slightly bitter note in his voice that he couldn’t hold back. “He’ll remember soon. He’ll remember _you_.”

Daisy carefully studied Kora’s forehead. Kora was neutral territory right now. If she could focus on her sister, maybe she wouldn’t have to figure out this calamitous rush of emotions that was wreaking havoc on her insides. 

What would she do if Lincoln remembered? Lincoln wasn’t her everything now, but he certainly had been, once upon a time. And now she didn’t know what she felt. Was this like what Simmons had gone through with Fitz and Will? The original love and the one she had been with when she thought that she would never get Fitz back. Maybe this was what May had gone through with Andrew and Coulson. Gah. She needed some girl advice. From someone who wasn’t Kora. As much as she loved Kora, Kora had never been torn between two men before. She needed her other sister. Jemma Simmons. 

The whole problem was, with the team, love triangles had never lasted long. Someone had always ended up dying. And now, Daisy was finally faced with the possibility of two people whom she cared about being there for her and she didn’t know what she could or should do. 

“Daisy, look at me,” Sousa said, more gently now. “Please.”

Daisy didn’t want to, but he deserved that. After her withholding the truth about Lincoln, the least she could do was look him in the eye. Bracing herself, she looked up at him and to her surprise, there was gentleness and kindness in his expression, mixed with sadness. But no anger, which almost made things worse. 

“Daisy, I’m not mad at you for not telling me about Lincoln,” Sousa said. “I’m not even mad at you for not being able to tell me how you feel about me apart from ‘I care about you’. I know what it’s like to want to run away from your feelings. I know what it’s like to want a fresh start, no emotional baggage tying you back.” He paused. “You deserve a chance to choose. Who you want. No strings attached.”

Daisy’s heart was breaking in her chest. The tears that had been threatening to fall finally slipped down her cheeks. Eventually, she managed to choke out, “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we should take a break,” Sousa said. “For a while. So you can decide what your heart wants. If you want me, I’m here. If you want Lincoln, well, he’s here too.” He paused, the only sign that getting those words out was hard for him. Then he added, “And, on a lighter note, if Deke were here, he would say the infamous line that both Lincoln and I would say to you as well. ‘We just want you to be happy’.”

Daisy choked a little on her tears. “You’re such a dork,” she said, but she was smiling, even though her heart was breaking. She didn’t want to break up with Sousa. Since Lincoln, Sousa was the first man whom she had seriously considered having a future with. But she knew, deep down, that he was doing what was right. If she was still with Sousa while she had this crazy whirlwind of feelings for Lincoln, she would only be with Sousa through the title. Not with her whole heart, which was what both of them deserved. If she went back to Sousa, it would be because her whole heart wanted to be with him, not with part of her still tied up with Lincoln. And the same thing went the other way. If she ended up with Lincoln, there would be no strings left tying her to Sousa except those of friendship. There was only room in her heart for one. 

“You’re so unfazeable,” she mumbled. “I...I don’t deserve you.”

Sousa shook his head. “You do, Daisy, if you want me. Like I said, I made the exact same mistake you did. Violet gave me the freedom to decide what I want. You deserve that exact same choice. We all do.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

They sat there in silence for a while. Sousa kept his eye on the clock and GPS tracker in the cockpit, which showed them getting every closer to their destination. Daisy continued to check Lincoln and Kora’s vitals; they were still in their memory coma, but seemed fine as far as Daisy could tell. It really didn’t bode well that the two people who knew how to fly the Quinjet were unconscious and the only medical person on the Quinjet was also unconscious. Kora had learned how to fly Zephyr Three, but Daisy seriously needed to take some flying lessons. Or some medical lessons. Or both.

“How much longer till we get there?” Daisy asked, breaking the silence. 

“Five minutes maybe,” Sousa said. “Are they going to wake up in time?”

“I have no idea,” Daisy said. “But after seeing Simmons forget all of us after Nathaniel rooted around in her memories and watching Coulson and von Strucker go through that memory machine, I’m not going to try to just pull them out.” 

“Sounds like another long story,” Sousa noted. “A memory machine?”

“Yeah,” Daisy said grimly. “We rooted around in von Strucker’s head to find memories of Malick and he was trapped in a loop of memories. Lincoln zapped him to get him to be able to access his other memories; that’s how Kora and I both knew he would be able to access the timestream in her head. It’s S.H.I.E.L.D…. we’ve done a lot of weird stuff.”

Sousa shook his head. “A loop of memories. Sounds about as bad as a time loop.”

Daisy laughed. “Are you suggesting that Lincoln could have broken us out of that time loop?” she teased. “I’m surprised you would even suggest that.” 

It was after the words had come out that she realized how stupid they were. It wasn’t entirely her fault; Sousa was the one who had made the connection first. But that didn’t make it any less awkward. They had both walked right into that one; at one point in the previous year, Daisy had told Sousa that she had kissed him in the time loop. If Lincoln had been there...well, Enoch might have survived, but Daisy would never have kissed Sousa because she would still have been with Lincoln. Which was not a good reminder for either of them. 

Sousa shifted his gaze to look at the clock; Daisy focused her attention on Kora, who was still unconscious. 

“Four minutes,” Sousa said, changing the subject, eyes locked on the clock. “What happens if we get there and neither of them have woken up? Do we just hover over the Hydra base until they do?”

Daisy had no answer, but luckily, she didn’t have to think of one. Because Kora suddenly sat straight upright, knocking Daisy’s hand off her forehead.

“Kora!” 

Both Daisy and Sousa moved towards her, but Kora rounded on Lincoln.

Lincoln’s reaction was slower; he was blinking his eyes open, trying to make sense of the world. He looked confused, disoriented, bemused, like Fitz had when he had returned from the Framework. But at least Lincoln didn’t have to remember that he had killed an innocent woman in another lifetime. 

“Oh my God,” he said. “My head...that was insane.” His hands went to his temple, massaging his head as if it would help the memories settle in better. His gaze flitted to Daisy. “Daisy? It’s...you?”

Daisy had no idea what her face currently looked like, but she had a pretty good feeling it resembled her expression in the Framework when she had found out that her ‘boyfriend’ was alive and she had assumed that it was Lincoln. She bit her lip hard, trying not to hope too much. Trying not to hope that he would remember her and that she had her Lincoln back. 

“What do you remember?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Lincoln stared at her, his eyes boring into her very being. They looked haunted, stressed, tense, confused...but there was also a glimmer of something else there, something Daisy couldn’t quite put her finger on. Affection? Care? Did she even want to hope that it might be...love? 

“Everything,” Lincoln whispered. He paused. “Hydra experimentation. Bedside visits. Going home. Afterlife. Dying in space.”

The tears that Daisy had suppressed after her conversation with Sousa gathered in her eyes again; a single one fell down her cheek. She didn’t even know if these were the same tears that had resulted from her breakup with Sousa or if they were entirely new tears regarding Lincoln remembering, but at this point, it really didn’t matter. They were both breaking her heart in different ways. 

Slowly, tentatively, Daisy reached out one hand to him. Her fingers lightly touched the back of his hand, as if to justify to herself that he was real. Lincoln watched her move, not saying anything or moving so as not to break the moment.

“You remember,” Daisy whispered again and Lincoln nodded.

He really did remember. It wasn’t her imagining reuniting with him in death when she had been dying in space or her thinking that at least her final moments were what _his_ final moments had been. It wasn’t even her reuniting with a Framework version of him. It really was him. The real Lincoln. 

That realization was the damn straw that broke the camel’s back. Daisy broke down completely, flinging her arms around him. Lincoln hugged her back, returning her embrace with an equal urgency. 

“You died,” Daisy gasped, trying to control her emotions. “I couldn’t save you...I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to die for me.” 

Lincoln stroked her back gently. “Don’t be sorry,” he whispered, his voice equally thick with emotion. “I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Kora interrupted, not immediately, but after sufficient time had passed for Daisy and Lincoln to get better control of their emotions, but not so long enough that it was extremely awkward for her and Sousa. Sousa, who was watching Daisy and Lincoln’s reunion with a remarkably guarded expression on his face. 

“How much do you remember?” Kora asked. “When you mentioned Hydra experiments and the like...were you the victim? Or Daisy? Because everything you mentioned could have applied to either of you.”

Lincoln looked up from where he and Daisy were still sitting on the floor, locked in a desperate embrace. It wasn’t so much romantic as desperate, it was two people who had been in love and thought that they would never see each other again being reunited for the first time in years. It was a genuine desire to just reassure themselves that the other wasn’t going to disappear again. 

“Both,” he said, his gaze travelling from Kora to Sousa. A flicker of guilt crossed Lincoln’s face. “Sorry,” he said, releasing his grip on Daisy. “I shouldn’t...Sousa...I mean...you’ve moved on….”

Daisy winced, not sure what to say, even though her arms felt empty, hollow at his absence. If she were to tell Lincoln that she and Sousa were over, it felt disloyal to Sousa, especially in front of him; he had literally broken up with her to give her space to figure out what her heart wanted. But she couldn’t not tell Lincoln that he had done nothing wrong by hugging her either. And, seeing as Kora had been just as out of it as Lincoln had been for the last ten to fifteen minutes, Kora couldn’t rescue her from this impossible situation either.

Sousa, ironically, was the one who saved her. 

“We’re not together,” he said abruptly, causing both Lincoln and Kora to look at him in surprise. “We broke up...to give her space to decide what she wants.”

Sousa sounded detached, but Daisy knew that being emotionless was his way of dealing with the situation. He cared, he cared a lot, maybe even too much, but separating himself as best he could from the situation was the only way he could deal with his now-ex-girlfriend reuniting with her previously deceased boyfriend. He wasn’t blaming her for her emotional reunion with Lincoln; anyone would have reacted the same way she had. He was even sparing her from the difficulty of telling Lincoln that she and Sousa were over. He really was too good for her. She didn’t deserve him; he really and truly wanted what was best for her. Even if it meant that his heart broke in the process. 

Daisy closed her eyes, feeling her heart shatter all over again. There was no right answer here, there really wasn’t. This impossible situation was none of their faults, but at the end of the day, someone was still going to get hurt.

Kora jumped in again, before any of them could try to find an appropriate response to Sousa’s statement; none of them probably could have anyway. Thankfully, she did because there was no way any of the three of them could have come up with a suitable response.

“Daisy, ask Lincoln something only he would remember so that we can confirm that he does have his memories back,” she suggested. 

Kora was a freaking _saint_. 

“That’s a good point,” Sousa said quickly, accepting the change in the subject. “You told me about Sarge and Izel...that would be bad.”

Daisy folded her arms over her chest. “Okay,” she said. “Uh….” For the life of her, she couldn’t think of a moment. Something that was personal, but not too personal; she didn’t want to hurt Sousa’s feelings or make any of them any more embarrassed than they already were. It was bad enough when her sister knew everything about her entire life, all her dating history _and_ was bringing it up at the most inconvenient and technically convenient times.

“Uh...what did you teach me in Afterlife about our Inhuman powers?” Daisy asked.

Lincoln smiled at the memory, the shadows in his eyes lightening at the thought. “I told you that our gifts don’t have to be terrifying,” he said. “Because you thought that they were a terrible thing. And...later, when _I_ thought that they were a curse, you told me that our powers were given to us to help people. To save lives.” 

Tears gathered again in Daisy’s eyes. He really did remember. Pivotal moments in their lives and their relationship and even their first kiss….

“You remember,” Daisy whispered and the next second, her arms were around him again, hugging him tightly, clinging to him even, so desperate to know that he was not her imagination, that he was real and physical and _alive_. He returned her embrace; she could feel the tension and desperation in his arms. Not of her or even of this uncertain situation. Simply because he had regained a part of himself that he had lost and she was a lifetime in this crazy whirlpool of uncertainty. 

Or was it because while he remembered her, he still didn’t feel for her the way he used to? Was the tension in his arms because he was hugging someone who should be familiar to him, but whom he still didn’t really know, despite getting back his memories? This man might look like Lincoln, might remember being Lincoln, but the memories weren’t his. Not really. They had happened to another man who looked just like him, but did he really, truly see her for who she was? 

The thought sickened Daisy and nausea bubbled up in her stomach like acid. They could test his memories all they wanted, but even though the procedure had worked, would he still be Lincoln? Her Lincoln? Could they ever be what they were? Did she want them to be what they were? What did she want? 

Next to them, Kora got to her feet and then cleared her throat loudly, interrupting Daisy’s dark thoughts. 

All three of them turned to look at her, Daisy and Lincoln letting go of each other as they did so. Daisy stood up, pulling Lincoln to his feet. She let go of his hand the second they were standing though, although she ached to keep holding on, just for reassurance that he wasn’t going to disappear on her again. But she couldn’t do that, not in front of Sousa, not immediately anyway. She couldn’t hurt him that way. Even though she was hurting all of them right now by not knowing what or who she wanted or how to act. 

“We’re nearing the place where we need to parachute out,” Kora said. “So...Lincoln and I are going alone, right?”

And they dissolved back into the same dissension that they had prior to Lincoln regaining his memories.

“Daisy, it makes sense,” Kora argued. “We already agreed, Lincoln is basically you in this timeline. Hive will sway him. I’ll be Lincoln in this timeline. Besides, you still don’t know how to fly the Quinjet. I have the highest chance of survival of getting blown up in space.”

“I actually _did_ survive getting blown up in space,” Daisy retorted. “You’re my sister! I’m not making you put yourself before me and my-,” she stopped, not knowing what to call either Lincoln or Sousa in this situation. 

“What if we don’t split up?” Sousa suggested. “If we all go together, then Hive can’t get us, right? We’ll change the timeline.”

Daisy, Lincoln and Kora all looked at Sousa. “No,” they said in unison.

“Why not?” Sousa protested. “If all the options that we already know are bad, then surely trying a new option is what’s best.”

Lincoln shook his head. “This way, we know more about the future and about how we can kill Hive. He’s going to try to take over the world and turn all humans into...Primitives. I already got the vision from Charles Hinton. Someone on the team is going to die in space. If we try to follow the old timeline as much as possible, it’ll be easier for us to defeat Hive and prevent the extermination of the human race. If we try to change it drastically now, we’ll be in the dark. We’re not close enough in time to the Quinjet explosion. Kora’s timestream knowledge can only help us so far. She’s not getting updates on the timestream; she only knows what she knew a year ago.”

There was a momentary silence.

“Maybe we _should_ go together,” Daisy said suddenly. “When we were dealing with Deke’s dystopian future, we were trying anything to break the loop. What if going together does break the loop and no one dies?”

“Won’t work that way,” Kora replied. “Lincoln’s right for one, and, as much as I like your idea about deviating from our structured path, we still need someone to get the Zephyr, someone to get the team and someone to get Gideon Malick. We can’t do all of that without splitting up.”

Kora was right. Daisy gritted her teeth, but Sousa seemed to have accepted that they would have to divide and hopefully conquer.

“So how are we going to change the future then?” Sousa asked. “And prevent one of us from dying?”

He had a really good point. Splitting up would pretty much guarantee that one of them would get swayed, but Daisy knew that if either Kora or Lincoln got swayed, they were not going to die. However, it didn’t solve the problem of _who_ was going to die because Lincoln had already seen the future. Even if they changed who got swayed, they would still need to change who was going to die. 

“Andrew,” Daisy said suddenly. “Lincoln, is Andrew still alive in this timeline? If so, can he make you or Kora immune if you get swayed? Then we’ll have all the Inhumans we care about on our side and can blow up Hive in space somehow without one of us dying. Maybe we could even make Radcliffe make Aida faster. Then _she_ can blow up in space with Hive and that’ll prevent the whole LMD and Framework debacles.”

Lincoln blinked, like he was still processing the memories that Kora had just shoved into his head. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, Andrew spared my life a couple of months ago as Lash,” he said. “He’s at the base right now…. He would make me immune...as he did with you in the original timeline.”

“Good,” Kora said. “We don’t know if he’d do that with me, but that’s a risk we have to take. Two out of three, that’s better odds than one out of three.”

Kora had a point. They didn’t have time to worry about whether Andrew would make Kora immune, but either way, they were running seriously low on options. 

“So we set up the mission as you did in the past then,” Sousa said slowly. “And how did that work out?”

Daisy and Lincoln traded looks. 

“We went alone,” Daisy said, her voice a little unsteady as she spoke. “Lincoln and I, I mean. Yoyo and Joey went together. Hive swayed me, but I tricked the team into thinking Lincoln was swayed. Then I broke out of confinement and went to Hive.” She avoided mentioning that she had gone to bring Lincoln with her; when she looked at him, she knew that that was what he was also thinking about. Kora, mercifully, did not bring it up.

“So we’re trying to pick who will be swayed?” Sousa asked.

“I don’t know if we get to choose anymore,” Kora said slowly. “Everything points to Lincoln being the one who gets swayed. Lincoln got the vision from Charles. Lincoln called us in as the Secret Warriors. Lincoln went to visit James and got the Kree Orb. Andrew spared Lincoln’s life a couple of months ago. The only way we could possibly prevent Lincoln from getting swayed is if he goes with Sousa. Then we’ll be trying to make Lincoln Yoyo and Sousa Joey.”

“Then Hive will sway you,” Daisy pointed out. “Because he can’t sway me. And you’re more valuable than me right now. You know the timestream. It’s like when I was Hive’s most valuable asset because I knew the base and I know the team. You and Lincoln are the most knowledgeable ones here.” She paused. “Kora, you should go with Sousa. Then we’ll know exactly how everything turns out.”

“And you’ll die,” Lincoln interrupted, shaking his head. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

Their eyes locked again and Daisy saw all the anguish beneath the surface. He remembered sacrificing his life for her in space. Dying so that she could live. Would he die for her again? She thought that he would, but she could also see confusion in his eyes. Confusion about the memories that were still settling in, confusion about her and who she was to him. 

For what felt like the millionth time that day, Daisy felt as though her heart was breaking. Would they never be who they were again? Had she got him back just to lose him again? 

“Lincoln…” she began, but he interrupted.

“I’m not losing you,” he insisted, taking her hands in his. “I would do anything to save you. You know that.”

Was that him speaking or was it the memories speaking? Was him reminding her that she knew what he would do his way of saying that it was out of duty, out of obligation, out of knowing that it was his destiny to save her? He had seen her before, in visions from Raina and Charles, but how much of him was the Lincoln who didn’t know her and how much was the one who did? Daisy didn’t know, but what she could and did remember was what her Lincoln had told her in the original timeline, right before he’d died. 

_Saving the girl I love and the world at the same time. Feels pretty right to me._

The unspoken words hung in the air like a cloud; Daisy felt her insides shutting down with the memory. 

With that memory came another one, equally unbidden. Sousa taking her hands and telling her that the team had given him another chance at life and that he would stay in the alternate timeline so that they could return to their original one and save the world. 

Daisy’s hands twitched and she flinched away involuntarily, ignoring the tiniest flicker of confusion and hurt that crossed Lincoln’s face before he could mask it. As she saw that, she herself became even more confused. He was hurt by her rejection. What did that mean? And how could she keep on hurting both of them like this? Could she never think of one without the other? Was every memory with either of them going to be a curse from now on? 

Kora interrupted. “Daisy, it’s three on one here. Go with Sousa. No one wants to choose someone to die, but if we have to, both Lincoln and Sousa would rather it be me than you.” She looked at both guys. “And even if you deny it, we all know that you’re lying, so don’t bother. Let me be the other one going alone.”

“What if we try to stop someone from being swayed?” Sousa suggested. “If you’ve seen the timestream, you know where he’s going to go, right?” 

Kora nodded. “I’m not going to let myself get swayed, if that’s what you mean. And neither will Lincoln. We’ll do everything to kill him first. But in the event that we don’t succeed, we’ll still go back to the base first. If we’re all together, then hopefully we can get Andrew to make us immune before one of us goes all ‘destroy the base’ crazy on everyone.”

“Okay,” Daisy said reluctantly, finally accepting that she was not going to win this battle with her sister. Not with both Lincoln and Sousa on Kora’s side. “So we split up like we did last time. Sousa and I go after the team. Lincoln goes to find the Zephyr. Kora goes after Malick. Right?” She hesitated. “Is it still Gideon Malick who brought Hive back? And is Hive in the body of Ward still?”

As soon as Daisy had said okay, Kora moved back into the cockpit of the Quinjet and opened up the ramp. Lincoln grabbed four parachutes from the wall and handed one each to Daisy and Sousa before starting to strap himself into one.

“I have...never done this before,” Sousa said, fastening straps by watching which ones Daisy reached for.

“I’ve done this twice,” Daisy said. “This’ll be the third...and this is the second time with the parachute. My first drop was more of a freefall in Lola, so I’m not sure if that counts.”

“I’ve done it once,” Lincoln said. “And that was technically not this me. It was the other timeline me.”

“Never done it before,” Kora said, taking the fourth parachute from Lincoln. 

“Great,” Sousa said. “That is...very reassuring. But better odds than going into space in a Quinjet with someone who doesn’t know how to fly it.” This was followed with a pointed look at Daisy.

“Better than going into space in a Quinjet with fried manual controls carrying a nuke and an ancient parasitic Inhuman,” Kora said, equally pointedly.

Sousa looked abashed and embarrassed as he put two and two together. “That was how you died?” he asked Lincoln.

“Yeah,” Lincoln said. “I went so that Daisy wouldn’t.” He glanced at Daisy as he said this; she grabbed his arm, impulsively. 

“Don’t do that again,” she said. 

Lincoln looked down at her and for a moment, it felt like old times. When they had reunited in the abandoned apartment back in Chicago, when they had reunited after Maveth, when they had reunited on the Zephyr just before James blasted him with a mini explosive….

“Sousa, you’ll be fine,” Kora told him, returning the subject to parachuting out of the Quinjet, and breaking the tension between Daisy and Lincoln. “The sky’s the limit for Daisy and Lincoln; they won’t let you fall.”

Daisy wasn’t sure if Kora had deliberately used that phrase, but either way, she was _really_ confused with her sister right now. One minute she was teasing her about Lincoln, the next she was breaking up possible _moments_ , the next she was negotiating an extremely awkward situation that would have left none of them able to look the other in the eye. She simultaneously wanted to hug her sister and tell her she was the best sister ever, or punch her. Either one worked, really. Or maybe both. 

“Oh, and Daisy,” Lincoln said, turning to her, deliberately changing the subject before anyone could make the situation more awkward. “It’s still Gideon Malick who brought Hive back. But...he’s not in Ward. Not this time.”

Daisy’s eyes widened. “Who _is_ he in then? Surely not Nathaniel? I thought I already killed him!” 

Before Lincoln could reply, however, the Quinjet jerked as it was hit by a rogue gust of wind. Daisy lost her footing on the floor and stumbled forwards, into Sousa, who was standing closest to the open hatch. He lost his balance. Lincoln grabbed for Daisy’s arm - she was closer to him than Sousa - but their combined momentum was too much for him. Sparks flew as Lincoln tried to channel electricity into the floor to ground them, but he wasn’t quite quick enough. The combined weight of all three of them off-balance was too much; they fell off the ramp, still struggling to strap in their parachutes.

“Daisy! Sousa! Lincoln!” Kora shouted, but they were already swallowed up by the wind.

Kora sighed, fastening the last buckles on her parachute, and ran to the side of the open hatch after them. “Did not see that one coming.”

She flung herself into open air after them, clutching the straps of her parachute as she started free-falling towards the ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Jemma put the blood sample into the machine again and reran the scan. She stared at the screen, waiting for the results to pop up. Although she had already done it once before, prior to their annual reunion, she wanted to double check that she could find nothing more about it. As much as she wanted to be helpful, it seemed that Daisy would have to finish the job herself.

As she waited, Jemma drummed her fingers against the desk, thinking back to the meeting with the team. As much as she loved Fitz and Alya, it felt wrong to be just living the retired home-life with them while the rest of the team risked life and limb to save the world. Daisy and Sousa were still together and working for S.H.I.E.L.D.; so were Mack and Yoyo. She needed to be doing her bit, no matter how little it was. 

Which was why she was secretly helping Daisy in the dead of night while Fitz was asleep. It wasn’t that she was dissatisfied with what she and Fitz had. It was just...oh, well, it was like how Bobbi had never been able to walk away from S.H.I.E.L.D. even when Hunter had asked her to. How May had used S.H.I.E.L.D. as a refuge after her divorce from Andrew. How Lincoln had initially been in S.H.I.E.L.D. for Daisy because he knew she would never leave. The women of S.H.I.E.L.D. never seemed to be able to let the organization go. 

There was a soft beep as the results popped up on the screen. Glancing at it, Jemma studied the initial results of Kora’s blood sample, which, aside from being Inhuman and sharing Jiaying and Daisy’s DNA, appeared to have no unusual red flags. 

_Good_ , Jemma thought as she pressed the button on the screen for “deeper blood analysis”. _At least there’s nothing biologically wrong with Kora._

When Jemma had first gotten the request for the anatomy analysis from Daisy, she hadn’t expected it to be Kora’s blood. But it really was interesting, in a way that puzzled Jemma. 

Jemma was not an expert on Inhuman biology - she missed being able to go to Lincoln for help with that - but she did know a thing or two about its composition, thanks to working on the vaccine and the antitoxin for Hive with Fitz and Lincoln. She had also studied both Daisy and Lincoln’s blood enough times to be able to flag the differences between their and human DNA; Kora’s Inhuman blood was no different than theirs. 

No, it was not the Inhuman component of Kora’s blood that made it so fascinating.

There was another beep as the blood analysis finished. For the second time that day, Jemma read down the list of scientific terms that detailed the composition of Kora’s blood. When she got to the bottom, she frowned, rereading the only part of the analysis that appeared unusual. 

S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, while being sworn enemy organizations, did have a lot of similarities in technology. One of them was being able to flag DNA results from within the system; while all law-enforcement agencies were capable of this, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra were able to do it for more than just humans. 

After Jemma had found out that Deke was her and Fitz’s grandson, she had later run a DNA analysis on Deke’s blood, similar to how General Hale had found out that Deke was their future grandson. If a DNA match was in the system, the S.H.I.E.L.D. program would automatically find it. 

Now, similar to Deke’s, Kora’s had pulled up a match. Jiaying’s was the obvious one, but the one that was more fascinating to Jemma was the redacted file on Kora’s biological father. There was a match in the system, but who her father was was anyone’s guess.

It was the redacted file on Kora’s biological father that puzzled and concerned Jemma.

When she had first tried the scan, Jemma had tried opening the file with her remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. access, but it was locked and redacted. That hadn’t been saying much, considering she was technically retired. However, even an active member of S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t be able to access the file. The protection on the file resembled the protection that had been on Daisy’s when she had been listed as an 0-8-4. Daisy might be the only one who could get in; her hacktivist skills would be necessary to breach the security. But the last redacted file about someone’s parentage Jemma had seen had been Daisy’s and even then, Daisy hadn’t been able to find out more without the help of Raina and Ward. Both of whom were dead. It appeared that Daisy and Kora had more in common than their mother; they had parents whose DNA were deemed too controversial to be shown to any ordinary S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. 

Curiosity had led Jemma to run a second scan, a few hours after the first, even though she doubted that it would yield any new information. It hadn’t and now Jemma was even more curious than before. However, knowing that Daisy would want the details of Kora’s DNA analysis, even though she had failed to figure out who Kora’s father was, Jemma downloaded what information she could and uploaded it into an email for Daisy. In the email, she noted that Kora’s biological father’s blood was part of a redacted file and that, if Daisy wanted to find out more information, following S.H.I.E.L.D.’s protocols, she would have to approach Mack. If Mack even knew; despite him being the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., there were probably still secrets that he didn’t know the answers to. Of course Jemma didn’t say that Daisy could probably hack in to find the information herself, but she hoped that the unsaid message was clear underneath the hidden lines. 

A little disappointed that she couldn’t be of more help, Jemma clicked send, and then frowned when the email almost instantly bounced back. Daisy and Fitz had done incredible technological and hardware updates on all of their emails and electronic devices. Jemma hadn’t had an email bounce back in forever. The last time had been when she’d been trying to send video messages to Fitz when she had...been in another timeline.

“Oh no,” Jemma said, realizing all of a sudden what could have happened to Daisy. “Oh no.”

On a whim, she tried sending a “testing” email to Kora. It also bounced back. She would have tried to send one to Sousa, but he was still at the typewriter stage; he didn’t even have an email address for her to send a message to! She tried sending another email to Daisy, but it too, refused to reach its receiver.

“Oh no,” Jemma whispered. She pulled up another tab and tried sending one to Mack. This one went through without a flaw; she tried Yoyo, May and Coulson with similar results. Daisy and Kora were the only ones out of commission.

“Jemma?” 

Jemma whirled around. It was Fitz, wearing pyjamas, standing in the doorway of their shared at-home lab, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

“Jemma, are you okay?” he asked. “What are you doing up?”

Jemma shook her head. “I was trying to send an email to Daisy,” she said. “It refused to send. Like the video files I sent to you while we were in the alternate timeline. If I didn’t know better...I think Daisy’s not in this timeline anymore.”

All the sleep was gone from Fitz’s expression with her statement and he hurried over to the computer. 

“It could just be a full inbox,” he suggested, checking her sent mail to see all the successfully sent emails, excluding those sent to Daisy and Kora. 

“I don’t think so,” Jemma said, standing up so that he could sit down at her desk. “I sent her an email earlier today and it wasn’t full.”

Fitz started opening different tabs and programs; Jemma pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried texting Daisy’s phone instead. Zephyr Three had a great connection for WiFi and texting service. The messages also bounced back, as did the ones that Jemma tried to send to Kora. 

“Neither Daisy nor Kora are accessible,” Jemma said. “Are you making any progress, Fitz?”

Fitz shook his head. “I’m no hacktivist like Daisy, but her inbox isn’t full,” he said. He paused. “After I left, did she give any indication that she was going to leave this timeline?”

“Not really,” Jemma began, trying to remember any red flags that Daisy might have mentioned. “Well...maybe….”

“Maybe what?” Fitz asked sharply. “Jemma, come on, this is Daisy! She wouldn’t just abandon us.”

Jemma pulled up a chair next to the computer. “She mentioned missing Deke, but I doubt she would go back to visit him or anything. They weren’t _that_ close. And she would have told us if she were. And she also...well, she sent me an anatomy analysis yesterday that I thought was on her, but it was actually on Kora. Kora’s blood. That was what I was trying to send Daisy when the email bounced back. The results of Kora’s DNA analysis. I think they’re trying to find out who Kora’s father is.”

“And bring him back from the alternate timeline?” Fitz asked. “Oh no. That is crazy. That is the worst thing any of them could do.”

“What do you mean?” Jemma asked, massaging her forehead with her fingers. While they had worked on the time machine for years and her memories had returned, Fitz still understood it better than she did.

“We were only able to get back from the alternate timeline because we had a tether,” Fitz reminded her. “If Daisy were to go with Kora or Sousa, neither of them could be the tether because that’s where they came from.”

Jemma gripped the edge of the table for support. “And if someone from Deke’s timeline came to ours,” she said, “Even if they used a tether and brought Daisy, Sousa and Kora back to their timeline-”

“The tether wouldn’t work for Daisy, Sousa and Kora,” Fitz finished. “Because that tether would be for the person from the other timeline, not for Daisy’s team. If they tried to do that...I don’t know what would happen to that tether because of the conflicting timelines. Nothing good, that’s for certain. It’s why even though Sousa volunteered, he wouldn’t have been able to be a tether for us because he didn’t come from here. That’s why it had to be one of us and why Deke had to stay.”

Jemma rubbed her temples again. “But regardless of this hypothetical person from another timeline,” she said worriedly, “The gist is that if Daisy went to another timeline without a person from our original timeline being the tether, she can’t get back.”

Fitz nodded grimly. “If Daisy went to another timeline without a tether from ours, she’s stuck.”


	8. Episode 3: Brave New World - Chapter 8

**Episode 3: Brave New World**

**Chapter 8**

Daisy and Sousa moved carefully through the Hydra base, eyes constantly shifting and moving as they tried to watch each others’ backs and keep a look out for Hive or any other Inhumans he might have swayed. The base was huge; the minute they had landed, they had split up, relying on their knowledge of where things _should_ be, based on the original timeline. However, unlike in the original timeline, Lincoln and Kora were, as per all of their agreement, keeping an almost constant stream of chatter at the lowest volume possible in an attempt to give a slight heads up in case any of them got swayed. Too long a silence meant higher potential that the silent person had been swayed, hence the coms were almost always filled with voices. As for Daisy and Sousa, they had agreed that they weren’t going to go out of each others’ sight, to ensure that Sousa could verify that Daisy never came in close contact with Hive. It was also important that Hive didn’t come near Sousa because if he did, Sousa was the only one who could die that night and not be swayed, seeing as Hive’s parasites killed humans. 

“You know, when I said Daisy and Lincoln weren’t going to let you fall, Sousa, I didn’t think you guys were going to test that out quite so literally,” Kora remarked over the coms, making Daisy shake her head at her sister’s choice topic of conversation. 

“Kora, you really have a gift for speaking at inopportune times, don’t you?” Lincoln replied, making all of them laugh, although as quietly as possible because none of them wanted to alert the guards to their presence. 

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Kora replied cheerfully; Daisy was impressed by how well she was coping when she knew that, if everything went according to plan - which, going by their track record, it would not - she would be the one to die in an explosion in the Quinjet with Hive. Daisy herself was on extreme tenterhooks, almost panicking each time Kora or Lincoln remained quiet for longer than a second. 

“Aside from Deke, who am I looking for?” Daisy asked Lincoln as she edged down the hallway, carefully releasing one radar vibration in pursuit of human bodies. Slightly behind her left shoulder, Sousa followed, his eye on the tracking device that searched for heat signals. While he was still completely clueless at how to use advanced technology, following a bunch of red dots on a screen wasn’t rocket science. 

“Not Coulson, Fitzsimmons, May or Mack,” Lincoln replied, knowing who she was thinking of.

Daisy ignored the slight disappointment that she wouldn’t get to see them in-person again. Well, maybe she wasn’t truly disappointed. They wouldn’t remember her anyway, which would almost be worse than not seeing them at all. Lincoln had gotten his memories back, but that was because he was an Inhuman who could manipulate electricity; none of the others would be able to remember her. The closest thing they would have to recognizing her would be if Deke had mentioned her before and to someone other than Lincoln. 

“Hunter?” Daisy guessed. “You did mention Bobbi.”

“Yeah,” Lincoln replied. “And a couple of others-” He stopped talking.

“Lincoln?” Daisy asked. “Lincoln!” 

Fear whirled up inside her. This was it. The moment that Hive had swayed her in the other timeline. She could visualize it now, a faceless monstrous man (not Ward apparently) sending particles of parasites into Lincoln through his nose, taking over his brain, feeding the _connection_ between them. She could see him finding the bond with Hive, the one that had almost, but not quite overcome her love for Lincoln. If Hive swayed him, Lincoln might still care for her, but would be willing to give it up for his connection to Hive. 

Daisy was overcome with fear and panic. Without warning, she sprang into a sprint, not in the direction that the team had been in in the previous timeline, but in the direction that she knew Lincoln was headed: towards Zephyr One. Even as she ran, she was already releasing more radar vibrations in search of him through the base. 

“Daisy, wait!” Sousa called after her; he raced after her as fast as he could, but she was a lot quicker than he was.

Daisy rounded the corner and hurtled to a stop, throwing out her arms. Half-a-dozen men were in the corridor, all of whom pulled the triggers on their guns the second they saw her. Before the bullets came even close to hitting her, she released a vibrational shock wave down the corridor, causing the bullets to ricochet off the walls. The same pulse knocked the men off their feet; by the time Sousa rounded the corner, the men were all on the ground, groaning and trying to reach for their weapons.

“I thought we were supposed to stick together,” Sousa reminded her. 

Daisy sighed at the realization. For the one split second that she had been out of his sight, it would have been possible for Hive to have swayed her. While she knew she obviously hadn’t been and also thought she was still immune, they had yet to run any tests _and_ the same thing had happened with Yoyo and Joey in the original timeline. They had split up momentarily and that had been long enough to place them both under suspicion of having been swayed. Now she would definitely have to go into containment with Lincoln and Kora when they got the Zephyr back. Which had already been the plan, but still wasn’t ideal. 

“Don’t even think about it,” Daisy snapped, taking her temper out on one of her assailants by kicking his gun out of his reach and crumpling it with another quake.

“Sorry,” she muttered to Sousa, who shrugged. 

“It’s done,” he said. “Just...less impulsiveness, more thinking next time.” 

It appeared that her impulsiveness had returned, along with her myriad of confusing emotions. In response, Daisy sent out more vibrational radar waves, trying to find Lincoln’s team and Lincoln himself. 

“Were they the heat signature that we were tracking?” Daisy asked, nodding towards the fallen Hydra soldiers. 

Even before Sousa spoke, she found what she was looking for. Well, maybe not what she was currently looking for, which was Lincoln, but what she was originally supposed to be looking for. 

“Daisy, wait,” Sousa began as Daisy jerked the handle on the door closest to them. “It could be a-,”

Too late. Having failed to open the door the normal way, Daisy thrust a pulse wave into the door, shattering the lock and sending the door flying inwards. 

“Trap,” Sousa finished. 

So much for less impulsiveness and more thinking. 

“Bloody hell!” A vague British accent sounded from inside the dark room at the same time as Daisy sensed someone right beside her. 

She flung out her arm, barely managing to block the blow that slammed into it. With a grunt, she staggered backwards, slumping against the doorframe as another limb came flying at her. She whirled to the side, out of the room as a leg kicked the frame where she’d been seconds before. Another leg followed, determinedly pushing her backwards; she caught the leg with both hands and slammed all her weight into it, causing the owner of the leg to let out a grunt of pain.

Daisy grabbed the head of her assailant and twisted, cartwheeling through the air to spin the person around and put him on his back. As she did so, he shifted positions under her, regaining his footing even as she did, backing up into the light of the hallway, which gave her more freedom and range of movement to fight.

“Wait, stop!” A familiar voice shouted from inside the room as Daisy clenched her hands into fists, waiting for the next punch or kick to be made.

“Daisy?” 

Deke pushed to the front of the crowd.

The person who had said bloody hell was right. _Bloody hell_. 

Seeing as they had left Deke in 1983 and it was now 2016, it made sense that Deke had aged at least 30 years. But in the rush leaving the original timeline and the return of Lincoln’s memories and the breakup with Sousa, Daisy hadn’t realized that Deke would have grown older. It didn’t help that Lincoln looked exactly the same as he had when she had lost him and she, Kora and Sousa had only aged a year. Deke, on the other hand, had aged 33. 

“Deke?” she spluttered.

There was definite grey in his hair and more stubble on his chin than usual, but the look suited him; he looked more distinguished than ever. He wore a fancy suit like Coulson would have, but when she rushed to hug him, she realized that the suit was more of a leather material. Trust Deke to put his own spin on his director outfit. 

“What are you doing here?” Deke asked, hugging her back; he then spotted Sousa over her shoulder. “Sousa, my man!”

He stepped out of Daisy’s embrace and slapped Sousa on the shoulder, who looked startled at the familiar gesture. Daisy bit back her laugh, but Deke was already turning around to the other people in the room.

“Guys, come on out!” he called. “It’s the Destroyer of Worlds!”

“Deke, seriously?” Daisy demanded as people started grumbling, shifting and moving out of the room. “Are you kidding me? We’re starting down this timeline again as well?”

Deke ignored her comment. “What are you doing here? How did you get here? Oh-” he stopped, realizing all at once how she had gotten there. “Lincoln found you?”

“Yes,” Daisy said, stepping back to give them all more room in the corridor. “And Deke, why did you do that? He was happy not knowing me, happy working for your S.H.I.E.L.D., happy not knowing what happened in my timeline-”

Deke shook his head. “Daisy, I didn’t intend to send him over. But when Raina and Charles gave him visions of you, someone who never existed in this timeline, what else could I do? It was for emergencies and this definitely qualified for one. The whole team has never been caught before-”

While Deke had been speaking, the rest of the team had filed out of the room that they had been held prisoner in...or at least Daisy assumed that they had been held prisoner in there, thanks to the number of guards in the hallway outside their door. As one man stepped into the light, Daisy flinched involuntarily and raised both hands to quake the living daylights out of him.

“Daisy, wait, he’s not who you remember!” Sousa grabbed her arms just in time, redirecting Daisy’s blast. The vibrational force cracked the wall instead of splitting the man in two, just in time for Deke to leap in the way and block her direct line of attack.

Daisy shrugged Sousa off, shaking from the effort of not blasting the newcomer to smithereens. First Lincoln, now him? What in the world was Deke playing at?

“Daisy, I guess you know Ward,” Deke said warily. “Grant Ward, meet Daisy Johnson, the legendary Quake, Destroyer of Worlds.”

For it was Ward, the Ward of her nightmares, her old S.O.. The man who had betrayed the team, tried to kill Fitzsimmons, shot at Coulson, killed Rosalind, brought back an ancient Inhuman from a far-off planet that had resulted in Lincoln’s death. Despite her better experience with the Framework version of Grant Ward, she was still loath to trust him.

But it wasn’t the face of Ward that had made her try and blast him.

Daisy had already accepted, in the Framework, that there were many layers to Grant Ward that she had not understood. No, she had tried to smash this Ward’s face into the stone walls because she had thought he was _Hive_. 

Even though Lincoln had specifically told her that Ward was _not_ Hive. 

Ward looked at the wall and then back at her, impressed. “Why didn’t you do that when you were fighting me earlier?” he asked. “You could have crushed me to pulp.”

Daisy shook her head, ignoring him. “Deke, seriously? Ward?” she asked. 

Before Deke could respond, another man stepped out of the room that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been held captive in...which made Daisy realize that this was a major change in the timeline. In addition to Lincoln possibly being her now...well, the lack of her old team being replaced by Deke’s new one was concerning. As Daisy tried to think about what that meant, the man stepped into the light and she saw his face for the first time. 

“She’s the back-up?” he asked in a frustrated British accent. “She just tried to kill Ward! And where the hell are Bobbi and Sparkles?”

Daisy froze. “Hunter?”

It had been years since she’d since him, years since the Spy’s Goodbye in Teddy’s Bar. She stepped forward to hug him, but remembered halfway that he had no idea who she was. 

But Hunter had a really good point. Where _was_ Bobbi? A wave of anxiety washed over her; she suddenly recalled what Lincoln had told her, which she had completely forgotten about in the mad rush to return to the alternate timeline, return Lincoln’s memories and infiltrate Hydra’s base. Bobbi was Lincoln’s tether in the timeline, uncontactable and unreachable until their mission was complete. 

Even though Daisy’s mind was reeling from the reintroduction to Ward and Hunter, Daisy was struck with yet another sickening worry. Fitz had been the anchor for the timeline from their end. Bobbi wasn’t anchoring her, Sousa and Kora...she was tethering _Lincoln_. Who had returned to his timeline without her. What did that mean for Bobbi? Was she safe? 

But now was not the time or place to mention such a concern to Hunter. 

“It’s like the wretched Framework all over again,” Daisy muttered, stepping back, pushing all thoughts of Bobbi from her mind. Deke wouldn’t have set up such a protocol for Lincoln to follow without a concrete plan and he was much more knowledgeable about time-travel and the quantum realm than she was. She just needed to trust Deke right now that he had figured things out and ask him later when they were in a much less dangerous situation.

“What is that?” yet another man asked.

“Trip!” Daisy’s jaw dropped. 

“Hey, girl,” Trip said with his usual easy grin. “Do I get a hug like Deke did or am I going to get punched in the cajones like Ward here?”

Unlike Deke, Ward, Hunter and Trip looked exactly like they had when she had last seen them. Ward and Hunter were roughly the same age that they had been in the old timeline; Trip was a year older max. But Hunter and Trip, at least, were a sight for sore eyes.

“Shut up,” Daisy teased, but she was smiling, which made Trip grin at her obvious joking. Deke had saved both Lincoln and Trip! And Hunter and Bobbi were still with the team! That made up for Ward in a way, she supposed, unable to keep herself from eyeing him suspiciously.

But even as she rejoiced that Deke had saved Lincoln _and_ Trip, she suddenly remembered Nathaniel Malick. Nathaniel, who had also recruited people who should be dead. It didn’t always backfire - Kora was a great example of that - but given that Ward was one of them, she was now more than a little wary. Kora had even mentioned to May, Coulson and Yoyo about how in this timeline, without Garrett, Ward would have been even worse. Garrett had obviously died; what did that mean for Ward? At the same time, Kora had said that if she killed Ward, Andrew, Rosalind and Lincoln would live. Daisy knew that Lincoln and Andrew at least were still alive, but at this time in the original timeline, they had also been among the living. Was Kora’s prophecy from the previous year going to come true? Would Lincoln and Andrew die because Ward had been spared? That was a question she really needed to ask her sister. 

“Dude, going at this rate, she likes three of the guys and clearly hates one of them, so I’ll probably be in the later category,” a fifth voice said, stepping out of the room. 

At this point, Daisy should really have been immune to all surprises, but she wasn’t. 

“Miles?” Daisy rounded on Deke. “Deke, what the actual hell? Lincoln _and_ Ward _and_ Miles? What next? The boyfriend who taught me how to curse in Russian?”

She couldn’t look at Sousa as she spoke. Unlike the whole Lincoln fiasco, Daisy _had_ told Sousa about Ward and Miles, and he knew perfectly well that she had no romantic feelings left for them whatsoever. But still...all of them alive and working for Deke’s S.H.I.E.L.D.… She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. 

“Whoa, buddy, we both dated her?” Miles teased Ward. “Guess we all know how that ended!”

Okay. Daisy had officially met someone she wanted to quake more than Ward. If she had to pick one ex-boyfriend/love interest out of all five who were alive right now in this timeline to throw into a wall, it would be Miles. Or maybe Deke. Because he had been the one to bring about this extremely uncomfortable reunion. 

Wryly, she recalled what Simmons had said when they had been driving to the Resistance with the Framework version of Ward. “This isn’t the Framework. This is hell.” While it wasn’t exactly accurate considering reuniting with all her ex-boyfriends was not half as bad as Hydra hadn’t taken over the world, it was still a sarcastically apt description of how she was currently feeling in this timeline.

“Not the time, Miles,” Deke said sharply, glancing quickly at Sousa and then back to Daisy, his ears on fire with embarrassment. “Where are Lincoln and Bobbi?” 

The mention of Lincoln was enough to put all awkwardness about stupid ex-boyfriends out of Daisy’s mind. She put her hand to her earpiece and spoke.

“Lincoln? Lincoln, are you there?” she asked, anxiety colouring her tone.

Two feet away, Miles muttered to Ward, but loud enough for everyone, including Daisy, Deke and Sousa to hear him, “I guess we know which boyfriend she liked best!” 

“Man, she literally just cracked a wall,” Trip said, gesturing to the wall that had become Daisy’s victim instead of Ward. “I don’t think annoying her is the way to go if you value your life.”

Trip was right. Miles was going to be quaked into a wall if he kept this up. Or maybe quaked _through_ the wall.

“Lincoln!” Daisy called again, her voice louder this time. Next to her, Sousa winced, putting one hand to his ear, not because she was panicking about Lincoln’s well-being, but because of the volume of her shout. 

Her earpiece crackled and Daisy exhaled in relief, pushing her earpiece in deeper. However, instead of Lincoln, Kora’s voice came from the other end of the line.

“I’ve found Gideon,” she said. “Daisy, Sousa, have you got the team?”

“Not the team I was expecting,” Daisy admitted. “But yes. Have you heard from Lincoln?”

Fear bubbled up in her stomach as she remembered the silence from earlier. Had Lincoln been swayed? 

“No…” Kora said uneasily. 

“Lincoln!” Daisy called again, seriously starting to panic, wondering if she used a vibrational quake, how fast she could reach the hangar. 

“I’m here, I’m here,” Lincoln’s voice came from the other end of the line. “Sorry about that. I encountered a bunch of guards, one of whom disconnected my earpiece and mike temporarily. But I’m good and I have the Zephyr.” 

Daisy bit her lip, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu amidst relief that he had finally responded. The beginning of the conversation had sounded exactly like their last goodbye. She couldn’t handle going through that again...she really couldn’t. To get him back, only to lose him again….

“Wheels up in five,” Lincoln said, seemingly oblivious to her inner turmoil. “Daisy, Sousa, Kora, get back ASAP; I don’t know where Hive or Giyera or Lucio is, so we might want to get a move on. Also, Daisy, remember, if Lucio is around, he might paralyze Kora upon reentering the plane, so be ready to blast him to the skies.”

Ah. Lincoln remembered that this was not a private line. The last thing she wanted right now was to have an emotional moment with Lincoln over the coms with Sousa and Kora listening. She would rather deal with Miles’ teasing for the rest of the plane flight back to the base. Which she might have to do anyway. 

“On it,” Kora said at the same time as Daisy replied, “Copy that.”

She turned back to Deke’s team who were impatiently waiting for her response from her coms conversation. While she had been talking with Lincoln and Kora, they had gathered weapons from the fallen Hydra soldiers on the ground; each was now armed with an automatic rifle and/or gun. 

“Is this the whole team?” she asked Deke. “What about Andrew and Raina?” 

While neither of them had been captured with Coulson’s team in the original timeline, Daisy was quickly learning that this timeline was not an exact replica of hers...and it might not be as simple as someone playing someone else’s role. It was one of her growing fears: that things would not be as easy as them trying to figure out who got swayed by Hive and who died. 

“Yes, this is the whole team,” Deke replied, also clueless to her inner anxiety. “Andrew and Raina are back at the base. They’re not trained for combat, Inhumans or not.” 

As he spoke, Daisy flinched with the sudden realization. If Deke hadn’t given Lincoln the time-travelling device to fetch her, Sousa and Kora, Lincoln might have gone to Andrew and Raina for help. They might have become the Secret Warriors. Did that mean that one of them was destined to die instead of her, Sousa, Kora and Lincoln? Daisy didn’t know, but her new theory was also an unpleasant solution. In the original timeline, similar to Lincoln, both Andrew and Raina had died for her to live. Was this what this timeline was? Trading the death of one loved one for another? Whatever it was, Daisy didn’t have time to figure it out, at least not while they were in Hive’s base.

“Let’s go,” she said, pushing aside the hundreds of questions she didn't have time to ask, not that anyone had the answers really. “Lincoln has the Zephyr; we have to meet him there.”

“Where’s Bobbi?” Hunter demanded. “And who the hell is this guy?” He gestured at Sousa. “Lincoln was with Bobbi last we heard-”

“Hunter, meet Daniel Sousa,” Deke said, gesturing between the two. “Sousa, meet-”

“Wait, Sousa died,” Trip interrupted. “Like in the 1950s. He was the first fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Is this guy a namesake or…?”

Of all the words Trip could have chosen. 

Like Daisy needed a reminder that someone on the team was going to die. That someone was going to be the fallen agent. 

“We have to go,” Sousa interrupted. “Lincoln said we don’t have much time.”

“Lincoln knows where Bobbi is,” Daisy added, seeing Hunter open his mouth again. “The faster we can get to him, the sooner you’ll know where she is.”

 _I hope_ , she added in her head as Hunter finally started following the others down the corridor. _Because I don’t know where Deke stashed her pod in the timeline or how long it’ll be before we can get her out of there_.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

When the team ran up the ramp into Zephyr One, Kora was looking anxiously around for them with an old, withered Gideon Malick glowering at her inside the containment module. Her face broke into a smile of relief when Daisy ran towards her.

“Thank goodness you’re back,” she began and then froze when she saw Ward. 

“Ward?” she said, glancing quickly at Deke.

“You didn’t know?” Daisy asked, but Deke was already speaking. 

“What are you doing with her?” he demanded, staring at Kora. “Quake her or something! She’s evil! She tried to kill you!”

Belatedly, Daisy remembered that they had already left Deke behind in the alternate timeline by the time Kora had joined their side. Unfortunately, the rest of Deke’s team - Hunter, Miles, Trip and Ward - were now pointing their guns at Kora. Sousa pointed his gun at Ward’s head. 

“Drop it,” Sousa ordered Ward, who froze, but did not put down his gun. 

“She’s different now,” Daisy replied, deliberately stepping in the way of the gunfire. “She’s on our side.”

Deke waved his arms around agitatedly. “Until she betrays us again!”

“Is that what you want me saying about Ward? And Miles?” Daisy snapped back, causing Deke to huff a sigh of exasperation. 

They glared at each other for a split second, then Daisy spoke. 

“I trust Kora with my life,” she said. 

“Ditto for Ward,” Deke retorted. “And Miles, as annoying as he is.”

“Kora said that in this timeline, if Ward lived, Lincoln would die!” Daisy protested.

“Kora said that when she was a psychopath working with Nathaniel Malick!” Deke objected. 

At that moment, Kora suddenly released a blast of energy, startling all five S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Sousa, who were standing on the ramp. Hunter, Miles, Trip and Ward opened fire, but Daisy deflected the bullets with a quake pulse, sending them spinning harmlessly past the six agents. Deke yelled at them all to stop, whirling around just in time to see Kora’s energy pulse take down Giyera, who had appeared, like he had in the original timeline to attack the team boarding the Zephyr. 

Kora had taken him down, not Daisy, who had done so in the original timeline. Was that confirmation that Kora had been swayed? Why? Hadn’t they set it up for Lincoln to be swayed instead? Either way, now was not the time to think about it.

Deke glanced back at the downed Giyera and yelled to his team, “Just get on the Zephyr!”

All four agents obeyed without question, scrambling onto the plane; Sousa did as well. Daisy put her hand to her earpiece. 

“Lincoln, close the ramp!” she called. “The team’s on the Zephyr and Kora just dropped Giyera. No sign of Lucio, but we should take off now.”

“Copy that,” Lincoln replied; the ramp started closing even as Daisy finished speaking as Lincoln pushed the button that activated it. “Daisy, tell Ward to get his butt up here to man the Zephyr. I could put us on autopilot, but I don’t want to do that till we get well away from Hydra airspace. Kora and I should be in containment, just in case.”

As he spoke, Zephyr One took off, heading away from the Hydra base as quickly as Lincoln could pilot it. 

“You want _Ward_ to fly the Zephyr?” Daisy asked both Lincoln and Deke, almost incredulously, her mind already panicking about Kora’s previous prediction about Ward causing Lincoln and Andrew’s death. 

“Ward’s our best pilot,” Lincoln and Deke said simultaneously; ironically neither could hear that the other was talking. 

Ward was already hurrying up the metal staircase that led to the cockpit; Kora interrupted before Daisy and Deke could start another fight about whether or not she and Ward were trustworthy.

“Daisy, it doesn’t matter right now whether Deke trusts me or not because Lincoln and I need to be in containment,” she said.

“Hold on,” Hunter interrupted. “We want _Lincoln_ to be in containment with her?” He gestured wildly back to where she had left Giyera flat on his back. “She just blasted the life out of the telekinetic freak! Imagine what she could do to Lincoln!”

“Maybe blasting the telekinetic freak is why we should trust her,” Deke began, with a slightly doubtful expression on his face, but Daisy appreciated the olive branch he was extending.

Lincoln, however, broke the olive branch as he was coming down the stairs.

“You can’t trust either of us,” he interjected. “Kora or I could have been swayed.”

Sousa spoke up. “Daisy could be too.”

Kora rounded on Daisy. “I thought you were supposed to stick with Sousa!”

“She thought that Lincoln was in danger and took off running before I could stop her,” Sousa explained. “There was a second or two where I didn’t see her.”

Lincoln raked a hand through his hair. “Great. Now all of us could have been swayed.”

“Sorry for worrying about you,” Daisy retorted sarcastically, causing Lincoln to backtrack.

“I didn’t mean-” he began, but Miles, ever the troublemaker, interrupted. 

“Trouble in Paradise?” he teased, causing both Daisy and Lincoln to glare at him. 

“ _Paradise Lost_ ,” Kora muttered, her lips twitching at the private joke, but by now, Deke had joined the fray.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Deke asked, waving a hand between them. “Aren’t you guys happy that, oh, I don’t know, that you’re reunited? I mean….”

Daisy and Lincoln simultaneously blushed, unable to look each other, or anyone really, in the eye. Unfortunately, Sousa, who up until this point had been amazingly patient, now said, a mixture of hurt and confusion in his voice, “Wait, Daisy, you told _Deke_ about Lincoln?”

Apparently his patience had its limits, not that Daisy blamed him for it, but that was the bombshell for a full-fledged three-way argument to begin. 

The arguing went on with everyone talking over each other, trying to make themselves heard. Daisy was trying to defend herself to Sousa, Lincoln was incredulously asking what Deke knew about his life from the other timeline, and Trip, Miles and Hunter were demanding to know what was going on. Fully exasperated, Kora suddenly lit the Zephyr up with a blinding white light, startling all of them so much that they stopped talking. 

“That’s better,” she said. “Now, before we all get blasted out of the sky by missiles or something, we need to explain what’s going on. Lincoln, you should tell them; they trust you much more than Daisy or I at this point in time.”

Kora had a good point. After her seemingly endless argument with Deke about Ward, Daisy had a pretty good feeling that she wasn’t anyone’s favourite person on the plane at the moment and Kora was even less liked than her. Deke definitely trusted her, but that trust did not extend to Kora, not that she really blamed him for his mistrust.

Lincoln took a deep breath. “Deke, Hive is a parasite. He releases parasites into the brains of Inhumans and uses said parasites to control us. That control is the ‘sway’. Any or all of us Inhumans - Daisy, Kora and I - could have been swayed and be under his control right now. Whoever has been swayed needs to get back to the base to get the Kree Orb that Bobbi and I took from James. But seeing as we know about the sway already and the arguing has already begun, we have even less time than we did in the original timeline. You need to put all three of us in containment and not let us out until we get back to the base and Lash has blasted us with his immunity energy blasts. Then we’ll be fine.”

There was dead silence for a moment.

Then Hunter said, “Yeah, so I lost you at ‘parasite’.”

Kora flung up her arms. “This guy is clueless.”

“Yeah and whose fault is that?” Hunter demanded. “Another timeline, some sort-of sway, Lash having some immunity thing? What is this?”

Deke heaved a sigh. “Long story about the timeline. Basically Daisy comes from another timeline, Kora and Sousa are from this one, but went back with Daisy to hers which is why they haven’t aged a day since I last saw them and I’ve aged 33 years, and Lincoln just got his memories back from the other timeline.” 

There was another dead silence.

“Yeah, I’m with Hunter,” Miles said. “I’m confused.” 

Daisy huffed. “We don’t have time for this. Deke, who’s your biochemist? Is there some device on the Zephyr that can scan our brains for parasites now? Or should we all go into containment?”

“Malick is in containment,” Trip pointed out, the only calm one at the moment. “And to be honest, I think he’s more dangerous than our _friend_.” He nodded to Lincoln. “I got the gist and medically speaking, even though we can trust you three, right now we can’t, so anyone of you could hurt each other. I don’t think it’s a good idea to lock all three of you up together when one of you could turn on the other two.”

“Actually it’s a really good idea,” Lincoln said. “Statistically speaking, two of us can defeat one of us.” 

“Yeah, no, I don’t like that idea,” Deke said. “You two would would never hurt each other.” He stared pointedly at Daisy and Lincoln as he spoke.

Daisy wasn’t sure why Deke was deliberately insinuating things between her and Lincoln. Was he still upset about her, 33 years later? But he was implying that they were more than they were...it was all just very confusing. 

Sighing, she raised her hands in exasperation. “Do you have a brain scanner then?” she asked, deliberately avoiding Deke’s insinuation. “Or the medical tests that Simmons used to check for parasites?”

“No,” Deke admitted. “The first one isn’t on board and as for the second, well, not only isn’t it on board, but Lincoln’s the doctor. If he’s been swayed, then, no offense, Lincoln, we can’t trust you to objectively run the tests.”

“None taken,” Lincoln replied at the same time as Hunter spoke up. 

“That’s because Bobbi’s not here,” Hunter said. “And Trip might be able to, if Lincoln told him what to do. Speaking of, Sparks, _where is Bobbi_?” 

Lincoln winced. “She became the tether in the timeline,” he said. 

“What the hell does that mean?” Hunter demanded. “Is she alright? When will she come back?”

“She’ll be fine,” Deke said quickly. “Bobo was the tether the previous time we time-travelled and he came back to Nana in one piece.”

“Nana and Bobo?” Trip repeated, starting to laugh, speaking over Daisy, who had opened her mouth to ask Deke about the effectiveness of Bobbi being their tether as well as Lincoln’s.

“My grandparents,” Deke said. 

“You let _her_ be the tether?” Hunter glared daggers at Lincoln. “Why didn’t you do it?”

“Because mine was the more dangerous job!” Lincoln shot back. “To her, it’ll be like a second in time when she emerges. She won’t be hurt! And, given her condition, it’s much better that I time-travelled instead of her!”

Hunter blanched. Daisy, Deke, Trip and Miles glanced back and forth between Hunter and Lincoln in shock; Sousa simply looked confused and Kora, resigned.

“You know?” Hunter asked, shocked.

“I’m the doctor on the base, of course I know!” Lincoln said, a wry expression on his face. “She came to me for medical checkups and even before she did, I already knew. I’m an M.D., Hunter, not just a field agent.”

“Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Miles asked at the same time as Trip asked, “Bobbi’s pregnant?” and Deke exploded, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“This did not happen in the original timeline,” Daisy muttered to Kora. Now was _definitely_ not the time to ask about Bobbi being their tether in addition to Lincoln’s. Her brain was still trying to wrap around the fact that Bobbi and Hunter were going to have a child. Out of all the couples from Coulson’s team, they were the least likely ones she would have assumed to have a child. Although she felt guilty for presuming it, she assumed that Bobbi’s pregnancy was an accident because she could not imagine, with them being at each other's throats 50% of the time, that that would be a suitable atmosphere to have and raise a child. 

“You said it,” Kora replied, nodding her head grimly as Deke started demanding why Lincoln and Hunter hadn’t told him because if he had known, he would have pulled Bobbi from the field earlier.

Sousa, who until now had been fairly quiet aside from his confrontation about Daisy having told Deke about Lincoln, spoke up. “Deke, you should hash this out with Hunter after these three are in containment,” he said. “We can take Gideon out and hold him at gunpoint; one of your men and I can do that. We should also contact someone back at the base to prepare the brain scanner for them and this Lash person.”

Deke frowned at Sousa, but allowed the change of subject anyway. “Thanks for the tip, Old Man,” he said. Ironically, he was physically the oldest of them all, despite having been born decades after the youngest of them. Turning to his team, he said, “Trip, contact Raina and have her ready to meet us with the brain scanner and tests when we return...although what tests, I have no idea. Hopefully she would. Hunter, go up to Ward and update him on the situation with the Inhumans. Sousa, you and I can hold the guns on this other Malick.” He glared at Gideon behind the glass. “Wretched family.”

“Miles should up the security on the containment module,” Daisy interrupted. “It won’t help if one of us decides to try to blast our way out, but he should be able to stop us from hacking out, at least for a while.”

Miles scoffed. “I can do better than a while,” he boasted. “No one can hack through my security.”

Lincoln looked at him. “She can,” he said, nodding to Daisy.

Daisy felt an unexpected rush of warmth through her veins. While Lincoln was being honest, he had also just complimented her hacking skills. Which was saying something, because everyone on Deke’s team clearly trusted one another the same way her old team did. The fact that Lincoln was dismissing Miles’ hacking in favour of hers, especially since she hadn’t hacked as much as physically fought in the last few years, meant a lot. 

“Dude, have some faith in me,” Miles retorted. “Why are you on her side? I mean, I get it, she’s hot, but-”

“If you don’t want to get thrown into a wall, you should stop talking,” Deke said, glancing quickly at Daisy and then back to Miles. 

At the same moment, Lincoln said simply, “Because you trained her. In the other timeline.”

“Shut up!” Miles said, staring at Daisy. “I did what now?”

“Trust me, I regret getting involved with you too,” Daisy said, glaring at Miles. 

“Okay,” Kora said, shaking her head in utter exasperation. “If any of you idiots flirt with my sister again, I’m going to blast all of you to smithereens. She has enough boy problems as it is without you idiots.” She glared at Miles as she spoke, even shooting a warning look at Deke, who technically hadn’t done anything wrong, aside from insinuating things between Daisy and Lincoln. 

Kora was definitely right though. Daisy didn’t even want to think about Ward or Miles regaining memories from the original timeline. That would make things 100 times more messy than they already were; at least Lincoln had been a hero, a good guy. Ward and Miles had been...the complete opposite. 

“With whom?” Miles asked. “Sparky here?”

“Shut up, Miles,” Lincoln, Kora and Daisy said simultaneously. 

“ _Awkward_ ,” Miles said. “Are you going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya now?”

“Miles, if you don’t stop talking, it won’t be Kora’s blasts that you have to worry about,” Daisy warned, her temper reaching the end of its straw. 

“Hang on a second,” Hunter interjected. “I agree with Trip. You seriously think it’s a good idea to lock up Shake and Bake and...and Break here? In one containment module? From what it sounds like, any single one of them could take down the Zephyr. Can you imagine what they’d do together?”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other and burst out laughing, despite the embarrassing nickname. No matter what timeline they were in, Hunter’s sense of humour was apparently the same. 

“Glad you find this amusing,” Hunter said sarcastically at the same time as Miles said, “And we’re back to the honeymoon.”

“Only one of us has been swayed,” Kora said. “Lincoln was right when he said that two of us can likely defeat the swayed one. And we don’t know which one, if any, so keeping us all contained in an Inhuman escape-proof pod is what’s best.”

Daisy grimaced. “You’ll want to put the pod outside the Zephyr,” she added. “Just in case. In the original timeline, Aida stole Lincoln’s powers and escaped the containment rooms on the base and, Deke, you were with the team when Kora shut down all the power inside the Lighthouse. As for me, well, I blew up the base once, so you might want to put the pod outside to eject us if necessary.”

“That was extremely not reassuring,” Hunter said.

“They won’t hurt each other permanently,” Sousa stepped in. “Maybe knock each other out...Daisy and Kora are sisters. And Lincoln, well….” He glanced at Lincoln. “He’s your teammate. You trust him. They’ll be fine.”

While the sister thing might have reassured some of them, it certainly didn’t pacify Deke, who still remembered Kora trying to kill Daisy. Still, he grabbed a gun and headed over to the containment module. 

“Sousa, you and I will watch Malick,” he said, tossing a gun to Sousa who caught it easily. Deke and Sousa had encountered the Malick family at so many different points in time that they knew better than any of the others on Deke’s team exactly what lengths the Malicks would go to achieve their end goals.

“Wait, why is Sousa not going into containment?” Trip asked. 

“He’s human,” Daisy, Lincoln and Kora said at the same time. 

Trip eyed them. “You sure they haven’t all been swayed? These guys are talking in a lot of unison here. Hive mind. Literally.”

Miles laughed although none of the others seemed to find it as funny. All of them being swayed would be a disaster.

“Either way, they’ll all be in containment together,” Deke said wearily; the arguing and the stress was getting to him. “If they’ve all been swayed, then they’ll all be locked up. At any rate, none of the humans can be swayed apparently, so we’ll be safe up here.”

Hunter snorted. “Great. So we get to keep Fake then,” he said, gesturing to Sousa.

“Hey!” Daisy protested.

“It’s true,” Hunter replied. “You four are the Secret Warriors and three of you have crazy Inhuman powers. So the team consists of Shake and Bake and Break and Fake.”

“Good one,” Miles said, holding his fist out for a fist bump.

“It’s a good thing Fitz isn’t here,” Daisy muttered to Kora, Sousa and Lincoln. “These guys are worse than a young Deke drunk on Zima. Can you imagine a quadruple dose of them?”

“You should see them get drunk and high,” Lincoln replied in a low voice. “They make your and Simmons’ night out on Kitson look like a kid party.”

Daisy couldn’t help smiling at the thought. “Do they wear monkey suits?” she asked. “And dance?”

Lincoln snorted. “No, but another time, remind me to tell you about Hunter’s bachelor party - second bachelor party, I should say. That was an adventure for sure. Especially since _I_ was sober and everyone else was wasted.”

“You don’t join them?” Sousa asked; Lincoln looked surprised that Sousa was addressing him, but responded anyway.

“I don’t drink,” he replied. “Sober since I overcame my addiction to vodka.”

Lincoln opening up about his previous alcohol addiction was new territory to Daisy; he had never been this open to people other than her before. But now, Daisy literally wanted to bury her head in the sand and never emerge. She could still remember asking Sousa if he had ever snuck away from his post and played pool and gotten drunk…. This conversation was about teammates who clearly broke the rules and here were two who at the very least didn’t get wasted…. That, plus Hunter’s ridiculous nicknames, plus Deke’s insinuations, plus Miles’ teasing, plus the very presence of Lincoln and Ward and Miles and Deke and Sousa...the situation really could not get any worse. 

Next to her, Kora was struggling to suppress her laughter. 

Lincoln caught Daisy’s gaze. “Some things have changed,” he said in a low voice, concern and anxiety lacing his tone. “We need to talk, Daisy.”

That was never good. 

Daisy swallowed hard, her impressed feelings disappearing under a flood of concern. She had had a feeling that that was coming, but it still hurt to hear him say that some things were different. Of course some things had changed. It was a different timeline, no Jiaying and Gordon, no her…. They needed to talk. He was right. They needed to figure out where they stood because right now, it was too confusing. 

While Daisy, Lincoln, Sousa and Kora had been talking, Deke had opened up the containment module to let Gideon Malick out. The old man smirked at them, but the slightest widening of his eyes at the sight of Daisy and Sousa gave away his surprise. Daisy and Sousa hadn’t appeared to have aged at all despite it having been 1973 when they had last met, whereas he was very much older. 

“All yours,” Deke said, eyes still locked on Gideon; Sousa moved beside him to aim his gun at the old man. “Trip, cuff him.”

Trip approached Gideon, slapping handcuffs on him and shoving him towards the side of the plane. Once Gideon was sitting on the floor, Trip cuffed him a second time to a metal pole and wound a heavy metal chain around his body, similar to how in the original timeline, Yoyo had held Pax captive on the Zephyr. 

Daisy, Lincoln and Kora all moved towards the containment module, but even as Daisy and Lincoln stepped inside, Kora hesitated. 

“Wait, Deke?” Kora called over her shoulder.

Deke looked up, surprised that Kora of all people was addressing him when he’d made it clear about his distrust of her. 

“Can I borrow your Walkman?” she asked.

“My Walkman?” Deke repeated. 

“Yeah,” Kora said. “To listen to music.”

“Why?” Deke asked.

Kora rolled her eyes. “Because they need to talk,” she said, jabbing a finger at Daisy and Lincoln who were already in the containment module. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Miles asked Deke. “Your Walkman has wires, electrical components...Break here could do some damage with it if she wanted to.”

Kora held out her hand. “Please? Besides...if I don’t focus on them talking, the only other thing I’ll have to listen to is you and Sousa talking in my timestream version of the future and that’s going to be just as bad.”

Deke groaned. Even though he didn’t trust her, her ultimatum was one that he clearly did not like to think about. “Okay,” he said, pulling his Walkman out of his pocket and shoving it into Kora’s hand. “But if you bust it, you’re in trouble.”

Kora grinned. “Sure thing, boss,” she said, stepping into the containment module; Miles closed the doors behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Daisy walked into the containment module and was instantly struck by how small it was. One thing that Deke had not upgraded in the new timeline was the size of the containment module. Although she had a pretty good feeling that, at the very least, the new Quinjet in Deke’s Zephyr would be able to fly in space.

No longer too little, too late. 

She sat down on the bench at the far end of the module; Lincoln sat down next to her, but with enough space between them that she didn’t feel awkward, feel like she _had_ to talk to him or have to touch him. Kora, on the other hand, sat at the complete opposite end of the module, stuck her legs up on the seat opposite and plugged in Deke’s Walkman. Why he was still carrying that around instead of using a more technologically advanced iPod or some other fancy invention, Daisy had no idea, but she suspected it was sentimentality. He had missed them. Just like they had.

As the containment module began to descend, Kora popped one earbud in and then said, “Don’t mind me. I’m just going to listen to Deke’s rendition of ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’. Because the playlist on this Walkman is almost entirely all his own songs. But that’s okay. Go ahead and talk. I’m not listening.” She popped the other earbud in and crossed her arms over her chest in a comfortable fashion. The only thing she wasn’t doing was closing her eyes, which Daisy knew was because one of them was likely swayed and closing her eyes would be the stupidest thing of all things any of them had done. 

There was nothing as awkward as having her sister tell them that they should/could talk when she “wasn’t listening”. Especially since she probably already knew what they were going to be talking about thanks to the timeline. 

“So…,” Lincoln said slowly, dragging out the word. 

There was an awkward pause and then both of them spoke at the same time. 

“I never wanted-” Daisy began as Lincoln said, “I know about-”

They both laughed awkwardly. 

“You first,” Lincoln said. 

Daisy looked down at her boots. Talking to them would be easier than talking to Lincoln right now.

“Lincoln...about that…,” she began and then stopped. Started again. “I know you got your memories back. But...well, I know you didn’t _live_ them. I suspected that when you first woke up, but after all the differences in this timeline and what you said earlier...that pretty much confirmed it for me….They’re your experiences, but they also aren’t. Not really. Right? I just...I just….”

Lincoln exhaled slowly. When he spoke, his words were heavy, like he was having a hard time speaking as well. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I know how hard that must have been for you to say. If you have even a fraction of the feelings that your Lincoln felt for you...his death must have shattered your world.”

Daisy felt the tears coming again. Damn. She’d cried more this day than she had in the last year. But this confirmation that he wasn’t really her Lincoln...he was a different person. He didn’t feel for her the same way her Lincoln had. This wasn’t Simmons’ Fitz returning from the dead. Fitz had lost time from their adventure in Deke’s dystopian future and the whole Gravitonium debacle, but he’d still known Simmons, still loved her, still personally experienced everything up till they had been swallowed by the white Time Monolith. But this Lincoln...they hadn’t shared anything together up until a few hours ago when he’d appeared before them in Zephyr Three. He was more like May’s Sarge...thankfully without the whole trying-to-kill-her thing. 

“You really aren’t him,” Daisy said, unable to look him in the eye. Unable to look at the man who was identical to her Lincoln, her Lincoln who loved her. It was too painful. “Are you?”

Lincoln took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Daisy. I’m not him. But I’m also...not not him either. I’m...I’m not the same me I was before I got his memories. Or maybe my memories. I’m not sure. I care about you a lot. But I don’t know….”

Hope rose inside Daisy’s stomach and she actually put a hand to her chest to help with her breathing. He still cared. But...how? Why? To what capacity? 

“You don’t know how much of it is him and how much of it is you,” Daisy said, piecing things together. Fitz had gone through a similar thing after the Framework; the two lives clashed in his head and he had been supremely confused, to the point that he’d gained a split personality disorder. “You don’t know whether what you feel is real. Your reaction to me earlier...while you do know who I am and you didn’t want me to get hurt...you were still confused. Aren’t you?”

Lincoln grabbed her hand urgently, but let go again almost immediately. She was both grateful and upset for the action; at least it meant that he cared. But that caring was almost too confusing right now, which was why she was glad that he had let go.

“I meant everything I said,” Lincoln said holding her gaze. “Even though I was confused, I meant everything, _everything_ , I said. About dying for you again, about not wanting to let you die...I still care about you. That is one thing I _do_ know. And I’m pretty sure that that is coming from me. And not just as him. But I need time to figure it out for sure.”

A single tear fell down Daisy’s cheek although she was trying to hold them back. Even though he was still trying to sort out his memories and was confused about who he really was, he still cared. Even though he wasn’t exactly her Lincoln and was juggling his memories with the new influx of her Lincoln’s memories. He might not love her the way her Lincoln had, but it was better this way in a way. Because if they ended up together in the end, they wouldn’t be trying to be people they weren’t and holding on to things that they should let go. 

Lincoln looked down. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know it’s not ideal, I know it’s confusing, I know it’s not fair and it’s not what you want to hear…. But I’m not exactly him.” 

It was really true then. He really wasn’t her Lincoln. But at the same time, he wasn’t not him either. It wasn’t a Fitzsimmons reunion, but it also wasn’t a May-Sarge reunion. This new Lincoln was in the hazy grey area in between. Which was technically better than nothing, but also a whole hell of a lot more confusing. What were her feelings for her Lincoln and what did she care for this timeline version of Lincoln? 

Daisy was used to unconventional things happening. She had dated Sousa, who had been born 70 years before her, one of her former teammates was Fitzsimmons’ future grandson, and Coulson seemed to have the superpower of always returning from the dead. This was sadly not the most crazy thing that had ever happened to her. But at the same time, it was the most heart-wrenching one. 

“Don’t apologize,” Daisy said sternly, managing to speak calmly even though her insides were a mess. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t any of their faults. “I might not know this you as well as I know my Lincoln, but I do know the man who risked his life coming to another timeline to find a person whom he had seen in maybe two visions in an attempt to save his team. I know that you were willing to adopt the memories of your doppelganger because there was a possibility that doing so would save your team _and_ us. Three strangers whom you barely knew. I know that even though you barely know Kora and Sousa and I, you aren’t willing to sacrifice any one of us to save your team. I know that you would rather risk your own life than those of a couple of strangers. I know that you wouldn’t deliberately hurt me by telling me this. It’s what needed to be said. I know that. And...all those things that I just said...that’s the real you, isn’t it?”

Lincoln looked at her. “‘The real me’,” he repeated. “Not ‘the man who killed his only friend. Who had to be saved from himself again and again’.” 

Daisy choked back a half-laugh, half-sob. “He told me that. Before our first kiss. But you knew that, didn’t you?”

Lincoln nodded slowly. “You taught him - me - us - whatever, in that timeline, that he wasn’t a monster. Not some horrible thing.” 

“You believe that, don’t you?” Daisy asked.

Lincoln was silent for a moment, sorting through his memories. Finally, he spoke. “I do,” he said. “When I got my Inhuman powers in this timeline...well, Deke and Raina were the ones who guided me through Terrigenesis and helped me control my powers. Deke kept telling me that no matter how many bunker rooms I set on fire, I wasn’t a screw-up. He told me ‘The steps you take don't need to be big, they just need to take you in the right direction’.”

Daisy smiled wanly. “Simmons. She taught him that. Or rather, she told Alya that. And Alya taught him that.”

Lincoln smiled. “I know,” he said, tapping the side of his head. “The timeline’s in here.”

They were silent for a minute and then Daisy finally said, tentatively, “I know that you’re not sure if you’re him or if he’s you or anything like that. How about...how about we start trying to be friends first? I’ll try to treat you like I would any of my other friends and not compare you to him. And...you can try to understand if you’re you or him or whatever combination of the two you want. And...maybe we could try to be friends.”

Lincoln nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.” He paused, hesitated and then said, tentatively, “You should go back to Sousa if you want. He’s a good guy, Daisy, and he genuinely cares about you. He loves you. You deserve someone who loves you, not someone who doesn’t even know who he is or what he feels-”

Daisy interrupted, surprising even herself at her confidence in her answer. “It’s not that simple. I really care about Sousa, I do, but if I go back to him now, all of us will know that it’s because I can’t be with _my_ Lincoln. He deserves better than that...we all deserve better than that. Better than being with someone whom we think is someone else. If I go back to him, it’ll be because I truly love him and not because I can’t be with my Lincoln. Or you. Just because you’re not exactly my Lincoln doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you. Just like you don’t know who you are and what you feel, I also don’t know how I feel about either of you right now. I do know that I care for you too. For...for the parts of you that are you and not for the parts of you that are him...at least I think that that is what it is. Like you...I’m really confused right now. And I’m too confused to be in a relationship right now. I think...I think I need time to work on myself. Before I can think about being with anyone else.”

The expression on Lincoln’s face was indecipherable to Daisy. When she’d mentioned that she wasn’t going to go back to Sousa, the relief on his face was palpable, although it vanished almost immediately because he knew that his reaction was not fair to either of them. Now, he looked a little sad, a little hopeful...just a mix of different emotions. It made sense though. If she could have looked in a mirror, her face probably reflected the same feelings.

Lincoln laughed hollowly, recognizing her words from her Lincoln’s memories. “Don’t blame yourself,” he said quietly. “You didn’t ruin things with you and Sousa. Nor did you ruin things with you and Lincoln. It’s just...part of life at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Crazy is the norm.”

Daisy turned away, blinking back tears for what felt like the millionth time that day. 

_Did I ruin this? Us?_

She could still feel the ghost of the memory, the memory when she had been asking Lincoln if she had ruined them by her actions when she had been swayed by Hive. It had been one of the worst days of her life; it had been the day that Lincoln had died. He had told her he loved her just before he died, but she hadn’t had time to say it back. And she’d wanted to, she’d really wanted to. She’d loved and missed him for years afterwards and after the whole Framework debacle, she had honestly wondered what would have happened if she’d accepted Aida’s offer. While it wouldn’t have been real...the possibility of having him back, even in a capacity of this Lincoln not being _exactly_ him, was enough to make her full of hope and love again. Which was dangerous, considering she didn’t know how much she was projecting old feelings towards this Lincoln or how she felt about Sousa. 

“Why don’t you tell me about your training with Deke and Raina?” Daisy suggested before she could start fully spouting waterworks. “I’d like to know whether you managed to heat up food in this lifetime.”

Lincoln laughed. “Still heated up a small pool in this timeline,” he admitted. “And almost burned down the base a few times instead of Afterlife. Until Deke lined my room with the same stuff that lines the containment modules.” 

Daisy grinned. “Only a few times? I can’t even remember the number of times _I_ almost brought down the base.”

Lincoln smirked. “Is that a challenge?” he teased. “Are we competing for who destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. property more times?”

Daisy smirked back. “Bring it on, Sparky.”

“Alright, you asked for it, Miss Quake,” Lincoln joked, but his smile disappeared a second after he spoke. 

Daisy herself froze as Lincoln realized what he’d said. Memories of Sousa teasing her about the public’s name for her came to the forefront of her mind and her smile slipped. In the wretched Quinjet. In space. Why, oh why, was every stupid significant memory of either of them becoming co-related in her mind? 

“Sorry,” Lincoln said, realizing all at once what he’d said as the memories registered. “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine,” Daisy said, waving her hand, even though her heart was now doing jumping jacks in her chest. “Really.” She paused briefly. “So...tell me the story behind the first time you almost burned down the base.”

Lincoln gave her a concerned look, like he wasn’t sure if she was really okay with things. But she nodded at him, genuinely wanting to hear more about his real experiences that she had yet to hear or be a part of. Recognizing her need to be distracted and wanting to connect to him, Lincoln nodded, stretching his legs out into the aisle between the seats and relaxing for the first time since he’d appeared on Zephyr Three. Appreciating the need to relax, Daisy twisted slightly to face him, tucking one leg up to her chest and letting the other leg dangle in the aisle. 

“It all started when…,” Lincoln began.

It felt like old times at Afterlife, sitting on her bed and eating popcorn, playing checkers, him levitating her with his powers and helping her realize that their powers were gifts. But these were new times...and in a way, since they were changed people, that was better.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

If there was ever an awkward situation to be in, Deke was in that now. 

He was currently aiming a gun at Gideon Malick of all people, with Sousa, who was his former flame’s boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, he wasn’t sure which, all while another of her ex-boyfriends was trying to keep her and her formerly dead ex-boyfriend, who were talking, in a containment module. And of course, they were all in a plane being flown by yet another of her former love interests. That day _defined_ weird. 

Deke didn’t hate Sousa. He didn’t even dislike him. It had been 33 years since he had last interacted with Daisy and while he still loved her - he probably would always love her - he wasn’t _in_ love with her anymore. He wasn’t sure if Sousa would see it that way, but either way, he knew that he was going to be in Sousa’s doghouse because he had reintroduced Lincoln into their lives.

“You haven’t aged a day,” Gideon Malick told Sousa. “I used to think my brother was crazy, talking about experimenting with Inhumans and powers, but you...you haven’t aged at all. And neither has your...fiancée.”

Sousa glared at Gideon Malick, but didn’t say anything. Deke had to admire the guy’s seemingly incredible patience. He had no idea whether Sousa and Daisy were still together, but he very much doubted that they were actually engaged. Daisy wasn’t wearing a ring for one, and for another, it had been abundantly clear from their argument earlier that Daisy hadn’t told Sousa about Lincoln. And from the little interactions that Deke had seen between Daisy and Lincoln earlier, he knew that that was the elephant on the plane, as Ward would say, that had to be addressed. 

“Or maybe she broke up with you,” Gideon mused. “Because of Boyfriend of the Year,” he said, indicating his head towards Lincoln even though they couldn’t see the containment module with Daisy, Lincoln and Kora anymore. “Am I right?”

“Shut up,” Deke snapped at him, feeling a strange sense of sympathy for Sousa, despite or perhaps _because_ of everything that they’d been through. “Just because you didn’t get the girl doesn’t mean that you can be an asshole.” 

As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the leader of his team, Deke was incredibly protective of them. He had personally recruited both Lincoln and Miles to join S.H.I.E.L.D; Lincoln after his drunk driving accident in Cincinnati and Miles after the latter had hacked their supposedly secure systems. Ward and Trip had both had Victoria Hand, Deke’s second-in-command as their S.O. before he had requested them for his team. Those four and May had been the core of his team for almost three years now; Bobbi and Hunter had joined his team almost a year previously. They had served as replacement specialists for May and Ward, when Ward had taken some personal time to find Kara after her disappearance and May had taken vacation time with Andrew and their daughter. Although both had returned to Deke’s team, he had kept Bobbi and Hunter on because he liked them and it was important, given how May had a family, that he have replacement agents whom he trusted in case she ever decided to permanently leave. Even though Deke was not too fond of Sousa, it was his automatic instinct to defend the people who came under his lead. 

Even if Daisy, Sousa and Kora had yet to truly accept his authority. 

“Are you talking about yourself or Not-Fiancé here?” Gideon asked, his lip curling at Deke in amusement. “Because let me tell you, Blondie over there is winning.” He nodded as best he could over to the place where the containment module had used to be. 

Sousa spoke up this time. “You know, I’d think twice about insulting her or Deke here,” he said. “Because Daisy is the reason you no longer have a brother and Deke here killed your father. So, you might want to stop talking because if either of them wants to kill you, there’s no one here to stop them.”

If there was ever a moment for Deke to want to punch Sousa, now was the time. Thanks to his previous encounters with Gideon Malick, the latter obviously knew who he was, but he had previously been unaware that Deke had shot and killed his father and that Daisy had killed Nathaniel technically in another timeline. And now, Gideon would definitely be aware that there was something screwy going on with all the timelines…if he hadn’t guessed that already, thanks to Daisy and Sousa’s lack of aging in 33 years. 

Gideon’s previously smug face morphed into one of hatred and he glared at Deke and then at Sousa. 

“You’ll pay,” Gideon hissed; the hatred in his voice was so venomous that Deke felt chills going up his spine. “Whether it’s me or Hive or Hive’s inside man, you three will pay for your actions. I swear on my daughter’s life.”

Deke and Sousa realized the same thing at the same time. “Daisy isn’t Hive’s spy.”

Gideon flared his nostrils. “Ever the protective duo. Even if I knew who the spy is, I wouldn’t tell you. But honestly, I think she’s happier down there than up here. Take a look.” He nodded over to where Miles was staring at an iPad, trying to tighten the security on the containment module.

Miles looked up when the others focused their attention on him. “Sure, I can bring up feed,” he said, walking over. 

They _really_ shouldn’t be taking suggestions from a prisoner. But the desire to see what was going on was incredibly tempting to both Deke and Sousa, for very different reasons. 

Deke didn’t care if Daisy and Lincoln were reconnecting because he had feelings for her. He had gotten over her and while he still cared a lot about her happiness, he wasn’t jealous of Lincoln. Or Sousa, for that matter. But there _was_ a tiny part of him - his pride - that would be happier that Daisy was rekindling her relationship with her first love whom she had been with before she’d even met Deke. However, a larger part of him just really wanted both of them to be happy. Since Deke had found Lincoln in Cincinnati and had trained him to become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., they had developed a close relationship, similar to that between Daisy and Coulson. Given both their histories with Daisy, it was on the more peculiar side, but really no stranger than Deke being Fitzsimmons’ future grandson or them rescuing Sousa from the past. And Deke had known, ever since Raina had told Lincoln about her vision of him and Daisy, that Daisy was going to play a big part in Lincoln’s life. Considering that she’d never been born in this timeline, he had known that it would only be a matter of time before they were reunited.

Even though it definitely wasn’t the smartest thing to be doing, both Deke and Sousa glanced down at the video that Miles pulled up. Perhaps fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how they looked at the situation, Gideon was right. Both Daisy and Lincoln were laughing about something Lincoln had just said, their bodies angled in towards each other. Although Miles hadn’t turned on the audio recording, it was clear from their postures that they were already very comfortable around each other. As they watched, Lincoln held out his hand to Daisy and without touching her, channeled electricity through one of his fingers into hers. She brought up her other hand and did the same to him, sending vibrations through her fingers to touch his. Deke had seen Lincoln try that before - he had used his powers to levitate himself above the ground - but he had never seen him try it with another human being before. Based on Sousa’s stiff posture next to him, Deke was pretty sure that whatever Daisy was trying with Lincoln, she hadn’t tried it with Sousa, either because he was human, or because it was Lincoln, Deke had no idea.

Kora sat in the opposite corner of the containment module, listening to Deke’s Walkman, bobbing her head to the music. Ironically, considering how awkward Deke felt observing his son figure and his former love flirting and how obviously uncomfortable Sousa was, Kora looked like the world’s most comfortable third-wheeler, with her feet up and her countenance calm.

All the more props to Kora. 

Even though Deke was still wary of her allegiances.

“Toldja,” Gideon said, smirking.

“What’s your point?” Deke asked roughly. “That you’re an asshole or that you’re an asshole?”

Gideon’s smirk grew wider; Deke fought the desire to punch him in his smug grin. “If you thought that I was going to be upset about Miss Not-Fiancée there and Mr Director here killing my brother and my father, you’re right,” he said. “But it just proves that I have no reason whatsoever to help you. Maybe Daisy is swayed, maybe she isn’t. But that would be so much easier for you two to believe that Daisy and her boyfriend are bonding while one of them is swayed….”

Deke stepped away from Miles and closer to Gideon, setting his face in a threatening countenance. “Tell us what you know. Tell us who is swayed!”

Gideon laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Sousa stepped forward. “Listen, man, right now, I’m the only person standing between Daisy or Deke taking you out. I don’t like you, but they _really_ don’t like you. You’re a big part of the reason that Daisy lost her first love, so if she wants to quake your sorry behind all the way into outer space, there’s no stopping her. As for Deke, well, you held his entire team hostage for an ancient alien Inhuman, so he’s got more reason to hate you than most. Tell us what we want to know and I’ll make sure that neither of them kills you.”

Gideon smirked. “Is this the ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine?” he mocked.

Both Deke and Sousa glanced at each other, confused by the idioms. 

“I’m the carrot, he’s the stick,” Sousa said. “Like Chief Dooley and Jack Thompson. Although let me tell you, you don’t want Deke getting out the stick.”

“Yeah, I’m the Kree enforcer,” Deke decided, recognizing the historical names - as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he had to know _some_ history - but still having no idea what relation they had to a carrot and a stick. 

Gideon shook his head in amused disbelief. “Scary,” he mocked, also not understanding their idioms, but going with the mockery instead.

“Okay, playtime’s over,” Deke decided. “Tell us who’s been swayed, or I promise you, I’ll go after Stephanie. And that won’t be pretty, considering I can have agents leave in the Quinjet this very second. I have enough pilots and firepower to take her down within half-an-hour.”

Gideon’s face tightened. “You wouldn’t,” he said.

“He would,” Sousa and Miles said at the same time, causing Gideon to look up at Miles - Miles, who knew Deke a lot better than Sousa did.

“How about this?” Gideon suggested. “Tit for tat. I tell you about Hive and you tell me about the one who got away.” He nodded over to the place where the containment module should be.

“Daisy is not part of the deal,” Deke said immediately.

“Really?” Gideon asked. “You would pass up getting information on Hive because you want to protect her? Touching, really….”

“She’s not part of the deal,” Sousa repeated, now aiming his gun at Gideon.

“How about Lover Boy then?” Gideon offered. “Tell me about _Lincoln_ and we have a deal.”

“What is it with you Malicks and your obsessions with Inhumans?” Deke muttered under his breath. Aloud, he said, “Lincoln’s not up for bargaining either.”

Gideon scoffed. “You don’t think trading their secrets is worth it? I’m going to die soon anyway, so there’s really no harm in telling me what I want to know.”

Deke and Sousa looked at each other. Then Deke was leaning forward, grabbing Gideon by the collar of his shirt.

“Charles Hinton gave you a vision of your death,” he inferred. “Who killed you? Who?”

Gideon laughed mockingly. “Hive. Through one of his swayed Inhumans. You aren’t going to be able to prevent it...like you weren’t able to prevent Charles’s death. So what’s the harm in telling me about Romeo and Juliet if I’m going to die soon?”

“Which one of them is swayed?” Deke snapped. “If you tell us, maybe we can stop them before they kill you-”

Gideon laughed again. “As if you could. The amount of Inhuman power you have packed into that containment module is astonishing. Any one of them could take down this entire plane in a heartbeat. The only thing preventing them from busting out is each other. They care about each other too much to hurt each other.” He paused. “As if Darling Daisy and Lover Boy Lincoln and Catastrophic Kora would ever risk each others’ lives and attack each other before getting Hive what he needs.”

“Who is Hive?” Deke demanded. “Have you seen his face?”

Gideon smirked. “Again, tell me what I want to know about our star-crossed lovers and I’ll tell you all you want to know about Hive.”

Deke was sorely tempted to start punching Gideon if the latter didn’t soon start confessing all that he knew. There was no way that Deke was going to trade information on Daisy or Lincoln for knowledge about Hive, unless they agreed to it. And even if they did, it still felt like a betrayal to be divulging private information about them to a man who clearly had an unhealthy obsession with all Inhumans, especially Daisy. 

“What do you want to know about them?” Miles asked; he had come up without either Deke or Sousa noticing.

“Miles!” Deke snapped, but Gideon was looking much more appreciative. 

He nodded approvingly at Miles. “Finally someone with common sense.” He paused. “I want to know about the days they died.”




Hunter knocked on the side of the door frame that led to the cockpit. He had enough going on with Bobbi’s disappearance and her pregnancy, much less wondering about which of the three Inhumans in the containment module were swayed. Not to mention this other timeline thing that Deke had briefly spoken about and the ancient parasitic Inhuman called Hive. He needed a distraction. And not in the form of Miles and his ill-timed jokes. 

Ward was sitting at the helm and looked up when he knocked.

“Room for one more?” Hunter asked.

“All yours,” Ward replied, nodding to the co-pilot seat.

Hunter sat down and put his feet up on the dashboard. Of all of Deke’s agents, the one most likely to give him quiet and space was Ward. Miles and Trip were great when he wanted to have fun and chill, but when he needed to be serious and have some peace, Ward was the one to go to. Lincoln was similar to Bobbi; sometimes serious and sometimes fun, but either way, going to either of them was not an option right now. 

“What’s going on?” Ward asked, flipping a couple of switches. 

Hunter heaved a sigh. “Bobbi.”

Ward smirked. “‘The demonic hellbeast’?” 

Hunter laughed. “She’s missing, Ward, and while I don’t understand all this time-travel crap, I won’t be able to get her back until Shake and Break and Fake are gone.”

Ward looked at him. 

“Daisy, Kora and Sousa,” Hunter clarified. “Lincoln’s Bake.”

Ward shook his head. “Where would they go? And speaking of which, where did they come from?”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “I don’t actually know,” he said. “They mentioned something about a timeline and while the boss doesn’t tell me everything, I have a pretty good feeling that he’s not from this timeline and neither are they. Do you know? You know more about Deke than I do.”

While Ward was not one of Deke’s personal recruits like Lincoln and Miles, he _had_ been on the team longer than Hunter had. Hand was no longer on Deke’s personal team, but once Ward and Trip had graduated from her supervision, Deke had requested for them to be the specialists on his team. As the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., it was rare for anyone to refuse him, even Hand, who was his head at the Triskelion while he ran the Playground.

“Not really,” Ward admitted. “Lincoln would probably know better than I. Raina can predict the future, for one, and Lincoln got that vision of Charles Hinton a few days ago. Those Inhumans have much more dealings with spacetime and time-travel and alternate timelines than I do.”

“Bloody Inhumans,” Hunter muttered. “I still think it’s an unfair advantage they get powers. We train and train and train and they go through Terrigenesis and boom! They can control electricity and predict the future and turn into freaking monsters.” 

Ward raised an eyebrow at him. “At least Lincoln and Raina are solid,” he said. “They would never betray us.”

Hunter snorted. “Right. Considering that we just had a lovely argument downstairs about how Shake and Bake and Break have all been ‘swayed’ by Hive, I don’t think trusting them is on the priority chain.”

Ward looked at him. “Define ‘swayed’.”

Hunter took his boots off the dashboard and leaned forward. “Apparently, Inhumans who encounter Hive can be ‘influenced’ by him into following his will. I have no idea. I don’t know the details; I’m not a scientist or med person like Lincoln and Bobbi. Did Kara mention anything like that to you after the alien planet?”

“No,” Ward admitted. “But then again, Kara’s human. She wouldn’t have been swayed by him the same way that Lincoln or the other two - did you say Daisy and Kora? - were.” 

Hunter threw his hands up in the air. “At this point, we only know that this bloody ancient Inhuman is back and that we can’t even trust our own teammates. _And_ they somehow lost Bobbi in the process. And we just lost May permanently because of Andrew…. These new replacements are _not_ cutting it.”

Ward glanced over at him. “Surely you understand why May left,” he said. He paused. “As a soon-to-be-father, you of all people should understand.”

Hunter sat up quickly. “Who told you?” he demanded. “Was it Sparky? I didn’t tell anyone, but she apparently went to him for check-ups. Was him telling you his revenge for the whole bachelor party thing?”

Ward flipped several switches above his head before answering. “Lincoln didn’t tell me,” he said. “Kara did. She found Bobbi puking in the women’s room next to the lab one morning when she was there for a check-up. Bobbi told her what was going on…. They bonded since Kara returned from the alien planet. As much as Kara likes Lincoln, she’s much more comfortable going to a human female for medical advice than a male Inhuman, especially since Death on that planet is an Inhuman.”

Hunter sighed heavily, thunking his chin on his fist propped up on his knee. 

Ward shot him a quizzical look. “Are you going to leave when Bobbi gives birth?”

Hunter fidgeted. “S.H.I.E.L.D.’s always been more of her thing,” he admitted. “But I think this time we worked out _because_ we couldn’t keep secrets from each other. It’s different for May and Andrew. Andrew was a psychologist, not an agent.”

“But May left for their daughter after Andrew’s accidental Terrigenesis in the lab,” Ward pointed out. “If...well, not saying that anything would happen to either of you, but-”

“I’d leave for Bobbi and our child in a heartbeat,” Hunter said, looking at Ward in the eye. “If it were that simple, I would.” He sighed again. “But it isn’t.”

Ward nodded slowly. “I figured. Was...was it an accident?”

“Yes,” Hunter admitted. “But I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said, a surprisingly adamant tone in his voice. “The field operation with Lincoln was supposed to be Bobbi’s last one until she gave birth. As much as the lab bores her, she agreed that the safety of our child took priority. But now….”

“Hey, I don’t know much about time-travel,” Ward said, “But we both know the director. He would do _anything_ to save someone he cares about and Bobbi is one of those people. Remember when I was ‘enslaved’ by Lorelei? And when Sif wanted to take Lincoln back to Asgard? He’ll bring her back to this timeline...if she has in fact gone to another one.”

Hunter sighed heavily. “Apparently she’s some ‘tether in the timeline’ - whatever that means. But none of us can ask the director right now because he’s currently holding a gun on creepy old Gideon Malick.”

Ward grimaced. “Sounds like quite the story. Why isn’t he in containment?”

“Because that’s where Shake and Bake and Break are,” Hunter grumbled. “Because of the ‘sway’.” He made quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke. “Although something tells me if they want to break out of containment, we probably couldn’t stop them. Best to just drop them.” 

“You’re full of rhyming words today,” Ward said skeptically.

“I’m serious,” Hunter said. “Anyone of them could take the plane out of the sky.” 

“You want me to drop three Inhumans, one of whom is our friend and two of whom are probably innocent, into the ocean?” Ward asked incredulously. “It could kill them!”

“It won’t kill them,” Hunter said. “They’ll have broken out of containment already anyway; they wouldn’t die at the bottom of the ocean. They probably won’t even get wet. Lincoln can fly - or at least levitate. And have you seen what that Daisy girl can do with her powers? She could probably jump very high to say the least.” 

“And the last girl, Kora?” Ward demanded. “She definitely can’t fly, Hunter!”

Hunter grimaced. “Well, two out three, remember? Either Lincoln or Daisy could save her.” He caught the look on Ward’s face. “It might be the only way to prevent one of them from killing us.”

Ward winced. “At least we don’t have to worry about that right now,” he began and then stopped when a loud beeping noise came from the systems in front of him.

“What’s that?” Hunter asked as Ward hastily jerked the yoke and snapped several switches into position.

“Missiles!” Ward shouted. “Buckle in. This is going to get rough!”


	12. Episode 4: After-Waves - Chapter 12

**Episode 4: After-Waves**

**Chapter 12**

A loud beeping filled the containment module and Daisy and Lincoln looked up, startled. Ward’s voice sounded over the intercom.

“Two missiles are locked on us and coming in hot. Sit down and buckle up. The next few minutes are going to be bumpy.”

“We have to do something,” Kora said.

Daisy and Lincoln turned. She had already gotten to her feet, doing the complete opposite of what Ward had instructed, shoving Deke’s Walkman into her pocket and shaking her long black hair out of her face.

The fact that she had heard Ward speaking despite the music that she had been listening to made Daisy wonder how much she had been eavesdropping on her and Lincoln’s conversation. But now was not the time to think about sneaky sisters. 

“You’re right,” Daisy said, standing up. “Ward is a good pilot, but short of releasing part of the plane to get blown out of the sky, I don’t think he can evade targeted missiles.” As she spoke, she grimaced, remembering how May had used the blowing up of the Bus as a ruse so that they could escape in the Quinjet and rescue Lincoln and Mike Peterson from the Hydra facility in the Arctic. At least this time, they had both the Quinjet and the containment module that could fly independently of Zephyr One.

“Especially if Giyera is directing them,” Lincoln pointed out, also rising. 

Daisy nodded. Although Kora had blasted Giyera, there was no confirmation that Giyera was dead. In the original timeline, Daisy had quaked him and he’d survived. Regardless of whether Kora was swayed or not, it was possible that Giyera was directing the missiles, which was even worse than the missiles just being powered by machinery. 

Ward hung a sharp left and both Daisy and Lincoln were thrown to the opposite side of the containment module. Kora was lucky; she was already on that side, but Daisy landed on top of Lincoln, their faces inches apart.

Memories flooded Daisy’s mind. Lincoln tugging her out of the way and telling her to flee before getting captured by Hydra; them sparring in the gym, ending up in the same position and getting caught by Simmons; Lincoln pulling her to safety in Coulson’s office after they had discovered that one of the Secret Warriors had killed Gideon Malick; even the memory of them having sex in Lincoln’s room, which was the last thing she should be thinking about right now. 

Oops.

“Sorry,” Lincoln said, his breath warm on her face. 

Awkward. Very awkward. Considering he remembered those moments too, but hadn’t really experienced them. 

Neither of them moved, still locked in memoryland. 

“Not the time,” Kora interrupted, hauling Daisy up off him; Daisy had a pretty good feeling she could light a flaming torch with her face. 

Ward hung a right this time and both Daisy and Kora stumbled into the seats on the other side of the containment module. Lincoln, who had yet to pick himself off the floor, managed to brace himself on the base of the seats.

“Got any ideas?” Lincoln asked. “Any of us could blast the missiles, but in order to do that, we have to get out first!”

Daisy scooted over to the panel beside the door. She pressed a few buttons on the screen and then cursed. “Damn. Miles is too good. I could hack out, but that’ll take time we don’t have.”

“New idea,” Kora said. “Lincoln fries the circuits, the doors open and you and I each take a missile. Then we try to avoid getting thrown out. Because you guys might be able to fly, but I can’t.”

“The containment module is specifically designed to hold Inhumans,” Daisy objected. “Would it even be possible?” She glanced at Lincoln and then amended her statement. “I’m not doubting your abilities; I’m just wondering how strong Deke’s containment module is.”

Lincoln, who had just picked himself up off the floor, shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out soon!”

Lincoln’s eyes crackled with electricity and sparks literally flew off his skin. Electricity whipped out of his body in all directions, striking the doors and walls violently and causing bits of metal to combust and wires to spark. Miraculously, nothing hit either Daisy or Kora; Daisy wasn’t sure if he was managing to control the electricity enough that it didn’t do that, but either way, she wasn’t complaining. She had been blasted by his electricity once before and although it hadn’t been with the intention of hurting her - ironically, it had been to save her - she didn’t relish the thought of being metaphorically struck by lightning. Additionally, Lincoln’s explosion of power was terrifyingly reminiscent of Aida short-circuiting the containment chamber that she had been held in back at the Playground. 

Despite his best efforts, the doors remained shut, although the walls were now blackened and smoking. 

“Kora, maybe you could help him?” Daisy suggested, knowing full well that her quake powers would have no effect on the containment module. The only reason there was a possibility that Lincoln could break out was because Aida had previously done so with the powers that she had stolen from him. The electricity targeted the circuits wiring the containment module, therefore allowing those with that power to escape, whereas all other Inhuman powers were contained within it. 

Kora’s eyes started glowing, but before she could strike the door or the walls with an energy blast, Lincoln stumbled to one knee, sweating profusely from the effort required to continue sending electric currents into the walls. 

“Lincoln!” Daisy grabbed his arm, ignoring the pain from the electricity that was crackling along his skin.

The next second, the containment module dropped into a free fall. 

Kora yelped as she slammed into the ceiling; the contact caused her to let loose a blast of energy that, coupled with the electricity that Lincoln was still releasing, caused the doors to screech open. 

Air came rushing into the room. 

Kora screamed; she had nothing to grab onto and, unlike Daisy and Lincoln, had no means of flying. 

“Kora, hang on!” Daisy shouted, but even as she called out to her, she realized that, unlike Kora, she and Lincoln were defying gravity. After opening the doors to the containment module, he had reduced the electricity he was controlling to keep himself and Daisy anchored to the floor. 

“Wow,” Daisy whispered, the words coming out of her mouth, unbidden.

Back in Afterlife, Lincoln had made her levitate, but this...was something different entirely. They were literally suspended in their previous positions, feet glued to the floor, with electricity keeping them from moving. The only thing that was obeying gravity at this point were their hair and clothes. 

“Less admiring, more helping!” Kora shouted, flailing for something to grab onto. “And why are we falling?”

“Ward must have dropped us!” Daisy said; Ward was the one piloting the plane. “The traitor! We should never have trusted him.”

For a split second, she wondered if this was going to be their ‘trapped at the bottom of the ocean’ moment. But no, they had their powers and Lincoln had already fried the doors, so there was no way they were going to be stuck. Worst come to worst, they were going to get drenched.

“Ward wouldn’t do that,” Lincoln said, his voice strained. Then he amended his statement. “This timeline Ward wouldn’t do that.” He paused briefly. “Whoever dropped us - likely Miles or Hunter - thinks that one of us is swayed. They’re trying to save the agents on the Zephyr!”

Now was not the time to get into an argument about Ward’s allegiances, but Daisy had to admit that Lincoln knew Ward a lot better than she did. And either way, he was right about whoever had dropped them. They _had_ busted out when they had agreed that they would all stay in the module, even though their purpose of breaking containment was to stop the missiles. And now they were being dropped into the ocean because they had tried to do the right thing. Daisy cursed under her breath.

“Get ready,” Daisy told Lincoln.

“What are you doing?” he asked and then yelped as Daisy sent a quake pulse into the base of the containment module to propel them both off the floor.

They launched into Kora, hitting her exactly where Daisy had aimed, but the momentum was enough to send all three of them flying out the open door and into the open sky.

“What is it with you guys and falling out of a plane?” Kora shrieked. “Need I remind you, this time, we don’t have parachutes!”

Daisy ignored Kora, not because she didn’t want to respond, but because she wanted to concentrate. With her free hand, she conjured up another vibrational pulse, this one against the containment module, sending them flying straight back up to the Zephyr. 

“Just touch the side!” Lincoln shouted to Kora as they neared the plane.

Kora’s fingertips brushed the metal and all of a sudden, they were dangling from the side of Zephyr One literally from the tips of Kora’s fingers. Lincoln’s static electricity was sustaining their levitation.

“I had no idea you could do that,” Daisy said in awe as Lincoln channelled electricity into her to bring her levitate her up to the plane.

“And I had no idea you could fly,” Lincoln replied, but his breathing was shallow and his face was covered in sweat. He was struggling to maintain his control; it was too much effort for him to keep all of them connected to the Zephyr.

Lincoln got Daisy high enough that she could put her elbows over the side of the plane and claw her way up. The wind was terrible, but once she was on her hands and knees, Lincoln kept the electricity between her limbs that were touching the roof of the plane to sustain her balance. Daisy hauled Lincoln up next; he simultaneously lifted Kora until all three of them were crouched in a sweaty shaky mess on the top of the Zephyr.

“I guess the sky really _is_ the limit with you two,” Kora said breathlessly. “Flying is _not_ one of my talents!”

“You can keep people from dying in space,” Daisy retorted. “And, given the circumstances, I think that the best superpower of them all!”

Daisy turned and took aim at one of the missiles, but even as she did so, Ward dropped the plane into a steep dive. The three Inhumans didn’t slide; they didn’t even budge an inch on the plane’s surface, thanks to Lincoln, but it was enough to throw her aim off course. Her quake pulse sailed harmlessly past the missile and into the sky.

“Damn,” she muttered, correcting her aim. 

Kora tried too; she also missed by a hair. On the second attempt, both Kora and Daisy made contact with the missiles, one after another; one exploded in a blinding flash of energy and the other into little pieces by a vibrational pulse.

“We need to get into the plane,” Lincoln croaked; Daisy glanced at him and immediately saw the struggle he was going through to keep all three of them from falling off the top of the Zephyr. 

It wasn’t that Lincoln was weak; far from it. But keeping three Inhumans stationary on top of the plane, literally defying gravity required a lot of effort. Back in Afterlife, when he had levitated her above the ground, it had just been her. Now, he was dealing with three times as much weight. And that was on top of him having used an exorbitant amount of energy to break them out of the containment module. No one aside from Aida and Robbie Reyes had ever broken out of containment before; Daisy suspected that their escape was partly due to the insane amount of energy Lincoln had used to fry the circuits of the module and partly thanks to the additional boost Kora had provided to bust them out. 

“The Quinjet,” Kora suggested. 

It was a better suggestion than trying to open one of the plane’s doors. Lincoln would normally have enough control to be able to open a door without frying the rest of the circuits, but given how much energy he was expending to keep all of them grounded to the plane, he would likely crash the Zephyr. At least if one of them busted part of the Quinjet, it wouldn’t wreak the rest of the plane.

Daisy and Kora hauled Lincoln up between them and started staggering towards the Quinjet. They hadn’t made it more than a few steps, however, when the top of the roof opened up beneath them and they fell through open air, landing with a thump inside the plane. The sunroof (if that was what it was called), closed behind them.

“Sousa!” Miles yelled. 

Sousa hurried over to them. 

“Are you three okay?” he asked. “Hunter dropped the containment module once you broke out. Deke and I tried to get Ward to recall the module, but he couldn’t because the connection was broken when Lincoln fried the circuits. Deke was trying to fix it when we saw you blow up the missiles and realized you were on the roof.” 

Daisy glanced around. They were back on the ramp, near where the containment module had been. Gideon Malick was now unconscious in his chains, sprawled limply across the floor; how he had ended up that way, Daisy had no idea, but she wasn’t complaining. Maybe someone had punched him. Maybe he’d hit his head on something thanks to Ward’s wild flying. Either way, she didn’t care. Of all the people on the plane to get knocked out, he was her top choice. Miles was standing next to him, holding a gun which was aimed at Gideon, but was glowering at Sousa instead of watching his prisoner. 

“Sousa here let you guys back in,” Miles said, glaring at Sousa. “Without permission.”

“Lucky he did,” Daisy said, glaring back at Miles. “Because if he hadn’t, we would have fallen off the roof of the plane. You should at least care about your _teammate_.”

Lincoln did indeed look strained and pale. However, as he was no longer using his electricity powers, colour was slowly coming back to his face and he was regaining control of his breathing. As he appeared less likely to collapse, Kora let go of his arm.

Miles had the decency to look a little chagrined.

“Lincoln, man, you good?” he asked. 

Lincoln nodded, still breathing hard. “Yeah, I’m fine.” 

At that moment, Deke and Trip came running down the metal stairs, both carrying medical supplies. Despite her indignance at the three of them being dropped earlier, especially since Lincoln was their teammate, Daisy felt a wave of appreciation for their obvious concern. 

“Are you guys okay?” Deke asked, addressing not just her or Lincoln, but Kora as well, which meant a lot, considering the fact that he still didn’t trust her.

“You guys should sit down at the very least,” Trip suggested, not waiting for any of them to respond. “And Lincoln, if you say you’re fine one more time, I’m going to say that that is _really_ not your medical opinion. Collapsing would look even less heroic than sitting down right now.”

Kora snickered at his words, making all of them look at her. “Yeah, Lincoln, ‘don’t pretend that’s really your medical opinion’,” she teased, a joke that even Daisy didn’t quite get.

There were some things you could only understand if you had lived through the experience or had been told word-for-word what had happened, because Daisy had no idea what Kora was referencing, although Lincoln clearly did. 

Lincoln shook his head at her. “Kora, if I wasn’t so grateful to you for giving me back my memories, I would honestly blast you right now,” he said.

Everyone in the room froze as he spoke. It wasn’t just Daisy and Sousa, both of whom looked shocked, albeit for different reasons. Daisy felt like _she_ had to sit down, not Lincoln. He was actually grateful that he remembered her. It was the first time that he had admitted that he was grateful to be remembering. Even though they had bonded in the containment module, she had honestly wondered if he regretted remembering. His life certainly would be simpler if he didn’t. But now...all the confusion to him was worth it. Remembering her was worth all the emotional angst and identity confusion. Her emotions sky-rocketed; if May had been in the room, she probably would have collapsed from the onslaught of emotions that Daisy was feeling.

But then Daisy’s eyes met Sousa’s, Sousa who was doing his utmost to keep a blank countenance. His eyes drifted from hers to Lincoln’s arm, which was still around Daisy’s shoulder, as it had been for support when she and Kora had been half-carrying him to the Quinjet. 

Lincoln saw the look too. Quickly, he dropped his arm; Daisy felt an immense wave of gratitude that she didn’t have to step away from him. She didn’t want to hurt Lincoln’s feelings and at least with him putting distance between them, it was his choice, not hers. Unfortunately, that meant that Sousa’s feelings got even more hurt in the process because he had to deal with the fact that Lincoln had chosen to break the contact, not Daisy, although she would have done it anyway. He didn’t know that, but he did know that the only reason they were breaking physical contact was because of him. This was truly a no-win situation. 

Miles broke the silence. “Now _this_ is awkward,” he said. 

Kora shook her head in disbelief, trying to hide her smile, Trip pressed his lips together to keep himself from laughing and Deke cuffed Miles on the side of the head, making Miles protest a little - not a lot, because he knew that he was at fault for stirring the pot. Daisy very carefully avoided looking at either Lincoln or Sousa; they too were looking at anything but each other or Daisy. 

“Miles, go and confirm that Raina is meeting us at the Playground with the brain scanner,” Deke told him. “And check our E.T.A. with Ward while you’re at it. Maybe that’ll keep you out of trouble.”

Miles was still sporting an enormous grin, but he obliged, giving Deke a mock salute as he left. “On it, boss.” 

He clambered up the staircase to the upper room and as he left, Deke changed the subject.

“What did you guys do?” Deke asked. “We thought that one of you might be swayed when Lincoln tried to break containment-”

Lincoln shook his head, easing himself down onto a trunk strapped to the floor that was thankfully nowhere near Gideon Malick. Thank goodness for Deke rescuing them from the world’s most awkward situation. 

Which Daisy had never once thought she would think about Deke.

He used to have a penchant for making things worse. 

With raspberries. 

“We broke out because of the missiles,” Lincoln explained. “Ward’s a great pilot, but we figured we could blow them up without getting anyone hurt.”

“Except Hunter proceeded to drop us,” Daisy interjected. 

“Which he had absolutely no right to do,” Deke said, frowning. “He was out of line, dropping you three like that. He and Ward got into a fight about whether Ward should recall the module; I think Ward actually punched him, so...that happened. I’m...I’m not making excuses for him, but he’s on edge because of Bobbi. Although that’s no reason to drop you three.”

Lincoln shook his head. “He shouldn’t have done it, it’s true, but no harm done. We’re all here. And we all know what it’s like to do whatever it takes to get back someone you love.”

Daisy tensed at his words. Was he referring to her or was there some other girlfriend in this timeline whom he had loved desperately enough to do anything to get her back? She didn’t know, but now was not the time to ask, especially since Deke had just navigated them out of the most awkward situation they had yet to be in...and the last thing any of them wanted to do was dive headfirst into another one. 

Kora felt her stiffen up and changed the subject. “I’m not surprised,” she said. “Hunter went after Ward in the original timeline because of what Ward and Kara did to Bobbi….” She stopped talking, seeing the confusion on Deke and Trip’s faces. “And you guys have no idea what I’m talking about because the Ward and Kara here are very different from the original timeline Ward and Kara.”

Deke shook his head, turning to Daisy and Sousa. “If you two trust Kora,” he said, changing the subject, “I’m willing to trust her, Daisy, as long as you extend the same courtesy to Ward and Miles. I know that they wronged you, somehow, in the original timeline, but people are different. People can change.” He paused. “Hunter just dropped you guys out of the sky. If there’s anyone on this plane you should mistrust, it’s him. Not Ward.” 

Daisy glanced at Lincoln, who met her gaze, unspoken words passing between them. Earlier, he had defended Ward when she had accused him of dropping the containment module. It wasn’t the first time Lincoln had stood up for what he believed in against her, but it did mean that he honestly did trust Ward, especially since he had regained his memories of the previous timeline and knew what the original timeline Ward had done to Coulson’s team. 

Neither Daisy nor Lincoln had telepathy, but Daisy could tell from the unspoken words that were being conveyed between them that Lincoln trusted Deke’s team. His connection with them was probably like her relationship with her old team. Lincoln was even willing to give leeway to Hunter for dropping them like contaminated products. Technically, Hunter had done the right thing - Simmons had jumped out of the Bus because she’d contracted the Chitauri virus to save the rest of the team - but no one on Coulson’s or Deke’s team would ordinarily do that, unless there were extenuating circumstances. Hunter was stressed out about Bobbi and she knew perfectly well that he would do anything to get her back, including taking a bullet for anyone on the team. He had probably thought that dropping them into the ocean would save the rest of the team on board the Zephyr, not to mention he likely knew that Lincoln would have a way of surviving the fall. If she could trust Hunter after what he’d done, she could trust Ward and Miles as well who hadn't done anything wrong to her, at least not in this timeline.

After all, Lincoln and Deke trusted them. And even though they were in the timeline that Kora had said would result in Lincoln, Andrew and Rosalind’s deaths if Ward lived, Kora seemed perfectly content to trust Ward right now; when Daisy looked at her, Kora nodded, as if to say that it was the right thing to do. 

It was strange for Daisy to be trusting someone because _Deke_ asked her to, but out of all the people on the Zephyr, excluding Kora and Sousa, Lincoln and Deke were the two whom she trusted the most. If they said Ward and Miles were trustworthy, then Daisy could put aside her own personal baggage with them, at least until they proved otherwise. 

“Okay,” Daisy said, turning back to look at Deke. “Okay.”

Deke exhaled a sigh of relief, but before he could say anything, Miles came clattering down the stairs, looking worried and moving quickly, which was saying something because it was Miles.

“Deke, we’ve lost contact with the Playground,” he said. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

“What?” Deke asked, turning to face him. 

“Raina’s not responding,” he replied. “I checked the communications. They seem fine, but the base has gone dark.”

Deke cursed. “I designed those systems! They should be unbreachable!” He paused. “Except by you and Daisy, but seeing as you’re both here, that’s obviously not the answer.” Frowning, he turned back to his ragtag group of Inhumans and humans. 

He paused, thinking. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” he said at last. “Either Daisy, Lincoln or Kora has been swayed. We don’t know who, but the containment module is gone, so we’re just going to have to chance it. Either way, you need to get back to the base, right? So if you guys split up now, chances are high that we’ll be fine till we get back to the Playground. Correct?”

Daisy, Lincoln and Kora all nodded, not sure where Deke was going with his plan.

“Okay, then,” he said. “Miles, take Sousa and Kora up to the Quinjet and test the communications there. Kora can help you boost the power if that’s the problem; Sousa is going with you so that you’re not alone with Kora in case she’s swayed. Lincoln, Daisy, you two are with me; I’m going to check the wiring and communication systems on the Zephyr. Daisy, you can figure out if someone hacked us and check the security at the base; Lincoln, you’re the electricity boost. Trip, you’re on Malick guard duty.”

Miles opened his mouth, but Deke spoke over him.

“Miles, if you’re about to complain, let me just say that Daisy is with me because our systems are thirty-three years ahead of what they were last time she was here,” Deke said. “You can check the engineering of the systems much better than she can. And Kora is going with you because you and Lincoln and Sousa together in a room is like a bomb about to explode.” 

Sousa glanced at Lincoln and then back at Deke. “It’s not a problem if you want to send Lincoln and I with Miles,” he said, surprising Daisy with his immediate acceptance of Deke’s authority. Technically Deke _was_ the one in charge, but Daisy was not used to seeing Sousa, or anyone on her old team really, acknowledge that the final decision was Deke’s to make.

“It’s not you or Lincoln whom I’m worried about,” Deke said. “It’s Miles.” 

“Hey!” Miles protested, but Deke interrupted.

“Miles, honestly, you have spent the last thirty minutes making ill-timed jokes at Daisy and Lincoln’s expense,” Deke said. “If I send you up there with Lincoln and Sousa, then none of you are getting out of that plane alive. Lincoln and Sousa will probably kill each other and then you.” He paused. “Not necessarily in that order.”

Deke had a good point. A really good point. Daisy did not even want to think about what would happen if they were trying to work together. Lincoln and Sousa might manage - Sousa, in particular, was extremely mature - but with Miles stirring the pot, that was something Daisy really didn’t want to imagine. 

“Raina and the other agents at the Playground are our priority,” Deke reminded him. “Okay?”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to split the Inhumans up?” Trip asked, not challenging Deke’s groupings, but out of genuine concern for everyone’s safety. “I thought the whole point of keeping them together was to ensure that they didn’t hurt anyone on the Zephyr.”

Deke shrugged. “It has to be done. And Miles, Sousa and I will be carrying ICERs.” As he spoke, he rummaged in one of the big black trunks strapped down and pulled out three ICERs, two of which he handed to Miles and Sousa. 

“Plus,” Lincoln interjected. “Even if one of us has been swayed, we won’t hurt the people we care about.”

“That’s not true,” Daisy interrupted. “Fitz and Mack-”

“You could have killed me that time in containment,” Lincoln reminded her. “Or knocked me out again to bring me to Hive. You even chose to trust me when I told you I wanted to go away with you. Even swayed, you never hurt me - not physically. You did everything you could to save me despite being swayed yourself. Even if I’ve been swayed, I _know_ that I would never hurt you.”

Daisy felt a sickening wave of remorse. Her brainwashing, her betrayal of her team...so much of that was linked to losing Lincoln, her Lincoln. It was her fault, his death. 

_He’s paying for my mistakes_.

Lincoln correctly interpreted the look on her face.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he insisted. “You didn’t volunteer to have Hive sway you.” 

“Wait, Daisy is the one who’s swayed?” Trip asked, confused; Daisy was grateful for the interruption because she had forgotten that anyone else was in the room. It was too easy to get lost in old memories.

Oh, who was she kidding. It was too easy for her to get lost in _Lincoln_. Even now, when her brain was screaming at her to think of Sousa, another part of her brain was rejoicing in the fact that Lincoln understood and still didn’t blame her for the sway. He had told her that he understood what it was like to be addicted to something, or someone, and to do anything to get it, or her, back, but this was a different understanding. Him understanding that her actions under the sway were both hers and not. 

“Not in this timeline,” Kora corrected. “In the original timeline.”

Deke shook his head. “Someday soon, you three are going to explain what you know. But now is not the time.” 

Deke was right. Because in Daisy’s experience, the base going dark usually meant that they were going to be fighting for their lives over the next few days at least. 




“Not that switch.”

Sousa pointed to the next red button. “That one?”

“No,” Miles said, in a voice that heavily implied that Sousa was an idiot. “The other one.”

He nodded to the panel of buttons and switches; Sousa had no idea which one he meant. Working with Miles was beyond exasperating. The second they had gotten into the Quinjet, Miles had been directing him and Kora around, asking them to push this button or unplug that cable or test that switch. Kora wasn’t doing too badly; even though her knowledge of the timeline hadn’t prepared her for this, she still was a skilled pilot and had some engineering knowledge to help her. Sousa was literally drowning in tech.

Sousa pointed to another switch, this time a yellow one. “That one?” he asked. 

Miles looked horrified.

“That button initiates hostile takeover,” he said. “If you press that, you’ll alert the U.S. government to our whereabouts and have us shot out of the sky. I don’t think the three Inhumans can save us from _more_ missiles.” He gave Kora a wary look as he said this; she pointedly ignored him. 

Sousa repressed a sigh. Today of all days was not the day he wanted to test his patience dealing with Miles. Any other day. Not on the day that he had broken up with Daisy to give her space, only to see her flirting with Lincoln five seconds after their breakup. Not that he really blamed her; he could only imagine how overwhelming it must be for her to have Lincoln come from another timeline and get back his memories of her. But still...this was even worse than seeing Peggy and Jason Wilkes flirt while they and Howard Stark tried to figure out how to make him solid again.

“Can you just be a bit more specific?” he asked, trying his best not to sound irritated. “Instead of having me play a guessing game?” 

Miles snorted. “You’d flunk out of the Academy in thirty seconds,” he scoffed as he disconnected a panel and glanced inside to check the wiring. “Actually, scratch that, you wouldn’t make it through the door.”

Sousa had heard from Daisy that Simmons had gotten two PhDs before she’d even entered the Academy. He knew he was behind in all things tech - especially compared to Miles, the hacktivist, and Deke, the engineer whiz - but Miles was being seriously annoying about what he was having Sousa do. In fact, it would probably be easier and faster if Sousa just stood there and aimed an ICER at Kora in case she was the one swayed.

Sousa pointed to another button. 

“No,” Miles sighed, reconnecting the panel and moving down the row of switches to toggle one of them. “That button closes the doors between the Quinjet from the Zephyr. Do you even know how to fly?”

Sousa decided it was best not to answer that one. He pointed at another button.

“Do you have a death wish?” Miles asked incredulously. “That button ejects the Quinjet from the Zephyr. What are you trying to do, send us to space?”

Sousa felt cold all of a sudden. Lincoln had died in the Quinjet in space. What were the odds that the first few buttons he had pointed to promised missiles, which Daisy and Kora had just blown up, and the specific sequence of buttons to eject the Quinjet and throw him, Kora and Miles into space? Sousa wasn’t sure, but all of sudden, he didn’t like his chances of survival. 




Compared to the Quinjet with Miles, working in Zephyr One was a breeze. Deke gave Daisy a computer screen to experiment with the communications and try to contact the Playground and he gave Lincoln the task of explaining to her how the computer worked while he checked the systems. Not that Daisy needed Lincoln’s help, for within a few minutes, she had figured out how Deke’s programming worked.

“You have not been slacking,” Daisy said, impressed as she brought up an extensive map of the Playground on her screen.

“It _has_ been 33 years,” Deke reminded her, crawling out from under a counter where he had been checking the wiring. “Can you hack the security cameras at the base?”

“I can try,” Daisy murmured, already typing into the floating keyboard on the screen. “Do you have a lot of security cams?”

Deke had crawled under another counter, so Lincoln answered her this time. 

“A fair amount,” he replied. “The containment units, the labs, the corridors, the vaults, the hangar…. Same as when Coulson was in charge of the Playground.”

“Cool,” Daisy said, still typing. “And Fitz isn’t around to lock me out, so I can get in easily….”

Lincoln smirked. “You might not be playing Whack-A-Mole with Fitz, but this time you’re going to be up against Miles because he programmed the security.” 

Daisy grinned up at him. “I hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. once on a laptop that I won in a bet. I think I can beat Miles’ security with Deke’s state-of-the-art tech. Even if it is 33 years ahead of my time.” She paused. “Technically 32. Because one year passed for me when 33 passed for Deke.”

Lincoln pulled up a chair to sit next to her. “I’d bet you have fifteen minutes at most before Miles comes back in here to say that there is nothing wrong with the communications in the Quinjet and that he’s going to hack through his security faster than you can.”

Daisy gave him an appraising look. “Are you betting against me?”

“Absolutely not,” Lincoln said with a grin. 

“Right answer,” Daisy smirked, leaning over the screen again, fingers flying as she tried to work around the security measures. 




True to Lincoln’s prediction, exactly fifteen minutes later, Miles, Kora and Sousa came down the ramp from the Quinjet. 

“The communications up there are perfectly fine,” Miles said. Then he spotted Daisy at the computer. “I designed the security. You won’t be able to get in. Budge over, oh apprentice-of-mine-from-another-timeline.”

Lincoln glanced at Daisy, who smiled innocently. 

“Sure thing,” she said, scooting back in her chair. 

Kora and Sousa also looked at Daisy, who stood up, giving her Miles her chair. The latter sat down and tapped the screen. As the screen lit up, about twelve different camera feeds from the Playground appeared on the screen.

“You were saying?” Daisy asked in an innocent voice.

Kora started laughing. Sousa pressed his lips together to try to attempt to suppress his amusement, Lincoln was openly grinning and Daisy was struggling to maintain her innocent expression. 

“Nailed it,” Lincoln whispered to Daisy, who smirked and held out her hand for a low high-five. He slapped it in response.

“Well, Miles,” Kora said. “Guess that teaches you one thing. This is what happens when you try to tease Daisy. You get your butt kicked.”

Miles glared at Kora and Daisy, but before he could say anything, Deke emerged from behind a section of wall panelling. 

“There’s nothing wrong with our systems,” he asked, lines creasing his forehead in worry. Then he spotted Miles, Kora and Sousa. “How’s the Quinjet?”

“Also fine,” Kora reported. She nodded over the computer. “Daisy got into the security feed on the base.”

Deke raised his eyebrows at Daisy. “That took you, what, fifteen minutes?”

Daisy smirked. “I had a little warning on the time limit,” she said, grinning at Lincoln. 

“I thought you were on my side!” Miles protested to Lincoln, who shrugged. 

“All’s fair in love and war,” he replied.

Miles narrowed his eyes at Lincoln. “She has you whipped, man,” he said, returning to his default, which was teasing Daisy and Lincoln.

All the smiles in the room vanished at that statement and Daisy felt like now was the perfect time for throwing Miles through a wall. Up until that point, things had been going great. She and Lincoln were, well, bonding. There was nothing romantic going on, just the two of them getting accustomed to one another again, but now...it was yet another reminder that things were different. And she didn’t know how she felt about that, given the circumstances.

Deke interrupted. “Seeing as we have the feed from the base, we should watch it,” he said. He paused. “I’ll fill Ward, Hunter and Trip in later.”

“Where _is_ Hunter?” Lincoln asked; unlike Ward who was flying the Zephyr and Trip who was guarding Malick, Hunter didn’t have a specific task from Deke, at least not one that they knew about.

“In the cockpit,” Deke replied. “After Ward knocked him out, he cuffed him to a pole. He’ll probably be pissed when he wakes up, but….” Deke shrugged.

Daisy bit her lip. “Hunter has a tendency to get knocked out by his best friends,” she muttered to Kora, who grinned.

“At least he’s not at war with Bobbi this time,” Kora remarked, shaking her head.

While the girls had been talking, Deke had come around to the screen and tapped it to play back the footage that Daisy had found since they had lost connection with the Playground. The cameras were still obtaining live footage, but Daisy had found the earlier feed and was recording the new feed while saving the old.

“Have you watched it yet, Daisy?” Deke asked, but she shook her head.

“Haven’t had time,” she admitted. “I got the footage seconds before Miles and the others returned.”

Miles scowled at her again, but she ignored him. Daisy and Lincoln came closer behind Deke on one side of the screen; Miles, Kora and Sousa clustered behind him on the other side. Miles noticeably distanced himself a little from the Inhumans; although Lincoln didn’t appear to react to it, Daisy felt a flicker of sympathy for him. She knew what it was like to have her teammates distrust her. Thankfully, Deke and Sousa, at least, were still treating the Inhumans normally, even though they might be swayed. 

The video started to play. Daisy had found footage from various cameras around the base; there were a dozen screens for them to watch. Some of them were almost completely black because the power in the base had gone out within seconds of the attack; only the containment modules and vaults that ran on backup generators remained lit.

“Holy Kree,” Deke muttered. “What is happening?”

“It’s an Inhuman,” Daisy said, folding her arms across her chest and hugging her elbows. “There is no way that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents would fall so easily to humans….”

“The lights are out,” Sousa pointed out. “An Inhuman with Lincoln or Kora’s powers?”

“Yin and Yang,” Lincoln muttered. “If we have two of us, then there’s likely someone on Hive’s side who has some sort of power over electromagnetism and/or energy.”

“You’re talking about equilibrium in the species,” Daisy remembered, looking at Lincoln for confirmation.

He nodded. “Inhuman powers fill the evolutionary need to create equilibrium within the species,” he explained, noticing the confusion on Sousa and Miles’s faces. “Lash and Hive, for example-”

“Anyone could destroy the power on the base,” Deke interjected, before Lincoln could continue. “As much as I appreciate the suggestions, Daisy could quake the generator to pieces, Lincoln could fry the circuits, Kora could absorb all the energy or blow it up…. Need I continue? So many different Inhumans could do it, just in different ways. We just need to find footage where we can see the Inhuman’s face.”

“I got it,” Miles interrupted, shooting a ‘back-off!’ look at Daisy. 

Daisy could understand the professional jealousy, especially because Deke clearly trusted and liked her, as much or maybe even more than Miles. Deke yielded the chair to Miles who started fast-forwarding the footage for any sign of moving bodies.

It was not an easy thing to see - and not only because it was so dark. Agents were falling right and left, yanked off camera and decimated. These agents were probably people whom Deke had vetted and trusted; at the very least, acquaintances of Lincoln and Miles. They probably had counterparts in Daisy’s timeline whom she knew. To make matters worse, the lack of light in the footage made it impossible for them to see who was doing the killing.

“Thank goodness Ward isn’t here to see this,” Lincoln muttered under his breath after a spray of blood coated one of the camera lenses. “Kara’s at the base.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln. “Ward and Kara are together?” she asked. “Agent 33?”

Lincoln nodded. “Kinda, sorta. She went to Maveth.”

That was all the explanation he needed to give. Daisy nodded grimly. 

“Will,” she said.

Lincoln shrugged. “Ward _did_ dive through a hole in the universe for her.”

Daisy immediately thought about her internal battle that she’d had earlier when she had been talking with Sousa about what Lincoln meant to her. _You dove through a hole in the universe for me! You literally died for me!_

Not the time.

Sousa cleared his throat. “I might be the only clueless one here, but who is Kara and who is Will?”

Kora glanced at him. “Will is - was - the man whom Simmons...or Kara, in this case, ended up with on Maveth - an alien planet - when she thought she was stranded and had no hope of ever getting back to Fitz...or Ward, in this timeline,” she explained. 

Sousa’s face remarkably didn’t change, but when he spoke, his voice wasn’t as stable as it previously had been. “The man she ended up with because she thought she could never get her first love back.”

Crap.

It was clear to everyone in the room but Miles that Sousa was not talking about Jemma or Kara any more. Daisy gripped her elbows tightly, trying to hold herself together. He was not wrong; if Lincoln hadn’t died, she never would have ended up with Sousa. But he had...and now what was she supposed to do? Instead of 4,722 hours on an alien planet, it had been more or less 9,444 hours that she had been with Sousa…. Roughly a year. She genuinely cared about Sousa and Lincoln was still confused about who he was and what he felt. But it wasn’t that simple. 

The expression on Sousa’s face made it clear that the words had just slipped out; he hadn’t meant to dredge up the past. But now that she was looking at him properly for the first time since the Inhumans had been put in containment, it was obvious that something had changed. She wasn’t sure what it was, but he seemed more resigned than anything else. What had happened that made him appear so...uneasy? 

“Sousa….” Daisy began, not even sure what she was going to say, but knowing that she had to say _something_.

“Miles, check the containment modules,” Deke jumped in before she could continue. “They’re still lit up.”

It wasn’t the right time to hash out everything that was going on. But all the same, Daisy wished that Deke hadn’t interfered. She hated seeing the hurt and resignation on Sousa’s face; she wished she could hug him and tell him that everything was going to be alright, that she wanted him back, that she no longer had feelings for Lincoln. But none of that was true and it would be a lie, one that all of them would know. She couldn’t do that to him. 

After a long, confused look at Sousa, Miles pulled up footage of Lash’s containment cell. He was very much in Lash’s form, not Andrew, and Daisy felt a lump in her throat at the thought of poor Dr Garner. Poor May. It was not easy to see someone you cared about become a monster. 

Miles fast-forwarded through the footage; as the video sped up, all of them spotted the same thing.

“Stop!” Deke and Lincoln said at the same time; Raina had come into the view of the camera.

Daisy almost gasped aloud at the sight. It was Raina the Inhuman, Raina covered in spikes from head to toe and wearing a black hoodie. Gone was the Girl in the Flower Dress.

“She is...spiky,” Sousa said finally. “Who is she?”

“Raina,” Daisy, Lincoln, Kora, Deke and Miles said in unison. 

Sousa looked away from the screen. “Now _that_ is creepy.”

“Her or us?” Miles snickered, trying to use humour to navigate the tense situation, but Deke shushed him as Raina started fiddling with the lock panel on Lash’s cell.

“What’s she doing?” Lincoln muttered. “Is she letting him out?” 

It appeared that Lincoln was right, for on the screen, Raina pulled the door open and then ducked out of the way. Lash charged out, but as he did so, a blast of familiar looking parasites were flung his way from someone out of sight from the camera. Lash responded with a frightening swirl of blue light, but another blast knocked him backwards.

“That’s Hive,” Daisy said in a sickened voice, watching the two figures on the screen. “We thought that Hive was after us and sent a swayed Inhuman to the base, but….”

“But it was the other way round,” Kora supplied, staring at the screen. “ _Damn_.”

“Turn around,” Deke muttered. “Let us see your face, you creep.”

Daisy looked at Deke. “You don’t know who Hive is either?” she asked.

Deke shook his head. “No idea. He switched bodies at some point after the alien planet…. We’ve been trying to find out who he is since the whole Charles Hinton mission.”

Daisy looked at Kora, but the latter also shook her head. “I have no idea whose body he’s in.”

“Great,” Daisy muttered. “Just great.” 

The fighting continued for a moment or two and then the two figures tumbled out of sight. The viewers on the Zephyr could still hear the scuffles and wrestling, but none of them could see the fight. Suddenly, Raina came into view again. She pounced, like a cat leaping on an unsuspecting mouse.

A second later, Lash fell back into view of the camera, quite literally. A long spike protruded through his chest, blood pooling everywhere. He was dead.

Daisy stepped back, literally stepping on Lincoln’s toes. He steadied her with a hand on her shoulder, but that reminded her all too well of when she’d first seen Raina after Terrigenesis in Afterlife. While she had never cared for Raina, it was terrible to see her kill Andrew. Andrew, who had saved her life in the original timeline. Andrew, who had made her immune to Hive. Andrew, who shouldn’t be dead yet. It was too early.

“Turn it off,” Lincoln said, his voice uneven. 

Miles hesitated, reaching for the off-button, but he paused when Deke shook his head at him.

“We need to see what happens,” Deke said quietly. “I’m sorry, Lincoln.”

Lincoln shook his head, but didn’t say anything. His face was pale and tense; after a moment, he slipped his hand into Daisy’s. Although the gesture might have looked romantic, Daisy knew it really wasn’t. In this timeline, Raina was the first Inhuman Lincoln had encountered; she was his transitioner. Even though Lincoln had zero romantic feelings towards Raina whatsoever, the bond between the first Inhuman who accepted them for who they were was unbreakable. Daisy knew that all too well; her Lincoln had been that for her. Now in this timeline, Lincoln had lost Raina. It was as impactful as him losing Jiaying and Gordon in the original timeline. He needed Daisy to be his anchor, his lifeline during this difficult moment. She was the only one who understood the enormity of finding someone like them for the first time. 

They watched in silence as Raina crept out of the shadows. Then the unrecognizable figure who was Hive said something. Raina nodded and followed Hive until the camera could no longer pick up their silhouettes. 

“Why would Raina kill Lash?” Miles demanded. “She would never betray us like that.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln and then at Kora, seeing the dawning recognition on their faces. They knew as well as she did why Raina had betrayed the team.

Lincoln spoke, his voice grim and concerned. “She’s been swayed.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Daisy had known that the humans who hadn’t lived through the other timeline and didn’t know her, Kora and Sousa would have had doubts about the sway. Miles, Trip, Ward, Hunter and even Deke had found it difficult to distrust Lincoln. It was easier for them to have doubts about her and Kora, but that was because none of Deke’s agents had known either of them. But now, she saw on Deke and Miles’ faces that they finally understood the enormity of the situation. Watching their friend and fellow agent kill Lash was an eye-opening realization that the sway was real.

Which, while good that they finally understood what they were up against, was also incredibly tragic that they had to find out in such a heart-wrenching way. 

Miles swore. Deke’s face twisted; he slammed his balled-up fist into his thigh in an attempt to take his anger out on something. 

“How did this happen?” Daisy asked Kora. “This isn’t what happened in the original timeline!”

Kora was pale. “Daisy, I told you that the future is constantly changing,” she protested. “That was part of why I needed Lincoln to get his memories back. I don’t know this timeline as well as I’d like. He knows it much better than I do. Maybe, if Lincoln, Deke, you and I were to sit down and hash out every single detail of the past and the present, we might be able to figure out what happens in the possible future. But every decision we make changes the future and I don’t know what decisions we made that ended up in Raina being swayed and not one of us.”

Kora was right. Daisy had initially thought that it would be as simple as Lincoln being her in this timeline, but it really wasn’t. This attack was proof of that. Hive had been at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, not at his own. The team being taken...they had been bait for Hive to get the Inhumans at the base and lure Lincoln, Bobbi and whatever reinforcements he had away from the attack.

Deke sighed. “‘Ripples, not waves.’”

Daisy huffed out a breath. “We made a wretched tsunami,” she said. 

“I think we made the tsunami like fifty years back in the timeline,” Deke said, exasperated, but not at her. “This is literally the aftershocks.” He paused. “Or maybe after-waves. Is that a word?”

“Given everything that changed with the timeline, I’m amazed Hive even came back to Earth in 2015,” Kora admitted. 

Sousa looked at the three of them. “I’m guessing the timeline is really screwed this time?”

“You said it,” Lincoln said grimly. “And your French is pardoned,” he added, with a smile, causing both Daisy and Kora to smile as well; there was no malice in Lincoln’s joke. He was treating Sousa the same way he would treat one of his teammates, which was both heartwarming and nerve wracking at the same time. 

Sousa recognized the joke and looked at him. “Do you seriously know everything that happened?” he asked. 

“Fortunately and unfortunately the answer to that is yes,” Lincoln replied. 

“She showed you the whole timestream?” Sousa asked, sounding both horrified and fascinated at the same time.

“No,” Kora corrected. “Just what the team experienced, up until he appeared on Zephyr Three.” She paused. “Trust me, it was much easier for him to see that than for Daisy and Lincoln to be put in a Cerebral Fusion Machine. Considering the way Fitz handled the whole Fitzsimmons wedding, Lincoln is taking this amazingly well.”

“Kora,” Daisy warned through gritted teeth. “Please stop talking.” 

The last thing she wanted was for Sousa to ask why Fitz had had problems with his and Simmons’ wedding; Fitz had been jealous of himself. Which was obviously heading towards disaster territory, considering that Sousa was definitely not Lincoln.

Or...was he? 

If she was being totally honest, there were a lot of things about Sousa that reminded her of Lincoln. The whole Hydra experimentation rescue, sitting by the survivor’s bedside in recovery, even talking about going home…. And that was just experiences that they had shared. Both men had saved her life more than once. Even Sousa’s odd phrases and out-of-time way of speaking was something that Daisy had teased Lincoln about having; an example of that would have been when he had used the phrase ‘safe as houses’ to describe himself on the run from the ATCU. Daisy realized for the first time that part of the reason she had been drawn to Sousa might have been because he reminded her of Lincoln. Which...was doing wonders for her brain, not that it was the time to be thinking about it. 

Amazingly, Miles came to the rescue. Daisy wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to spare Lincoln any more trouble or he truly wanted to address the more serious issue at hand or what, but it was the first time since she and Sousa had rescued Deke’s team that she actually appreciated Miles’ presence.

“So what do we do?” Miles asked. “Can Kora no longer predict what is going to happen? Do we have no idea what the future holds?”

“No,” Lincoln said, letting go of Daisy’s hand to run his hand through his hair; she hadn’t even realized that they had still been holding hands. It had felt automatic and natural at that point, only now her hand ached from its absence. Her gaze flitted briefly to Sousa, and then away; she really didn’t want to see his reaction because there was no way that he hadn’t seen what they had been doing. “We still know what’s going to happen.”

“How?” Deke asked sharply; the stress in his voice was apparent. All those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had died at the base were _his_ agents; he was feeling responsible for their loss. 

“Because of Charles’ vision,” Lincoln said. “Hive is going to die, in space in the Quinjet.”

Daisy looked sharply at him. He was avoiding the most important part, that one of them was going to be in that Quinjet as well. Kora and Sousa were staring daggers at him too, but none of them challenged him on it. Given the doubt that Miles, Hunter and possibly even Ward and Trip had for the Inhumans at the moment, it was probably not best to tell them that their lives were all at stake. 

“Now what?” Miles asked. “We keep going to the base? When was this video taken?” He started clicking backwards on the feed, trying to figure out when it was taken. 

“Half-an-hour ago, tops,” Deke said. “That was when we lost contact with the Playground. Hive was at our base. _Our_ base. _That_ was the trap.”

“Where is he going?” Sousa glanced at Daisy, Lincoln and Kora. “Can we still assume that he’s following what happened in the original timeline? Do one of you know where he’s going next or what his target is?”

Daisy and Lincoln exchanged glances. 

“Alisha,” Daisy said at the same time as Lincoln said, “James.”

Deke threw his hands up in exasperation. “Normally I wouldn’t say I miss the unison, but right now, I miss the unison! Who is he after?”

“James,” Daisy said as Lincoln said, “Alisha.”

Deke shook his head. “Guys!”

Miles smirked. “You guys are asking for the teasing, seriously.” He said this with a crap-eating grin on his face, but Daisy had to admit, even though they hadn’t planned it, it was a bit ridiculous. 

“Both,” Kora clarified, trying not to laugh. “Neither is an Inhuman in this timeline yet, but if Hive was at the base, he’ll have Terrigen crystals. Especially with Raina on his side.”

“Okay,” Deke said. “Do you know where Alisha is, Lincoln?”

“I’ll find her,” Miles said, switching screens so that the footage of the base disappeared and a tactical map appeared instead. “What’s her surname, Romeo?”

To all of their ever-lasting credit, they ignored Miles’ teasing.

“Whitley,” Lincoln replied; Sousa spoke at the same time, frowning. 

“Does this mean that none of you has been swayed?” he asked, gesturing to Daisy, Lincoln and Kora. “Seeing as Hive was likely on our base while we were on his?”

That was a brilliant question. To which they had no answer. There was no proof. All three of them could deny it, but the only way they could tell was if one of them openly betrayed the team or if they did the brain scans. It was a risk they couldn’t take; that Hive had an inside man. 

“We can't chance it,” Deke decided. “We'll split up. Trip and I will take the three Inhumans and Malick back to our base in the Zephyr and to scan their brains for parasites, just to be safe. Even if they’re all safe, we should find any survivors from the attack. Hive should be long gone by now. We’ll just make sure that we find footage of him leaving before we touch down. Miles, Sousa go with Ward and Hunter in the Quinjet and find Alisha and James. Who did he go after first?”

“Alisha,” Daisy and Lincoln said simultaneously. 

“At least you’re agreeing again,” Deke sighed. “You guys are worse than young Nana and Bobo. Kora, you tell me. What happened?”

“By the time Lincoln and May got to Alisha, it was too late,” Kora clarified again. “It’s been maybe 45 minutes since that video. If the guys want a chance at getting one of them before Hive does, they need to go after James. Alisha is likely already a lost cause.”

“Fine,” Deke said. “Miles, Sousa, take the Quinjet - and Hunter. I know he’s reckless and impulsive, but really, you’re going to need all the firepower you can get with a potential Inhuman. Ward can be your pilot. We’ll take Trip.”

“He’s right,” Lincoln said, addressing Miles and Sousa. “James has landmines all around his trailer; the only reason we survived last time was because of our powers. Stepping on one would be bad.” 

Deke turned to Daisy, Lincoln and Kora. “The three of you are with me. I’ll switch guard-duty with Trip.” 

“Are Ward and Trip your pilots?” Daisy asked, curious to know if that, at least, was similar to the original timeline.

“We all can fly,” Deke said, with a grim smile at her. “After your adventure with the Quinjet, I decided that it was S.H.I.E.L.D. policy that all field agents can fly - to some extent. Ward and Trip are the best on the team. Trip’s coming with us because he’s a medic. I don’t know who’s been left alive at the Playground, but he and Lincoln will be able to help any survivors, provided that Lincoln hasn’t been swayed. And Trip would know how to read the results of the brain scanner machine better than Ward. If that’s a bust, we’ll have to make a detour to the Academy. They definitely have the technology to check your brains for parasites there.” He made a grimacing face as he spoke, making Daisy wonder what was at the Academy that made him not want to go there. 

“Miles, give Daisy one of the communication tablets so that she can continue searching for feed at the base,” Deke continued. “I don’t want to leave Daisy and Lincoln alone up here in the communication centre in case one of them loses control while I watch Malick.” 

“Deke!” Daisy and Lincoln said at the same time, both of them scarlet with embarrassment.

“What?” Deke asked, confused. “I’m talking about the possibility that one of you might still be swayed. What did you think - oh. You thought…. _Oh_.”

Now that Deke had explained what he meant, it made sense. But of all phrases that he could have used…. Daisy could still remember her and Lincoln’s conversation right before they had had sex for the first time. 

_I just don’t want to lose control._

_Sometimes it’s good to lose control._

Crap. 

Miles started laughing openly; even though he didn’t know what had happened in the original timeline, it was pretty clear where their brains had been headed. Kora, the only one who knew _exactly_ what was going on, was attempting to suppress her laughter, not that she was succeeding very well. Daisy could not bring herself to look at either Lincoln or Sousa, especially because Sousa didn’t know _why_ Daisy and Lincoln had protested so vehemently to Deke’s unintentionally poor word choice. He, like Deke and Miles, probably just thought that they had assumed that Deke was implying that they wanted to have a private reunion/makeout. Which all of them were aware now that Deke clearly hadn’t been. And now the whole situation was impossible to explain without making things even worse. 

Because how could Daisy tell her ex-boyfriend who was still in love with her that the reason she had protested was because those were the words that she and her formerly dead ex-boyfriend had said just before they’d had sex for the first time? 

Nope, _that_ would be a disaster. 

“Bury me now,” Daisy muttered under her breath.

Kora came to the rescue, although she was still trying to prevent herself from laughing. “How about I fill in Trip about what he’s missed out on while he’s flying the Zephyr?” she suggested. “I know that there’s still a possibility that I could have been swayed, but he needs to know what’s going on.”

“Sure,” Deke said - anything to change the topic at this point was fair game. Even though Kora and Trip alone in the cockpit together was not exactly the safest option for Trip, it was definitely a preferable alternative to thinking about his former love and his son figure ‘reconnecting’. “Daisy and Lincoln can _definitely_ stay downstairs with me and Malick; I’ll be both prison warden and chaperone.”

Daisy slapped her forehead with her palm. Lincoln averted his gaze, biting his bottom lip. Sousa closed his eyes as if that would help him deal with Deke’s unintentionally awkward word choices and Kora cracked up all over again, shaking her head in absolute disbelief at the badly-timed coincidences. Miles, however, who hadn’t been with the team on their final mission, looked confused at their combination of mirth, amusement and embarrassment. 

“What did I say this time?” Deke demanded.

Daisy could still remember Sousa telling her that he would chaperone her while she was talking to Jiaying for the first time since her mother had tried to kill her. Although it was pretty clear to her at least that Deke no longer had romantic feelings for her, she wasn’t sure if Sousa would take it that way. Not to mention the entire debacle that had just gone down with Lincoln….

“You don’t want to know,” Kora said. “You really don’t. Let’s just go before things get even worse.”

With that, she started prodding a protesting Deke from the room, shaking her head in semi-amusement at how badly the last five minutes of the conversation had gone. 




Although Deke and Kora were the first to leave the control centre, within a minute, Deke was back there again, this time talking with Ward, who wanted to go back to the Playground because that was where Kara was. Trip was already piloting the Zephyr and Kora was in the cockpit with him, leaving Daisy and Lincoln watching Gideon Malick sleep from a distance. 

“The Quinjet is a disaster about to happen,” Daisy said to Lincoln. “If Deke thought that you, Lincoln and Sousa were a bad combination, those four are even worse. Sousa’s mad at Hunter for dropping us, Hunter’s angry at Ward for knocking him out, Ward’s probably furious with Deke...and then there’s Miles. Enough said there.”

Lincoln shook his head. “Give how three of them are actually angry, Miles won’t provoke them,” he said. He paused. “I hope.”

That was not reassuring.

Daisy didn’t want to think about it. “Did he join S.H.I.E.L.D. first or did you?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Deke found us around the same time,” Lincoln explained. “We joined S.H.I.E.L.D. around the same time, but Miles has always had...different motivations.”

Daisy looked at him. 

“Miles joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because working for Deke kept him out of jail,” Lincoln explained. “The stuff he was hacking...he was starting to find out too many government secrets.”

“Damn…,” Daisy muttered. While the Miles in her timeline had his flaws, he’d never had to go to jail for his actions. Although S.H.I.E.L.D. _had_ kept tabs on him for at least a year. 

Lincoln nodded. “It was different for me,” he said. “I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. initially partly because I believed in the mission, partly because it was an Inhuman refuge and partly because I felt that I owed them something. After the car accident, I was injured pretty badly. They weren’t sure if I was going to survive. Deke brought me to the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors and they considered two methods of bringing me back. One was with GH.325 and the other was Terrigenesis.”

Daisy bit her bottom lip. In the original timeline, Lincoln had been in a car accident, but his condition hadn’t been that serious. It had been his ex-girlfriend who had been in critical condition, not him. 

“What did Deke do?” Daisy whispered, struggling to comprehend the fact that he had almost died. _Again_. 

“GH.325,” Lincoln replied. “I guess we’re both full of Kree blood now.”

“At least we’re not blue,” Daisy attempted to joke and Lincoln smiled weakly in response. 

She paused, still trying to comprehend the entire crazy situation.

“Who made the GH.?” she asked. “Is there a Guest House here? What happened after that that made you go through Terrigenesis?”

“After the whole Afterlife craziness in this timeline, S.H.I.E.L.D. already knew about Inhumans,” he explained. “You know from your Terrigenesis in the Framework that it can heal us from injuries, but Deke didn’t want to chance it with me. Raina had already made the GH.. In addition to being a scientist in this timeline, she’s one of the world’s experts on Inhuman biology. Which sucks because now that Hive has his hands on her, he doesn’t actually need the Kree instruments from James or from the base. He just needs her to make some and inject it into an Inhuman.”

Daisy frowned. “It can’t be that simple to replicate. It took Simmons months to simply find a way to detect GH. in my blood….”

Lincoln shook his head. “It isn’t, but it’s Raina. She’s been working on it for years. All her research, plus my blood samples…. It might take her a few days, maybe a week, but she could do it.” He paused. “Or Hive could kidnap either one of us and just drain us.”

Daisy was starting to get a headache. No wonder Lincoln was confused about his feelings for her. There was an entire history to his life here, at war inside his head with what he had learned about himself from the other timeline. “So your Terrigenesis story?” she asked.

“This timeline is not like in Deke’s future where all eighteen-year-olds have to be tested for Inhuman genetics,” Lincoln said. “But Jiaying kept extensive records from way back when. S.H.I.E.L.D. is able to track the Inhuman gene through the population. If you’re born to Inhuman parents or are in S.H.I.E.L.D. and are aware of the possibility of you getting powers, potential Inhumans are given the option of going through the Mist. If you’re ignorant about your possible heritage, S.H.I.E.L.D. leaves you alone. Deke offered it to me after I’d recovered from the car accident; he already knew that I had the potential to be Inhuman because of what you’d told him. He knew that getting my powers would help fill the void inside me and help stop my substance abuse. Deke has been...like a father to me. He helped me recover from my alcoholism; he even made sure that Raina was in charge of my transitioning, which is saying something, because she almost never takes on new Inhumans.” He paused. “That sounded like what I told you about Jiaying. Raina’s not my mother, by the way, just my transitioner.”

Daisy laughed. “Never said she was.”

Lincoln continued. “Raina was also the one who helped me get my M.D.,” he said. “Deke asked her to help me with that as well as being an Inhuman…. Deke made sure that even though you and Jiaying and Gordon weren’t around, there were people in my life who would help me.” He paused. “And when Raina got the vision of me and you, she told both me and Deke. The next day, Deke gave me the emergency time-travel device. At the time, I was confused, but it makes sense. You weren’t born in this timeline. He knew that you would return. When, he didn’t know, but he knew that it would happen someday.”

It was a lot to comprehend. It was mind-boggling that Raina, with her precognition, had predicted Daisy’s return. It was simultaneously reassuring that this was where she was meant to be, but also scarily familiar that her destiny was already laid out ahead of her. 

What did this mean for the vision that Lincoln had gotten from Charles Hinton?

Daisy didn’t want to think about it at the moment. Instead, she put her hand down on top of Lincoln’s; he looked at her and their eyes locked.

“It sounds like Deke’s been really great to you,” she said. 

“I don’t know where I’d be without him,” Lincoln admitted. “Or Raina. Her being swayed….”

Daisy interrupted. “We’ll get her back,” she said firmly. “You aren’t going to lose her.”

A sickening thought struck her and she withdrew her hand, forcing the words out before she could stop herself. She couldn’t believe that it hadn’t crossed her mind before and she felt impossibly selfish for not thinking about it sooner. After all, this was _Lincoln_. Charming, charismatic, kind, self-sacrificing…. Whether her Lincoln or this timeline Lincoln, she had interacted enough with him already to know that those qualities had remained the same.

“Are you...are you with her? Or anyone really?” Daisy asked, the words coming out in a rush. “I mean...earlier I assumed that you weren’t, but Raina _is_ your transitioner and we both know how that can turn out-”

Lincoln interrupted her. “No,” he said. “There’s been no one. Not since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D..” He paused, holding her gaze. “Up till now.”

A warmth spread through Daisy’s veins at the implication. Then it struck her that, for the first time, they were alone together in a room. Technically Malick was there, but he was asleep. Deke had said that he would ‘chaperone’ them, but he was currently talking with Ward. 

They were sitting right next to each other. Staring at each other in the eye. Neither one of them moved; now was really not the time to initiate anything, especially when neither of them was positive about what they felt and what was real, but still…. 

Before they could do or say anything, though, the moment was interrupted by Deke, who came back into the room, carrying a tablet and looking down at it while he scrolled through its contents. 

“The Quinjet is taking off now,” he said, without looking up. “Daisy, would you-”

He stopped talking when he looked up, just in time to see them look quickly away from each other. While they hadn’t been kissing or even holding hands, their reaction was enough of an implication to Deke that he had, at the very least, walked into a _moment_.

“Idiot,” he muttered under his breath. Out loud, he said, “Sorry.”




Sometimes silence could be better than talking, but in this case, inside the Quinjet, the silence was deafening. Sousa was brooding, Hunter was scowling, Ward was focusing all his attention on the controls so that he didn’t have to speak to any of them and Miles was bored. After two minutes of deafening silence, Miles spoke up.

“Okay!” he said. “I can’t take it anymore. Let’s just hash it all out, maybe throw some punches and then it’ll all be good. We’re going to an Inhuman’s lair, guys. Where Hive could possibly be. And we can’t go into a warzone if we don’t trust each other.”

Although Miles could be nicer about it, he was right. The last thing Sousa wanted to do was have a heart-to-heart with these guys from Deke’s timeline, but they _were_ going on a mission together and needed to trust each other. However, while he didn’t know the extreme details, he knew that Ward and Miles had both betrayed Daisy in the original timeline and after Hunter’s stunt with the containment module, he was feeling very reluctant to ‘bond’.

In all fairness, he would have preferred to go with the Inhumans, Deke and Trip back to the Playground, but perhaps it was better that he couldn’t. He didn’t think he could stomach another round of Daisy and Lincoln ‘connecting’. 

The worst part was that Lincoln genuinely seemed like a nice guy. Based on Sousa’s interactions with him, which were admittedly not that much, the guy seemed pretty decent. He’d even attempted to back away when he’d thought that Daisy and Sousa were still together. Lincoln and Daisy’s reconnecting would not be happening if Daisy didn’t want it to, which made Sousa’s stomach turn at the thought. Additionally, he knew that some of their interactions were involuntary; they weren’t trying to hurt him, but the way that they were so comfortable around each other made it even worse than if they were deliberately being romantic. 

“Miles,” Ward said, a warning note in his voice, jarring Sousa out of his dark thoughts.

“Come on, Ward!” Miles said. “Stone Age here wants to murder Great Master of Melodrama, Melodrama Man wants to punch Seal Team Six, and Seal Team Six is mad at the director. You know what’s the real problem behind it all? _Women_.”

“ _Miles_ ,” Hunter said, in an even more warning tone than Ward.

“It’s true,” Miles insisted. “Bobbi, Kara, Daisy - they’re all the reason you guys are brooding.”

“No,” Hunter said. “We’re being serious. You should try it.”

Miles humphed. “Well, as someone who is going into what could be a warzone with you three, I don’t like my chances, considering you guys won’t even talk to each other.”

“Miles,” Sousa said, simultaneously exasperated with him and tired of his own thoughts. “If we talk, will you keep quiet?”

Miles beamed. “Progress!”

Hunter rolled his eyes from where he was sitting in the cockpit next to Ward. Ward heaved a sigh. Sousa took a deep breath. This was going to be like pulling teeth.

“Okay,” Hunter said wearily. “I’m worried about Bobbi. It was stupid and reckless to become the ‘tether in the timeline’, whatever that means, especially because she’s pregnant. And I’m mad at Sparks because he let her do it without knowing the details or how to get her back or anything like that. Also mad at the director for giving him the device in the first place.”

“What _is_ Deke’s deal with Lincoln?” Sousa asked curiously. “He seems a little...protective of him.”

Ward glanced back. “Lincoln is the closest thing Deke has to a son,” he said.

“What?” Sousa hadn’t been expecting _that_. 

“It’s true, mate,” Hunter said. “I don’t really know the details - Ward could probably tell you - but the director kept tabs on some of the agents on our team while they were growing up.”

“He kept tabs on you?” Sousa asked Ward, who nodded, although his attention was still fixed on the path the Quinjet was going on. 

“Sort of,” Ward said. “His top priorities were Mack, Mack’s brother, Ruben, and Lincoln. You haven’t met Mack yet - he’s on holiday with his girlfriend, Nicole, and their daughter, Hope - but anyway, when Mack and Lincoln became part of S.H.I.E.L.D., he recruited them for his team immediately. I know he kept tabs on me too, but Hand was my S.O., not Deke; Deke was both Lincoln and Mack’s S.O.. I always suspected that he kept eyes out for more than just us four though; I think there are a few whom he’s deliberately kept far away from his field team.” 

Even though Sousa had known that Deke had looked after Mack and Ruben as children from a distance, Sousa hadn’t known that this ‘fostering’ had applied to others, namely Lincoln and Ward. He didn’t know whether to be frustrated by Deke’s interference or impressed; both Lincoln and Ward were influential figures in Daisy’s life. While Ward hadn’t named them, Sousa suspected that those whom Deke was keeping far away from his field team were Fitz and Simmons; if Deke cared enough about alternate timeline Mack to recruit him, he would definitely keep tabs on his grandparents, even if it meant keeping them safe by keeping his distance. Sousa was not about to blow their cover now, not when it was clear that even some of Deke’s most trusted agents didn’t know who he was protecting.

“Are there S.H.I.E.L.D. agents named Coulson, May and Rodriguez?” Sousa asked, knowing full well that there was no Daisy in this timeline, but that the other three had probably been born; Deke likely kept an eye out for them too.

“May used to be on the team,” Miles supplied. “She left shortly before you guys arrived; her husband, Andrew - you just saw him get killed on camera, Sousa - underwent Terrigenesis by accident and became Lash. Unlike Sparks, his wasn’t pretty. She left to look after their daughter...and she partly blames Deke for his transformation.”

“She blames Deke?” Sousa asked, confused. “What did he do? If it was an accident….”

Ward shrugged. “Sousa, it’s pretty obvious that Deke knows something about us that we don’t. Or at least some of us. There are reasons that he kept tabs on Mack, Ruben, Lincoln and I. While I was flying the Zephyr and you lot were figuring out our next plan and watching Malick, I finally pieced it all together when Hunter told me earlier that he thought that Deke, Daisy, you and Kora aren’t from this timeline. That, coupled with the fact that Daisy tried to kill me back at Hive’s base and clearly doesn’t trust me, told me that Deke watched me because I’m dangerous. I clearly did some wrong things in the other timeline. But as for Lincoln...well….”

“Deke watched out for him because Lincoln and Daisy are in _love_ ,” Miles interjected. “Anyone with eyes can see it.”

“You know, you’re supposed to be making this better, not worse,” Hunter scolded him. “You were doing good up till then.”

Sousa suppressed a sigh. The guys were being honest with him; the least he could do was clear up a bit of their confusion. Even if he was still mostly in the dark about what Daisy, Kora and Lincoln knew about the future regarding Hive.

“You’re right, Ward,” he said. “On almost all counts. Kora and I are from this timeline, but we left it, went to Daisy’s and came back with her and Lincoln.” 

There was a little silence. 

“Wow,” Miles muttered under his breath. “And I thought our lives were complicated.”

Sousa had no response to that. Complicated was just another day at S.H.I.E.L.D., no matter the timeline.

Ward shifted the yoke a little to adjust their flight pattern and then sighed. “I know you probably don’t trust me, Sousa, but, if it’s any consolation, Deke does. He might have initially kept an eye on me because he thought I was dangerous, but after everything we’ve been through...he trusts me now. I hope you can too. Even though Deke didn’t tell me about what I did in the other timeline, I will always be grateful to him for what he’s done for me. Me, Lincoln, Miles. When we first joined S.H.I.E.L.D., Hunter already had Bobbi, May still had her parents, Mack had his brother, Trip had his mother. But for Lincoln and Miles and I...we were the Lost Boys. Deke gave us a family.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all of my readers who have been so supportive of my writing and my fanfiction; some of you have even told me that you wish you could watch my Season 8 on TV!!! While I obviously cannot make that happen, what I could do was make a fanmade trailer for this season. This is the first of two trailers that I will make; this one is as spoiler-free as I could possibly make it up till Chapter 14. I hope you enjoy it!!! Feel free to like and comment on the video and share it with anyone whom you think might enjoy it as well! 😊
> 
> Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T00TzwwXXe8
> 
> P.S. My making of the trailer is the reason that this chapter is being posted later than usual. Sorry for the delay! 😊

**Chapter 15**

“I can’t believe it’s here of all places,” Jemma whispered to Fitz as they sat down at a small round table in Teddy’s Bar. It would be unusual to go to a bar and not order anything; they were doing their utmost to blend in, even though what they wanted was on the other side of the bar. 

Fitz reached over and squeezed Jemma’s hand. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” he said quietly, but stopped talking when a waitress came up to them.

“Can I get you guys anything?” she asked.

“Two shots, please,” Fitz said and the waitress nodded and left.

Jemma looked at Fitz, wondering if they were going to have their version of the Spy’s Goodbye. They had done it for Bobbi and Hunter, they had drunk to Coulson and May…. It was rather fitting if Fitz wanted to have their Spy’s Goodbye in Teddy’s Bar where Bobbi and Hunter had had theirs. 

When the woman returned with their shots and left again, Fitz held up his shot glass.

“Here’s to us,” he said. “And our no-longer Spy’s Goodbye.”

All at once, Jemma realized what he was saying and her eyes burned from unshed tears. They were doing this. Despite all their longings for a normal life, Fitz was willing to dive back in head first so that they could find their friends. Their family. Their non-biological family, but family nonetheless. What they were fighting for. 

“Do you mean it, Fitz?” she whispered. “Are we really doing this?”

Fitz looked a little resigned, but also determined. “I was selfish not to ask S.H.I.E.L.D. for help before,” he said. “I didn’t want to risk losing you or Alya or what we had. But our friends need our help. They’re our family. And we’re going to find them, save them and bring them home.”

Jemma couldn’t speak; her throat was so tight. But she didn’t need to. He knew her well enough to know what this meant to her. She squeezed his hand tightly, trying to put all her words into the gesture; he squeezed back. With a slightly unsteady hand, she clinked her shot glass against his. They downed the drinks, swallowing hard against the bitterness of the alcohol; Jemma blinked back her tears.

“Now,” Fitz said, clearing his throat and putting the shot glass down. “We need to find the anomaly.”

It had taken a lot of work to find out why Daisy and Kora’s emails weren’t working. Under the assumption that they had left the timeline, Fitz had started looking for discrepancies and anomalies in the quantum realm. Finally, he had found one, but every time they tried to go out and find it, it had jumped. They had considered asking for Yo-Yo’s help seeing as she could probably get to the locations before they jumped, but their initial plan had been to track it down, independent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Fitz, in particular, had been reluctant to see this attempting to find their friends as them being willing to return to the field.

Jemma had been more concerned about Daisy, Sousa and Kora’s safety than coming out of retirement. Daisy was her sister in all ways but blood; she needed to know that Daisy was alive out there, even if they never saw each other in person again. Although Enoch had told Daisy that their previous mission had been the team’s last one together, Jemma firmly believed that just because the whole team would never meet in-person again, that didn’t mean that none of them would ever see each other independently in-person. Additionally...Enoch has been their amazing and trusted friend, but there was always a possibility that he was wrong about the future. After all, they hadn’t been able to change the future when facing Lincoln and Charles Hinton’s deaths, but they had completely erased Deke’s dystopian world from their timeline. That futuristic nightmare might take place in another timeline, but at least theirs was void of that possibility. 

And Jemma was confident that she would see Daisy in-person again. 

If they could figure out a way to enable her to travel back from wherever she was.

_The steps you take don’t need to be big. They just need to take you in the right direction._

Finding this anomaly had been the first step; it might not lead them to Daisy, but it was definitely a step in the right direction. Although Jemma needed that confidence booster, thinking about it made her miss Deke. They had bonded during their time-travelling adventures in the other timeline and she hated that she had been so confused and her memories had been jumbled when they’d left the alternate timeline. It was one of her biggest regrets; if she were put in Aida’s Framework now, she had a pretty good feeling that Deke would be featured there. Not that she wanted to go back to that hell, but she could understand the appeal of staying in the Framework if it meant that she could get a loved one back. 

Jemma would be lying if she said that she was not hoping that their newest adventure with time-travel would result in them at least seeing Deke. She was less confident about seeing him again than she was about Daisy, but that was because of the circumstances in which Deke had remained in the alternate timeline. Daisy was no anchor in any timeline...at least Jemma hoped she was not. Regardless, it would be heart-breaking to have to say goodbye to Deke, but at least she would be able to tell him how much he meant to her and how sorry she was that they couldn’t be together as a family. She recalled what she’d told the rest of the team when Fitz had died: _We don’t move on. We hold that place in our heart, we close it off, we lock the door, we visit from time to time, but we don’t move on. Even after we say goodbye._

To make matters worse with not having coherent thoughts when they had left the original timeline, Jemma hadn’t been able to say goodbye to Deke. At least he was still alive in another timeline and she would eventually see him again when Alya got married to Owen Shaw and had this timeline’s version of Deke. But it still wouldn’t be the same. She would love both grandsons - she already loved their Deke from the dystopian world - but she would never be able to equate both the Deke from the future with their to-be-born grandson. Each had a special place in her heart; they were two separate people as much as they were the same person. 

Deke might not be the love of her life the same way Fitz was, but he meant as much to her as Alya did. Granted, Alya was their child whom she had given birth to and they had raised, but Deke was still family. She wanted to see him...even if only to say goodbye. 

But first they had to track down the anomaly in the timeline and figure out who or what it was and what was causing it. 

Part of the problem was that the jumps appeared random. Fitz and Simmons had initially considered the possibility that there was damage to the time drive, like when the team had been jumping through time. But each disappearance and appearance of this anomaly was unpredictable. It could exist for as short as five seconds and as long as three days. This time, the anomaly was due for a longer stop. The last few had been growing increasingly shorter, which meant it was likely to stay in the same place for a while. It had been three hours in the same position; Fitz and Jemma were taking the chance to find out if their friends were within the anomaly in the quantum realm.

In addition to tracking the anomaly, Fitz and Jemma had built two suits to withstand and protect them from the pull of the quantum realm, just in case it decided to suck them into another timeline. There were still many things that they were struggling to understand about it, made even worse by the fact that they no longer had a trusty Chronicom predicting the future outcomes of their adventures. Although neither of them said it, it was during the building of these gadgets and all the preparation that had made both of them miss Enoch almost as much as they missed Deke. 

Fitz put a ten-dollar bill on the table and they left Teddy’s Bar, heading out the back to the alley behind the bar where the anomaly was situated. As they walked, Fitz pulled out his tablet to track the discrepancy in the quantum realm and confirm that it hadn’t jumped again; he had designed it specifically to look like an ordinary iPad so that no one would suspect them of being more than a normal married couple on a lunchtime date.

When they entered the grungy alley, there was no one there. Of course they had prepared contingency plans if there were people there - Jemma still excelled at preparation - but neither Fitz nor Simmons wanted to create a spectacle if there was an alternative. The last thing they wanted to do was make newspaper headlines with creating things out of thin air.

Fitz shrugged off his backpack and from it, they started pulling components to build the machine, similar to the parts that Jemma had pieced together back in the alternate timeline to summon Fitz to them. They worked in silence, each lost in thought and hoping against hope that they were about to find their friends and not some crazy time-travelling Chronicom who had somehow eluded Kora’s blast of energy that gave the Chronicoms empathy.

“Leave the last piece for after we put on the suits,” Fitz said, when they were almost done, even though they had gone over the plan countless times before embarking on the mission. “Just in case.”

Jemma squeezed his hand. “Nothing’s going to happen, Fitz,” she said. “We’re not going to be separated again.”

Given their history of being separated by the Kree Monolith, the White Monolith and time-travel, neither truly believed Jemma’s statement, but it was nice to hear it all the same. 

Out of Jemma’s bag, they pulled two blue hazmat suits that looked like ordinary hazmat suits, but were anything but. Additionally, instead of regular masks, both had one that resembled Fitz’s metallic one that he had used the previous time he had travelled via the timelines. 

When they were ready, Jemma picked up the last component, not her wedding ring this time, but just an ordinary circular disc. Fitz took her hand again; neither wanted to let the other go in case the timelines ripped them apart...again. 

“Do you really think our friends are in here, Fitz?” Jemma asked, her throat dry at the combination of hope of finding their friends and nerves that they were about to mess up all the different timelines. 

“Well, it’s either them or someone else who figured out how to jump through the Quantum Realm,” Fitz said. “So either it’s Daisy, Kora and Sousa bouncing around or we’ve somehow picked up Captain America. Which - which - which would be interesting.”

“Or someone from another timeline?” Jemma suggested.

Fitz looked at her, knowing immediately what she was thinking and hoping for. “Deke can’t come back, Jemma,” he said quietly. “I know you wish he could...but he’s our anchor. If he returns, the two timelines will become unstable and there will be many more anomalies than the one we’re currently dealing with. I’m sorry.”

Jemma swallowed hard. Since Fitz had been lost in deep space for a year and hadn’t been on their time-travel mission to the past which created the alternate timeline, he hadn’t come to know Deke as she had. While he still cared for Deke, Jemma had a much closer bond with him than Fitz did. And she missed him. He was part of their family. Part of what they were fighting for. 

“It could be someone coming from their timeline to ours,” Jemma pointed out, not wanting to address her hope for Deke’s return. 

“That’s a possibility,” Fitz admitted. “Either way, the way they’ve been going about it...they’re currently not safe at all. We need to get them out of the anomaly before it disappears into the vortex of the quantum realm.”

Jemma couldn’t imagine anything worse than the time loops that Daisy had told them about. Perhaps it wasn’t the time loops that were really the problem, but watching their friends die again and again...well, that was something that Jemma could not bear to think about. 

“Ready?” Jemma asked Fitz, still holding the metallic disc.

Fitz nodded. “As long as we’re together,” he said. 

Jemma held his gaze for a split second. “As long as we’re together,” she repeated. 

With that, Jemma pushed the disc into place and stepped back, waiting to see what would happen. 

For a split second, nothing happened. 

Then a giant white containment module appeared out of nowhere, right in the middle of the alley, sending up a cloud of dust and grit that made both former agents duck out of the way, holding their arms up to shield themselves from the debris. 

Once the pod had settled, they carefully approached the containment module, each holding an ICER, just in case. It couldn’t hurt to be cautious and, as Fitz had just confirmed, they could have pulled anyone out of the timeline, anyone from Captain America to their own doppelgangers from another timeline. Which would be an adventure that Jemma wasn’t quite ready for. LMDs were one thing, human versions of themselves from another timeline was quite another. 

However, all thoughts of caution flew out the window when both of them heard the unmistakable sounds of a baby wailing. 

Fitz and Jemma glanced at each other quickly, sharing a look of shock and slight panic, and then they raced to the pod. Fitz yanked on the handle of the door of the containment module, jerking it hard; Jemma stood slightly to the side, holding her ICER with both hands, prepared to take on an enemy hostile in case the baby wailing was a trap. 

When Fitz got the door open, the first thing they saw was a figure slumped on the floor, her upper body barely propped up against the wall. Whoever it was was clearly a woman, hiding behind a thick curtain of blonde hair. She was gasping, struggling to breathe, clutching a swaddled lump to her chest.

“Are you alright?” Jemma began and as the woman looked up, she gasped.

Jemma knew that face anywhere. But what she was doing here, in a time-travel pod, behind Teddy’s Bar, was beside Jemma.

“Bobbi?” Jemma spluttered, rushing into the module to crouch at Bobbi’s side. 

Bobbi looked up, barely conscious and confused. “Who...who are you?” she whispered. 

Fitz had come in the doorway. “Bobbi! It’s us! Fitz and Simmons!”

Bobbi looked even more disoriented, her gaze shifting past them as if she was seeing someone they couldn’t. “Hunter,” she whispered. “Hunter, get Lincoln. I need...doctor.”

“It’s alright,” Jemma said soothingly although she was beyond confused why Bobbi was asking for Lincoln’s help. She knew he was dead; Fitz had told Hunter about his death and Hunter had undoubtedly told Bobbi. Additionally, while both Bobbi and Lincoln had worked with her in the lab, their time there had barely overlapped and Bobbi had always gone to her for medical advice. Unless Bobbi was newly Inhuman (she hadn’t taken a fish oil pill like Hunter had all those years ago), it made little sense for Bobbi to be asking for Lincoln. “Bobbi, it’s Jemma. I’m a doctor. I can help you-”

Jemma knelt down beside Bobbi, reaching out to help her, but Bobbi flinched away, holding the bundle even closer to her chest. Trying again, Jemma kept her hands in her lap, but this time, she brought up Hunter, whom Bobbi at least remembered. 

“Bobbi, it’s Jemma. Jemma Simmons,” she said. “I’m friends with Hunter. Where is he-”

Suddenly Bobbi grabbed Jemma’s wrist, making her gasp in shock. Fitz stepped forward, but Bobbi’s grip was like an iron manacle, even through her protective suit.

“You have to help them,” Bobbi whispered. 

“Them?” Jemma repeated, glancing at Fitz, but Bobbi was still speaking.

“You have to help them,” she insisted. “He had a vision...of the future…. Someone on the team is going to die.”


	16. Episode 5: Pardon My French - Chapter 16

**Episode 5: Pardon My French**

**Chapter 16**

“You know, I don’t know if it’s a good thing that we have an electricity manipulator _and_ an energy manipulator on the team,” Trip mused as they edged down the hall of the base in a wary triangular clump. “Either one of them could shut down the entire Western seaboard. Can you imagine what both of them could do?”

“Shut up, Trip,” Deke hissed, without looking at him; he was scanning their flank for possible remaining Hive supporters. “You’re getting as bad as Miles.”

“Nah, Trip’s _nothing_ on Miles,” Daisy muttered. “Miles is as bad as it gets.”

It appeared that Deke had a tendency for recruiting agents with a wicked sense of humour. Not that Daisy minded usually - she also used humour as a means to deflect - but when Miles ribbed her and Lincoln, it was more than a little trying, especially with her own confused feelings, Lincoln’s jumbled up memories and Sousa’s attempts to be patient while everyone figured out what they felt. Briefly, she wondered who was Miles’ target when she wasn’t around, then put it out of her mind when she remembered that it really wasn’t the place or time. 

The five of them were in a clump, similar to the one that Daisy and her old team had used when they were in the dystopian world in space. The only difference was that Gideon Malick was in the centre of the clump. Daisy was at the head, with Lincoln on her right and Kora on her left, seeing as Lincoln and Kora had similar powers. Although both Deke and Trip were fully convinced that none of them were swayed, all five of them agreed that it was best to still assume that any of them could be, which had resulted in Deke and Trip taking up the rear, with their guns pointed both at any possible intruders, Inhuman traitors and Gideon Malick.

Although they had just entered the base, it was cold, dark, silent and seemingly void of people. Kora had tried powering up the base from where they had entered like she had that time at the Lighthouse, but it hadn’t worked. Apparently something must be wrong with the systems in addition to the lack of electricity. Thankfully, the back-up generators were still working in the containment modules and the vaults; Daisy had checked the most recent footage back in the Zephyr.

“We’re almost to the generators,” Deke muttered in a low voice; the team were aiming for that location first so that Deke could check the systems and Lincoln could reboot the electricity before they scoured the base for any remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Hydra combatants. “The generators are in the lab; once we get there, Trip, you can start scanning Daisy or Kora while Lincoln and I fix the electric system. The other can watch Malick, but make sure that you’re all within sight of each other.”

“Yes, sir,” Trip said. “But we’ll need the computers up and running if we want to read the scans. If you can’t fix the system, maybe Lincoln can power one _and_ check the scans at the same time. If that doesn’t work, maybe Daisy can reroute the computer system from the lab down to the containment modules if those are still working.”

Both Daisy and Lincoln nodded, but both of them were distracted, squinting into the darkness ahead of them. They were using mini glow sticks to light the way and they really didn’t provide much light to the base. 

“How long do the scans take?” Deke asked Lincoln. “Would you be able to power the computer for such a long period of time?”

“It’s not long,” Lincoln promised. “The scans themselves are easy. In fact, anyone could do them, although they wouldn’t know how to read the scans. Much easier than the tests Simmons did on me in the other timeline. There were two of them: one for the parasites and one after to see if an antitoxin could counter the parasites. At least we won’t be taking any attempted antitoxins this time.”

Daisy felt a wave of guilt at the mention of the antitoxin. The time that she had been swayed just as bad for him as it had been for her. But then she realized...he had addressed her Lincoln as ‘I’. He certainly never did that when it was just the two of them. Was it for convenience’s sake that he was now describing her Lincoln as ‘I’? Was it for the sake of Kora and Deke and Trip? Did that mean that they were the same person? Or not? Was she completely overthinking it? Probably. She was still confused, as he clearly was. 

“What happens if you take the antitoxin?” Trip asked. 

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. “You’ll get your answer about the entire Western seaboard shutting down,” he replied.

“Bad,” Trip decided as Kora snickered. 

“He’s exaggerating,” Kora corrected. “He’ll fry half the computers in the lab and his entire immune system will be compromised, but he won’t kill the lights in the whole Western seaboard.” She paused. “Actually...I could be wrong. I don’t know. What with the GH. in your system, if you tried the antitoxin again, there might be different effects….” 

Daisy looked at Kora sharply and then turned to look at Lincoln. “Could the GH. help? I mean…. It healed me when I was shot and it healed Lincoln after his accident, but would it help, I don’t know, boost your immune system to Simmons’ old antitoxin might work?” 

Lincoln stopped walking, completely lost in thought. Slowly, he said, “I don’t know. I’d have to run some tests, but it didn’t stop you from being swayed last time. We’re not fully Kree, although we do have enough remnants of the markers in our blood to make Hive’s Primitives. If we had a viable antitoxin to test the theory against, it might work. We never bothered with testing it against your blood because Simmons needed to take a brain sample to test the effectiveness of the antitoxin and by the time you came back, you were already immune, so there wasn’t a way to test it. If I could replicate or create a new antitoxin, maybe it would work. I could test it on me-”

“Now you’ve lost your marbles,” Kora said, also having stopped. “I didn’t tell you about the GH. because I actually _wanted_ you to test out that theory. What part of ‘compromised your whole immune system’ didn’t you get? Don’t you remember what Jemma said? ‘If someone so much as sneezes, it could kill you!’” 

By now, Daisy had stopped walking. “You know what happened and you’re thinking of doing it again?” she asked, still struggling to process the situation. “You did-” She cut herself off. She had been about to say “You did that for me?” before she remembered that technically he - this timeline’s Lincoln - hadn’t. And this time...well, she assumed she was still immune, but it had been five years since anyone had checked and countless things had happened to them since that might have caused her to lose that immunity. Either way, it was likely that Lincoln wasn’t risking his life for her this time. Maybe he was doing it for Raina. Even though they weren’t romantically involved, she knew perfectly well that Raina meant a lot to Lincoln. 

She glanced at Lincoln; his expression was unreadable. But then he smiled at her faintly, just a small flicker of a smile, as if to let her know that everything was okay and she relaxed. Marginally. Her head - and heart - were still a confused mess. She was about to turn back around when Deke spoke up. 

“Guys…,” Deke said slowly. “Guys, be quiet. I think I see something.”

All of them immediately stopped talking and swung around to face the front. The glow lights were providing very little illumination to the entry corridor of the base. None of them could see far enough into the room to confirm if Deke’s suspicions were right. 

“It’s over,” Gideon whispered; Trip glanced at him since he was next to him, but the other four kept their attention up ahead. 

“Lincoln, light,” Deke whispered.

A ball of electricity lit up in Lincoln’s palm and then, Daisy saw a face in front of her. It was so quick, she barely had time to register that it was there, then she was flat on her back, knocked off her feet from a single punch in the face.

“Daisy!” 

Lincoln knelt over her, but the next second, he was thrown into Deke, who had rushed forward to help. Kora’s eyes started glowing as she began to power up, but as she did so, a kick sent her backflipping through the air and landing hard on her belly. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs...and her energy glow died instantly. 

“Kora!” 

Trip moved towards her; before he could take more than a single step, he was shoved through the window on the right into the lab, sending a spray of glass in every direction.

Daisy, who had been the first one to be hit, also recovered first. As she scrambled to her feet, she saw Gideon Malick, bolting from the fight. 

“Hey!” she shouted, but even as she yelled, something shot past her and the next second, Gideon was on the floor, bleeding out from a massive injury to the head. A split second later, she saw a figure up ahead in the corridor, grinning, as she waved something at Daisy. Daisy was no engineer like Fitz or biochemist like Simmons, but she instantly suspected that that was the brain scanner. However, that wasn’t what worried her.

“Yo-Yo?” Daisy gasped, but the next second, the brain scanner slammed into the back of her head with enough force to break the scanner and draw blood, sending her slumping forwards, dazed.

From inside the lab, Trip let loose a spray of bullets aimed at Yo-Yo; Daisy, Lincoln, Kora and Deke yelled at him to stop. Even though this wasn’t their Yo-Yo from Daisy’s timeline and this Yo-Yo had no idea who they were, the last thing any of them wanted was to kill her. If Daisy had romantic feelings for the Lincoln from this timeline, then she had sisterly feelings for Yo-Yo. Even though some people were different in different timelines, like Grant Complicated Ward. 

“How do we stop her?” Deke shouted, scrambling to his feet. “Does she still bounce back?”

The next second, Kora’s entire body weight slammed into Deke and they were tossed into a wall. Deke groaned; Kora grunted in pain as she tried to pick herself up off the floor. Daisy felt a twinge of sympathy for both of them; she had wanted to toss Miles into a wall, Kora and Deke didn’t deserve getting slammed into one. 

Suddenly Yo-Yo yelped; she had run straight into Lincoln, who was now crackling head-to-toe with electricity. She flew backwards in a combination from her own recoil and Lincoln’s power. Daisy raced after her, sending a quake pulse that tossed her clear across the corridor into a wall. She hit the wall hard and slid down it; her head lolling to the side, unconscious. Both Lincoln and Daisy had aimed to stun, not kill. 

“Damn,” Trip said, crawling to the door and looking out into the corridor. “Damn, guys, that was cool! That looked like it was choreographed! Did you guys practise that or something?”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other, neither having a good response for Trip. They _had_ worked together with their Inhuman abilities before when flying from the containment module to the Quinjet, but those last two moves had been specific to Daisy and the original timeline Lincoln. Lincoln had known that covering his body with electricity would stop Yo-Yo because Daisy’s Lincoln had done it in the original timeline; Daisy had previously tossed _Lincoln_ into the wall to knock him out, not Yo-Yo. Regardless of who had done what to whom, they had known it would work. 

“It’s complicated,” Lincoln said wearily as he walked over to Trip to help him upright; Daisy staggered over to Kora, Deke and Gideon Malick. Complicated was a good word for the entire situation. One look at Gideon and she knew that he was gone. That was no shock to her; she had been swayed last time and had killed him, so his death had been predicted and was pretty much on cue, albeit maybe a few hours earlier than expected. Even he had known that it was going to happen, thanks to this timeline’s version of Charles Hinton; he had acknowledged that it was his time just before he’d been killed. 

Despite not regretting what had happened to Gideon Malick, however, Kora and Deke were also injured. Deke had gotten the brunt of the blows; first Lincoln had been thrown into him, then Kora. And he was _not_ young anymore. At the very least, he was going to feel bruises the next day. 

“You guys okay?” Daisy asked, extending a hand to pull Kora to her feet. 

“Peachy,” Kora replied and then grimaced. 

Daisy winced too. Kora had picked up that term from Sousa; it was a literal reminder that her boyfriend, no not boyfriend, _ex-boyfriend_ , was currently racing against Hive to get to James. Yes, they had beaten Yo-Yo, but that was with a combination of two Inhuman powers and three extra targets. What chance did four human men have against Hive? Daisy had a sudden urge to race back up to the Zephyr and contact the Quinjet. Which was stupid for many reasons, one of which included the fact that Sousa was likely frustrated with her because of her reactions to Lincoln. He was amazingly patient and square - for once, the complete opposite of her original timeline Lincoln, who had had problems with his temper - but everyone had their breaking point. Although she didn’t like it, she had a pretty good feeling that Sousa was nearing his.

Meanwhile, Lincoln had walked over to check on Yo-Yo since Trip was back on his feet. Now that he was next to her, he called, “Hey, Deke? Think you could fix the brain scanner?”

Deke groaned, picking himself up off the floor. “Did she break it?”

“I think parts of it are in my hair,” Daisy admitted, wincing as she felt her scalp where Yoyo had slammed the brain scanner into her head. When she pulled her hand away, she saw that blood had stained her fingertips. “Maybe my scalp.”

“You’re bleeding,” Kora said, stepping behind Daisy to see her head. “You need stitches. And someone to pick those bits of plastic and metal out of your head.”

“And what are we going to do with her?” Trip asked, nodding to an unconscious Yo-Yo. “Think the Inhuman containment cells will hold her?”

“As long as she or Raina or Hive didn’t bust everything down there too,” Deke replied. He sighed heavily. “Okay. Trip, Kora, if you’re both uninjured, bring Yo-Yo down to containment. I’ll check the power systems. Lincoln, fix Daisy’s wound. Then, when you’re done, hopefully I’ll have the lights back on and the brain scanner fixed. We’ll run it on the three of you and Yo-Yo.”

Daisy winced again, but this time it had nothing to do with Sousa or how much her head hurt at the moment. Deke had put his finger on what she had suspected since she’d seen Yo-Yo waving the brain scanner. It wasn’t her hitting her that made her suspect Yo-Yo - the latter had tossed Mack into a van the first time they’d met - it was her killing Gideon. 

“She’s been swayed, hasn’t she?” she asked Kora, guilt billowing up inside her. As upset as Lincoln was about Raina being swayed, Daisy was equally upset about Yo-Yo’s infection. Daisy was getting slightly better at separating the alternate timeline versions of people with the original timeline’s versions, but it was still hard, especially with Lincoln in the mix, Lincoln, who was literally a combination of both timelines. At least Kora and Sousa didn’t have conflicting memories; while they had been taken out of their original timeline, they didn’t have two lives at war in their heads. Everyone in Deke’s timeline apart from Deke himself was wholly themselves too. Lincoln was an exception; a combination of both. This made it harder to disassociate the Yo-Yo in front of her with her close friend Yo-Yo from back home. She knew how much Yo-Yo valued her agency. In the original timeline, she had adamantly told Mack that she would rather be dead than swayed. Even though Lincoln had hopes about making an antitoxin, there was no guarantee that it would work on him, much less Yo-Yo. As far as any of them knew, there was no cure for the sway now that Lash was dead. The closest thing to a cure was killing Hive.

Kora gave her a sympathetic look; Kora didn’t know Yo-Yo like Daisy did. All she knew was that Yo-Yo was a friend. “I think so,” she admitted.

“Oh no,” Lincoln said. He was standing next to Yoyo and the anxiety in his voice was so palpable that Daisy ran over to him instantly, worried for both his and Yoyo’s safety. The entire time she’d known him in this timeline, she hadn’t heard him sound so worried, not when his team was in danger, not when he was trying to bring them back to his timeline, not even when he was confused about his memories. 

“Daisy, don’t,” he added urgently.

Too late.

Daisy looked down and her throat closed up. The room started spinning and she thought that she was going to faint. Weakly, she reached out to Lincoln to steady herself on; he placed a gentle, but steady hand on her shoulder, letting her lean into him for support. Despite his comforting touch, she could feel the tension in his muscles beneath the movement; he was holding himself in check for her, but he was as worried as she was. 

Although she was still dazed from what she had seen and from her head injury, she marvelled inwardly at the wonders Deke had done in helping Lincoln. She had to give it to both of them. Lincoln had a lot better control over his emotions in this timeline. While she had and still loved her Lincoln, she was not oblivious to his flaws; his temper had been one of them. Sousa was a lot calmer than her Lincoln, but this Lincoln had his emotions better in check. Which, of course, was not helping her confused brain and heart in any way at all. 

Daisy swallowed hard, looking down at Yo-Yo. Lincoln had shifted her hair out of her face so that he could check her pulse and make sure that she was alive. But as he’d done so, he’d revealed something around her neck. Something that Daisy had seen before, but had not wanted to see in this timeline, or any other timeline, ever again.

It was Yo-Yo’s cross necklace. The same necklace that would blow up with one of the team in the Quinjet in space. 


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

“That’s the necklace that blows up in space,” Daisy said weakly. “Lincoln….”

Daisy wasn’t quite sure what was happening. The room was swimming before her eyes and she stumbled, leaning more heavily against Lincoln; he wrapped an arm around her waist to support her weight. The combination of the blood loss, the shock of seeing a swayed Yoyo and the ill-fated cross necklace were making her dizzy. She was vaguely aware of Lincoln pulling off his jacket and draping it around her.

“She’s in shock,” he was saying, but even as he spoke, she looked down and realized that it was a S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket. The same jacket that she, in the original timeline, and he, in this timeline, had seen blow up in space with Hive.

He realized it at the same time and tugged it off her shoulders, tossing it to a corner of the corridor.

“Sorry,” he said. “Kora, give me your jacket.”

“No, it’s fine,” Daisy tried to say, but she couldn’t make her tongue say the words. Kora was at her side in a second. 

“You need to warm up,” she said, taking Daisy’s hands in hers. The next second, heat blazed between her palms and Daisy felt herself physically feeling warmer, even though she didn’t feel like it mentally.

“I don’t understand,” Trip began, but Deke spoke over him. Although Deke also didn’t fully understand what was going on, he knew that something was seriously wrong. 

“Trip, get Yo-Yo down to containment,” he said. “Come back up here when you’re done. Lincoln and Kora will explain everything when we’re all back here together.”

He shot Lincoln a serious look as he spoke, as a reminder that Deke himself was a little in the dark about what was going on. However, Lincoln and Kora were already moving into the lab, supporting Daisy between them. Trip nodded at Deke, scooping up an unconscious Yo-Yo, before leaving; Deke grabbed the brain scanner off the floor and followed the three Inhumans into the lab. 

The lab was a mess. Electronic devices were smashed, glass panels were shattered and several tables and chairs were overturned. The entire room looked as though someone had turned it upside down and shaken it like a snowglobe. 

“I’ll get her something to drink,” Kora said when Lincoln had sat Daisy down on the only upright chair in the room. “She’s not doing too great.”

Kora disappeared deeper into the lab in pursuit of water; Deke headed off to the generator on the right side of the lab, leaving the two Inhumans at the front. While both were concerned about Daisy, Lincoln _was_ the doctor. He was more than capable of making sure she was alright. 

“Lincoln…,” Daisy mumbled. “We’re going to lose someone. We’re actually going to lose someone for real.”

Up until that moment, Daisy had been able to convince herself that there was still a chance that Charles’s vision had been wrong. It was possible that he had seen what had happened in her timeline; his daughter, Robin, had had visions of different timelines. Even though Hive was back, she was pretty sure he hadn’t swayed her or Lincoln or Kora; she had been hoping that they were all mistaken that someone was going to die in the Quinjet in space. But now...the return of the cross necklace was a sign that the future was coming...and a lot faster than any of them hoped. 

Lincoln placed a hand on her forehead to check her temperature; it was clammy and cold. “Daisy, it’s fine. We’re all going to be fine. No one is dying today.”

“Maybe not today,” Daisy whispered. “But soon.”

Lincoln took her hands in his, kneeling in front of her chair. “Daisy, I promise you, nothing is going to happen to you or Kora or Sousa,” he said urgently. “I know how much they mean to you. None of them is going to die. You don’t have to worry about them.”

“It’s not just them,” Daisy said half-angrily. “It’s you! You died in the original timeline, Lincoln! Because you didn’t want anything to happen to me! I can’t lose you again. I can’t...I can’t just say goodbye.” She stopped when she realized what came next. _I have too much I want to say._

Damn. That was bad. She realized her slip-up at the same time, but the shock and her head wound weren’t letting her think too clearly. He wasn’t the same Lincoln. It was him, but at the same time, it wasn’t. But at the same time, she realized that she hadn’t been talking about her Lincoln. She didn’t want to lose this Lincoln either. The Lincoln who had chosen to take someone else’s memories that might result in him becoming crazy like the original John Garrett, the Lincoln who wasn’t willing to sacrifice any of them for his team, the Lincoln who had saved her and Kora in the containment module. She cared about him. About this Lincoln. For real.

But it wasn’t that simple. Not that simple as having feelings for this Lincoln who was partly her Lincoln and partly his own person. Because her heart still ached for Sousa. And she still cared about him, even though part of her heart still belonged with Lincoln. 

Lincoln’s face was unreadable; Daisy didn’t know if he thought she was addressing her Lincoln or him. So, without thinking of the consequences, she blurted out, “I’m not saying that because I think you’re my Lincoln. I really don’t want anything to happen to _you_.” 

His eyes widened, surprised that she genuinely cared about him for him and not for her Lincoln. And then...Daisy was suddenly aware of how close he was. His face was inches from hers. Aside from the awkward landing in the containment module, they hadn’t ever been this close. At least, not her and this Lincoln. Well, there had been the ‘moment’ on the Zephyr, but Deke had ended it before they could consider if doing something was what both of them wanted. Now...there was nothing stopping them from kissing if that was what she wanted to do. She met his gaze and knew from that look that he wasn’t going to move; the choice was hers. Because she was the one who had admitted to having real feelings for him. And she was the one with an ex-boyfriend whom she still cared about. 

“So sorry,” Deke said, coming around the corner as he spoke. “There’s something going on with the electrical system. I could really use an electricity generator.” He stopped walking when he finished speaking; he had realized yet again, what situation he had walked into.

Both of them had frozen, still inches apart. Which was different from the previous time when they had instantly moved away from each other. But this time, because they had both acknowledged having feelings for each other, something felt different. 

“Holy Kree,” Deke muttered. “I really need to stop walking in on you guys.”

By this point, Daisy had shifted back in her chair and Lincoln had taken a few steps away from her. Neither had a good response, so at first they were relieved when Kora reappeared, carrying a bottle of water in one hand; her other palm was glowing with light. 

“First the doctor who understands Inhuman biology, now the electricity generator,” Kora teased. “Like grandmother, like grandson.”

And there went the gratitude at her reappearance. 

“What did Nana do?” Deke asked, looking horrified.

Daisy sighed, dropping her head in defeat so that she didn’t have to look at either Deke or Kora. Lincoln shook his head, but he was smiling, not at Kora, but at Daisy. 

“Are you going to say ‘Go do your thing’ then?” he asked Daisy, making her look up in surprise.

While he _had_ admitted that he felt something for her, it was still strange that he was willing to allude to her timeline’s Lincoln. Regardless, Daisy liked it. Lincoln being happy and jokey was enough to make her feel more cheerful despite the incredibly worrying times they were in.

“Are _you_ going to say ‘We’re going to-’,” Daisy cut herself off before she could finish the flirtatious reply her Lincoln had made. She could blame her head injury for her more muddled thoughts. It was really not a suitable response in front of her sister and his father figure, especially given how she and Lincoln were currently in the I’m-not-sure-how-I-feel zone. 

“Yes, you two can,” Kora said, exasperatedly shoving Lincoln in Deke’s direction. “Go, Dr McSparky.” 

Lincoln shook his head. “You go, Kora. You can restart the generator as well as I can. You said it yourself; I’m the doctor, you’re not. Daisy’s head injury….”

Although Lincoln had a really good point - Kora was in no way a doctor - his suggestion did nothing to suggest that he and Daisy were not or had not been doing anything romantic. 

Deke rolled his eyes. “Okay, we get the point, Shake and Bake. Private time. Whatever. Bleurgh. Come on, Kora.”

By now, Daisy wished she could control electricity or energy, so she would have an excuse for why her face was red. Vibrations did nothing to prevent blushing. Kora laughed, putting the water bottle down on the table.

“Just don’t lose control,” Kora said, the implication and innuendo clear in her voice and a sly grin on her face. 

Daisy wanted to murder Kora. Not literally, of course, but it appeared that she had certainly inherited the let’s-tease-my-sister gene. 

“Kora, we’re in the lab,” Lincoln said, raising his hands in exasperation.

“Then don’t start fighting over Inhuman birth-” Kora warned.

Deke spluttered, making all of them look at him. “Inhuman _babies_ ?” he asked, looking completely embarrassed and mortified at the same time. “Guys, I love that you’re - you know, _reconnecting_ \- but, bumping lemons-”

Dear God. This was a nightmare. Why, oh why, was Deke always getting the wrong end of the stick or saying the wrong thing? It wasn’t his fault that he had interpreted Kora’s statement wrongly, just as much as it wasn’t their fault for reading between the lines wrongly back on the Zephyr. But now, this was the second time in less than an hour that they were facing calamitous teasing and it was a _disaster_. 

“Inhuman birth _rights_ ,” Daisy and Lincoln said at the same time. 

“Terrigenesis,” Lincoln added, as an afterthought, in case Deke failed to grasp their meaning. 

Kora had her lips pressed together in a desperate attempt not to laugh. 

“Come on, Deke,” she said, starting to push him again. “You did enough damage the first time.”

“And this time it’s your fault!” Daisy called after her, slightly annoyed, more embarrassed, but Kora was already leaving, pushing a bewildered and embarrassed Deke in front of her. Again.




“Okay,” Deke said, the minute they were out of earshot of Daisy and Lincoln. “What do I keep saying? And what’s up with Shake and Bake? Are they together? Are they not? Is Daisy still with Sousa? I feel like you three are definitely not telling me something.” He paused for breath. “And I’m talking about more than Daisy and Lincoln’s lemons.”

Kora bit back a laugh at the ill-timed phrase. She had been plucked out of 1983, Sousa had been rescued from 1955 and Deke was from 2091. Given the amount of time that Daisy had spent with the three of them, Daisy probably knew more old-fashioned and new-fashioned phrases than anyone else in any of the timelines. Technically Sousa was old enough to be Kora’s father, she was old enough to be Daisy’s mother and Daisy was old enough to be Deke’s grandmother. While all of them were obviously not related, excluding herself and Daisy, they quite literally spanned five generations. With the amount of slang that went in and out of time, it was a wonder that they understood each other sometimes.

“Daisy and Sousa broke up,” Kora said, starting with the simplest of his questions. “He wanted to give her space to decide what she wants. Or what her heart wants. Right now, she’s...reestablishing her friendship with Lincoln, but I don’t know if that means-”

“Puh-lease,” Deke said, shaking his head as they headed down a row of overturned tables. “Anyone with eyes can see the sparks flying. And I don’t mean that literally. Although that probably too.”

Kora snickered, letting her palm glow to illuminate the way. The mini glow sticks they had really weren’t doing much for being able to see. They had made enough ruckus already; if there were more swayed Inhumans on the base or enemy Hive/Hydra agents, they would already know there were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on site.

“You’re over Daisy,” Kora stated, glancing briefly at Deke.

Deke looked slightly taken aback. “I was never-”

“I’ve seen the timestream,” Kora reminded him. “You can’t lie to me about the past, Deke.” 

“Not even my past 33 years which you didn’t experience?” Deke grumbled. “You’re a frustrating person to be around.”

“Actually, I’m an amazing person to be around,” Kora said, smirking as they reached the generator. “I literally gave Lincoln his memories of the original timeline _and_ quite possibly brought about the reunion of our two favourite Inhumans. Who are not cursed.” Her smirk grew broader at the inside joke.

“Yeah, no, I don’t get it,” Deke said, shaking his head. “Who’s cursed?”

Kora shook her head. “It’s a long story.”

Deke flared his nostrils as he opened the panel to look inside. “And we have time because we need to fix this _and_ the brain scanner.”

Kora raised an eyebrow at him. “You asked for it, buddy,” she said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She stuck her hand into the generator, allowing power to flow from her fingers into the generator, but nothing happened. 

Deke frowned. “It must be inside…. Hang on. Talk while I work.”

Kora pulled her hand out and let Deke take her place. “So Daisy first thought that she was cursed when she first got her powers, but Lincoln convinced her that she wasn’t. Then, he hit a rough patch because of my mum’s betrayal and so _he_ thought that our powers are a curse. She turned the tables on him and convinced him that our powers are a gift. That was when they had their first kiss by the way. Which ironically was very similar to your grandparents’ first kiss. Fitz was convinced _they_ were cursed and that the universe wanted to keep them apart because they kept getting separated by alien planets and brain injuries and the like.” She paused. “Oh, and then remember how Fitz died after the team prevented your dystopian future from ever happening? It took Simmons a whole year to find him...but she got him back. And it took Daisy five years to find another version of Lincoln...also from another timeline.” 

Deke pulled his head out of the wall panel. “Are you trying to tell me that in a few minutes we’re going to be greeted by a man who claims to be Daisy and Lincoln’s grandson? Because that would be...both weird and creepy and _very_ confusing.” He paused. “And then that grandson would probably fall for you because you’re Daisy’s sister, who is basically Nana’s sister, so….”

Kora started laughing. “No, no, that’s not going to happen,” she said. “That would be a _disaster_. No, I was just letting you know more about Daisy and Lincoln and also how your grandparents got together.” She paused. “I know you miss them.”

Deke paused and then said, “Would you do that glowy-thing in front of the panel? I can’t see deep inside there.”

Kora obliged, but also continued talking. “Fitz and Simmons here don’t know who you are,” she said.

Deke banged his head against the upper section of the panel as he tried to look at her. “Ow! Dammit.” He rubbed his head. “What are you talking about?”

Kora gave him a _look_. “Deke, we’ve discussed this. I’ve seen the timestream.”

Deke frowned at her. “If you’ve seen the timestream, how do you not know who’s Hive?” he demanded.

Kora shrugged. “Downside, I don’t know the fixed future. I only know possibilities. And, given how there are 7.3 billion people on the planet and he can’t be in an Inhuman host body and there are who knows how many Inhumans...can you do the math? You’re the engineer.”

Deke sighed heavily, ducking back into the panel to negotiate with the wires. “So you know all of our pasts and you can’t tell us the fixed future? Sounds very convenient.”

Kora flinched. She knew that Deke was trying to trust her, but the keyword was trying. They hadn’t parted ways on the best of terms and, come to think of it, he didn’t even know that she had saved Daisy’s life after Daisy had died in space. Which...was the same way Lincoln had died in space. If Daisy could survive a quake explosion thanks to Kora’s powers, Kora was hopeful that if Lincoln ended up in the Quinjet again, God forbid, she would be able to save him with her powers because of his electricity manipulation. A nuclear explosion wasn’t exactly electricity, but it was close enough that Kora was hopeful.

“I’m not trying to trick you, Deke,” Kora said. “I’ve changed. I’ve been working with Daisy for a year now…. I’m the pilot on Zephyr Three. We’ve gotten really close. I’ve always wanted a sibling…. I wasn’t lying when I told her that.”

Deke pulled his head out of the panel yet again. “I didn’t mean to say that you haven’t changed,” he said. “As long as you haven’t been swayed, I know I can trust you. I saw what you did with the missiles...and I was there when you three were going into containment. You would do anything to make sure that Daisy is happy. Even if that means that Sousa’s heart gets broken in the process.”

Kora glanced at him sharply. “What are you saying?”

“You know more than you’re saying about the future,” Deke guessed. “You know who Daisy is going to choose.”

Kora frowned. “I know the possibilities and possibly even the percentages, but I don’t know for a fact,” she argued. “I can’t say that right now, Daisy and Lincoln are about to kiss, although there is a 90% possibility that they are before we fix the lights and get back over there to interrupt them yet again.”

Deke groaned, sticking his head back into the wall. “I don’t know whether that makes me want to speed up this process or not. I don’t want to walk in on Shake and Bake for the _third_ time in the last two hours.”

Kora grinned. “We still have to fix the brain scanner,” she reminded him. 

“Great,” Deke said sarcastically. “I’d love to see the shenanigans that they get up to while we’re occupied with _that_.”

“Hey,” Kora said. “At the very least, we can listen to your Walkman while you work. Then we won’t have to hear anything that they’re up to.”

“You telling me that we have to listen to my Walkman to block out sounds of whatever they’re up to is not reassuring in the slightest!” Deke objected.

Kora laughed, pulling his Walkman out of her pocket with her free hand, and handed it to him. “I was kidding, Deke.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not,” Deke said darkly, taking without looking at her and shoving it into his pocket. “Seeing Yo-Yo and Raina swayed was nauseating enough.” While his tone was deliberately light, Kora could tell that he was hurting underneath a lot more than he was admitting.

“Deke,” Kora said, her tone more gentle now. “If you need to talk about it, you can talk to me.” She paused. “I know you have mixed feelings about me, but the good thing is, whatever you have to say isn’t going to be anything worse than everything I’ve seen and know.” She tapped the side of her head. “I’ve seen everyone’s worst sides already. Their darkest thoughts. Their inner demons. Just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean that the potential isn’t there.” She stopped again briefly. “I know Lincoln is basically your son and that it might be weird to go to Daisy about whatever you’re feeling about your agents and everything and while the rest of your team is awesome, they’re still your subordinates. Daisy, Sousa and I, well, we’re anomalies. You can talk to me if you want to.” 

Deke pulled his head out of the panel for the fourth time. “Who are you and what have you done to Assassin Kora? The Kora whose idea of making the world the best that it could be was through killing?”

Kora grimaced. “Brain-washed by Nathaniel Malick. Pre-Hive.” 

“What?” Deke took a step back, holding the screwdriver up like it was a plausible weapon against Kora’s energy blasts. “Pre- _Hive_?”

Kora rushed to reassure him. “In the other timeline, Nathaniel became a host for Hive,” she explained. “I should have worded it better...I’m sorry. I haven’t been swayed, honest.”

Deke sighed, lowering the screwdriver. “Well, I certainly hope you haven’t been,” he said. “Speaking of, blast the generator again. I think I got it this time.”

With that, Kora stuck her hand into the generator again and released an energy pulse into the circuitry system.




Once Kora and Deke were gone, Daisy dropped her head back against the chair in defeat; her sigh turned into a hiss of pain as her wound came in contact with the chair. 

Daisy wasn’t entirely sure if she was upset about the interruption or not. Although it had been completely embarrassing in so many different ways, she didn’t want to give Lincoln the wrong impression that she was over Sousa. At the same time, though, he _had_ been leaving the choice up to her. If she kissed this Lincoln, there would be no going back. She’d already admitted she liked him for him and not for who she thought he was. Things had already been complicated before their most recent ‘moment’ and if she kissed this him, things were going to get a hundred times _more_ complicated. But...there was still Sousa….

“Are you okay?” Lincoln asked, moving behind her to check on her head.

“Yeah,” Daisy said, leaning forward a little. “I just forgot it was there.”

Lincoln nodded, then gave himself a little head shake as though to clear his thoughts. “I need to clean your head wound; you okay if I do that now?”

Daisy was touched that he was asking her permission. Granted, he was a doctor, but still...it was sweet. Especially since they technically hadn’t known each other that long...although in actuality, he knew more about her than anyone in the timeline, except Kora. 

“Sure,” Daisy said, eyes following him as he pulled a medical kit out of one of the drawers of a nearby table. 

Lincoln brought the kit back over and then sat down on the table behind her, his legs on either side of her chair. He set up a battery-operated lamp on the table so that he could see her wound; Daisy leaned back against the chair and without realizing it, brushed against his thighs.

“Sorry,” she muttered, shifting forward again. 

“No worries,” Lincoln said.

Was she mistaking the slight unsteadiness in his voice? She wasn’t sure. But she didn’t want to push the issue. Things were nice as they were. 

They sat in silence for a while, Lincoln parting her long hair and plucking bits of metal and plastic out of her wound with a pair of tweezers. It didn’t hurt; his touch was feather-light despite him not using a painkiller. He knew without asking that she hated needles - she had hated them since she had donated pints of blood to Hive and especially hated them after the whole Nathaniel Malick mission - but she didn’t need it anyway. His fingers were soft and soothing against her head and Daisy found herself relaxing into his touch. 

“So Deke didn’t recruit Yo-Yo for his team?” Daisy asked, focusing on the one thing - her team/family - which would distract herself from getting lost in the sensation of Lincoln’s fingers against her head. “You mentioned earlier that the others - Fitzsimmons, Coulson, May and Mack - aren’t either? Why?”

Lincoln shook his head, even though she couldn’t see him and then rectified his action. “Mack _is_ on the team. He’s just not with us right now. He’s on holiday with his girlfriend, Nicole, and their daughter, Hope.”

Daisy tried to twist around to face him, but he stopped her with a hand on her head. 

“No turning!” he said. “Or else I might push the shrapnel in deeper!”

“You got it, Doc,” Daisy joked, the news about Mack’s daughter was starting to make her feel hopeful again. The reappearance of the cross necklace had taken a lot out of her. “Hope’s alive?”

“Yeah,” Lincoln said, poking around her wound with the tweezers and then putting them down, apparently satisfied that there was no more dirt in the cut. He carefully poured something on her wound that stung and then soothed the aching skin. “She’s sweet and amazing and she adores Mack. I’ve seen her once or twice. And...she’s not pixels of data in the Framework.”

Daisy’s eyes stung. Although this timeline had its flaws, it appeared that some things had changed for the better. Not only was Lincoln alive, but Deke had built a home for himself _and_ Mack had had his biggest regret rectified without the world turning into a Hydra hellscape. 

“It sounds like things turned out okay for him in the end,” Daisy said, her voice a little rough from the lump in her throat. “Even though his parents died and everything.”

“Deke looked out for him,” Lincoln said; Daisy felt a tugging sensation start as Lincoln began stitching up her head wound. “He did that for me too. He made sure we were safe and happy...although I must say that the alcohol abuse was all my fault and nothing on Deke.” 

Daisy felt a wave of gratitude towards Deke. She had mentioned Lincoln as her lost love to him once, once! and he had rescued him. The next time Deke teased them, intentionally or not, she was just going to go with it. She owed Deke everything - and she didn’t just mean them returning to the original timeline. Deke had reintroduced Lincoln into her life and no matter what happened between them, whether they ended up together or not, she knew that she would finally get closure about her Lincoln’s death.

“‘A world with no regrets’,” Daisy murmured, almost to herself.

Lincoln’s fingers stilled on her head. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said. “Aida and her Framework, I mean.”

Daisy shook her head. “I didn’t...go through it. Not really. It was so much worse for Fitz and Mack; they actually lived it. May and Coulson at least didn’t have as bad experiences inside the Framework, but for Fitz and Mack…. Fitz returned knowing that he had killed Agnes and had ordered the strike that had killed Mace. And Mack...Hope was everything to him inside the Framework. I don’t think he even had a chance to properly mourn her until after the whole Gravitonium disaster.”

“Still,” Lincoln said, resuming his stitching. “I know the Framework wasn’t easy on you either. Waking up with Grant Ward in your bed, for one.”

Daisy laughed. “Yeah, well, in a way, it would have been worse if it had been you,” she said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to leave. It would have been as bad as Mack’s situation. I wouldn’t have been able to leave, knowing you weren’t waiting for me on the other side.”

Lincoln stopped stitching again. “It wouldn’t have been real,” he said softly. “He would have been coding. Nothing else. And you would have wanted him anyway?”

They were entering iffy territory now. Daisy twisted around again and this time he let her, holding the needle to the side so that they could face each other. He wanted to know the answer as much as she did. 

There were so many answers she could give. She could say that he was her biggest regret (still true, even now), she could say that he was her first love (also true), she could even say that it would have given her closure about his death (again true). It was incredibly sad and frustrating that the Framework had helped her understand Ward better, but hadn’t given her back Lincoln. But instead, she settled for the most truthful answer, their eyes locked on each other.

“Yes,” she said. “But only because I wouldn’t have known that it hadn’t been real. If Aida had put me in at the same time as the rest of the team, I wouldn’t have known. I would have had false memories of our lives together and I would have been content and happy and would have had everything I had ever wanted. Because when Aida offered me you, I turned her down. Because I would have known that it wasn't real. Although...although I still sometimes wonder what if.”

Daisy hadn’t told anyone about her ‘what if’ moments, although she suspected that Kora already knew. The ‘what if’ moments had lessened since she’d met and fallen for Sousa, but they still existed. On his birthday, on the anniversary of their first kiss, on the anniversary of his death...the possibilities still plagued her. She hadn’t let him go. And she didn’t think she ever would. 

“Thank you for being honest with me,” Lincoln said softly. “I know...you probably haven’t told anyone that before.”

Daisy shook her head slowly, carefully so she didn’t snap the thread holding her skin together. While she loved Coulson, going to him for relationship advice was just...awkward; going to Simmons was heart-breaking because Simmons had also lost the love of her life, but had gotten back a different timeline-version of him (which actually at this moment sounded ridiculously similar); and going to Sousa was out of the question. There had been no one she could tell. 

After Lincoln gave her a small, sympathetic smile, Daisy turned back around carefully, allowing him to resume the stitching of her head. 

“What about Yo-Yo?” she asked, returning to the original topic of discussion. “Did Deke not watch out for her?”

“It’s not that,” Lincoln said. “He does. I think she must have been taken between the team’s kidnapping and our rescue. It wasn’t his fault. In fact, I’m worried about him. He’s feeling guilty enough about the agents whom he lost today...we still don’t know how many or if there are any survivors. And now he’ll be beating himself up over her sway...especially when he hears how devoted to Hive she is.”

Daisy’s heart sank. The missing agents...while she didn’t know how many of them had been at the Playground, the sheer silence in the base was a huge indication that a lot of them were either missing or dead. She knew that Deke would take the loss personally - who wouldn’t? Like Lincoln said, it wasn’t his fault, but as the director, he would feel responsible for their loss. 

Almost worse was Yo-Yo’s sway. Not only was there no cure for it now that Lash was gone, but even if they managed to kill Hive with or without losing one of the team in the process, the recovery process was brutal. When she had been in withdrawal from Hive’s sway, it had been the lowest of low points in her life; not only had she lost Lincoln, but she was still struggling to recover from the aftermath of losing the connection to Hive. She knew all too well what it felt like.

“Hey,” Lincoln said, his fingers light on the space between her neck and her shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t go there. I remember that pain. I’ve been through it.” He paused. “Well, not Hive’s sway, specifically, but you know what I’m talking about. And unlike me and alcohol, well, you didn’t choose to get swayed by Hive.”

“Lincoln, I went back to him,” Daisy said, her voice cracking with the guilt. The whole mission, the fact that someone was going to die _again_...it was getting too much. It brought back a lot of bad memories. This was the first time she was admitting that she had succumbed to returning to Hive to be swayed again to anyone; not even Coulson or Simmons had figured out the real reason why she had gone to Hive. That guilt of all of them thinking she had tried to kill Hive on her own before Lincoln’s death had been part of the reason she’d left S.H.I.E.L.D.. She hadn’t been able to bear them looking at her like she was a hero when she had been anything but. “I wanted...I wanted….”

“Do _not_ go down that road,” Lincoln said fiercely, hopping off the table and crouching down in front of her chair. “I might have Crazy-Town going on in my head right now, but I do know one thing. ‘You’re not a monster. You’re not a horrible thing.’ I know...because he taught you and then you taught him that neither of you are.” He paused. “That was horrible English.”

Despite the ridiculousness of it all, Daisy, couldn’t help laughing. Lincoln relaxed a little at her laugh and after she gave him a faint smile and a slight head nod, he sat back down on the table, legs on either side of her chair as he resumed stitching.

Worn out from everything all of a sudden, Daisy rested her head against Lincoln’s thigh while he finished stitching up her wound. A split second after she’d done it, she realized what she’d done, but she didn’t move. She didn’t want to. And she was tired of fighting what she wanted to do, tired of fighting her emotions, tired of trying not to hurt someone, but only hurting someone else by doing so. There was no one else here who would be hurt by her actions, unless Lincoln himself didn’t want it. She heard his breath catch at the contact.

“Is it...is it too much?” Daisy asked quietly. She didn’t want to push him for something that he wasn’t ready for. 

“No,” Lincoln said, just as quietly. “It’s nice.”

They sat in silence while Lincoln finished stitching up her wound. At long last, he snipped the thread, put down the needle and said, “You’re all good now. Added bonus, I didn’t have to cut off your hair.”

Daisy laughed at the private joke that only they - and Kora - would get, turning around in her chair. 

“Thank you,” she said. 

Their eyes locked.

“You probably have a concussion,” Lincoln said hastily, as though he was trying to distract himself from her seriously close presence. “You should probably have someone check on you tonight. Wake you up every few hours and check your pupils etcetera. I know you've gone through lots worse, but if we don't end up fighting for our lives tonight, doctor's orders are to have someone stay with you tonight." He paused. "And by that, I mean Kora because that would probably be the least awkward of us all."

Daisy didn't mind if Lincoln looked after her that night. He'd been her doctor and transitioner at Afterlife before they'd ever gotten romantically involved. It would be nice if he were there. But all the same...it would probably be strange if he did. He was a doctor, but he was also much more than that. And both of them knew it. 

Daisy bit her lip. He knew that she cared about him...and about the real him, not just the Lincoln she had lost. But what did he feel? Did he care about her? Or was it his returned memories that were making him think that he cared about her? 

“Lincoln?” Daisy took a deep breath. She needed to know his answer. It was too confusing otherwise. “How...how is it going? Differentiating yourself and him?” 

Lincoln gave a slight shrug. “It’s complicated.” 

Ah. Those lovely words that she had told Sousa. Well, payback sucked, so she could hardly blame Lincoln for telling her the same thing.

“Lincoln,” Daisy said, trying to get him to open up and trust her. “Please tell me. Outside of Kora, I’m the only one here who understands that it’s not as simple as you getting his memories and going on with your life. I’m not even sure if _she_ understands because she hasn’t said anything about it either. Fitz had two lives in his head and that gave him a mental break trying to suppress one life. I don’t want that happening to you. And not because I would hate to have another doctor operating on my head.” She paused. “Actually, I think you just kind of did that. But anyway….”

Lincoln laughed, but it was a humourless one. He hopped off the table and walked to another one, leaning against it, facing her so that she didn’t have to twist in her chair to see him.

“Okay,” he sighed. “At first, I was just confused, but now...it’s...it’s a war inside my head. The two lives, I mean, not trying to control my powers. I thought that time might help them settle, but they haven’t really. I have my memories of my life here and my memories of my life there...and they’re similar, but very different at the same time. At least they share some things, but there’s a lot they don’t agree on. I don’t know if it would be worse if they decided to merge. Like I would get confused between me and him. Or if they would all decide to be me. I don’t know.” 

Daisy winced. “Did Kora do something wrong?” she asked. “As far as I know, she’s never had a problem with the timestream in her head….”

“It’s different for Kora,” Lincoln explained. “She saw it as a third person observer. I’m seeing it all in first person. I _lived_ it...but I didn’t at the same time. And then there are the memories that I didn’t live...those at least, make more sense. They aren’t conflicting with any of my memories because neither one of us was there. But it’s a lot to contend to, in addition to the memories that I _did_ experience as him.”

This was...another complication that she hadn’t predicted. But then again, it was S.H.I.E.L.D.. Nothing was ever simple.

Daisy stood up, walking towards him. “Well, maybe I can help you.”

Lincoln looked a little lost, a little sad, a little resigned. “I dunno know if it can be helped.” He paused. “And I’m not talking about powers this time.”

Daisy looked at him and then both of them burst out laughing. 

“We’re hopeless,” Daisy said, leaning against the table next to him. “First Deke needing your help, us being in the lab and now this. The lovely conversation about wars inside heads. It’s no wonder you’re confused. We basically just lived us in another timeline.”

Lincoln was still smiling, shaking his head in disbelief. “Actually, you’re right.”

Daisy looked at him, confused.

“About us being hopeless?” she asked, but Lincoln was still talking.

“No, about how you can help,” he said. “You _are_ helping. I mean... _you_ are helping. One of the things that both of us agree on is _you_. I care about you. With or without his memories. I care about the Daisy who would rather have died than let Kora and I get swayed. I care about the Daisy who just saved all our sorry butts from Yo-Yo. I even care about the Daisy who can’t hold still while I’m stitching up her head wound.” He paused as she smiled at his joke. “I care about you. And I’m not saying this as the Lincoln whose memories I got, but as me. My feelings aren’t as strong as his were - he was in love with you and I only just met you - but my feelings are real. I know that. And I know that that’s not really fair to you because I know that you’re confused about your feelings too and I don’t want to make things worse, especially because of Sousa, but I-”

Impulsively, before she could overthink it, or wonder about Sousa, or what she was going to tell him or Lincoln, for that matter, Daisy grabbed the front of Lincoln’s shirt and pulled him towards her, cutting off his speech. Their lips met and it felt like coming home. The gentle touch of his lips on hers, the soft stubble on his cheeks against her fingertips as she brought her right hand up to his face and her left one to his neck. His hands brushed her waist and he drew her in, pulling her closer. 

The lights flickered on overhead at that moment and both of them looked up, Daisy’s arms still wrapped around Lincoln’s neck and his around her waist. 

“Was that you?” Daisy asked quietly; Lincoln shook his head.

“Not this time,” he said and Daisy smiled, remembering the time that he had made all the lights in the lab flicker after he’d finally woken up after von Strucker and List’s torture at the Arctic Hydra facility. 

“Kora and Deke must have got the lights back on,” Daisy said, but even as she spoke, both of them could hear footsteps coming from different directions, one sounded like running, the other was multiple walking footsteps.

Both of them turned in opposite directions; sparks flickering along Lincoln’s fingertips and a quake pulse already starting to build on Daisy’s. Just when both of them were convinced they were going to be fighting for their lives again, Trip came bursting through the door to the main labs at the same time as Deke and Kora rounded the corner from where they had been fixing the power system on the base.

“Lincoln, I found Lash’s body,” Trip said quickly, without greeting. “I dragged him into the healing pod downstairs to preserve his body, but after all your talk about an antitoxin earlier…. Could you maybe make one against Hive from Lash’s DNA?”


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

“E.T.A. is five minutes,” Ward said, flipping switches from where he was sitting in the cockpit. “You guys ready?”

“To face a potential Inhuman who packs his front yard with explosives and possibly the ancient Inhuman from another planet?” Miles asked. “All in a day’s work.”

He stood up and started digging through a black container of weapons. He handed one gun to Sousa and then shoved another into the waistband of his jeans.

“Bloody aliens,” Hunter said, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing out of the cockpit to join Miles at the back of the Quinjet. “They have an unfair advantage.”

“You wanted Inhuman powers,” Miles reminded him. “After you found out what Lincoln can do.”

Hunter snorted. “Too right! The dude can conduct electricity! He can even use it to flipping flirt!”

Sousa’s head jerked up at that. During the entire plane flight if any of the guys brought up Inhumans, especially Daisy or Lincoln, he had tried not to react in a way that betrayed what he was feeling, but apparently, he was failing.

Hunter caught Sousa’s movement. “Yeah, Ward and I saw good old Shake and Bake while we were in the cockpit. That was a _very_ cosy situation they were in in the containment module.”

Sousa wasn’t sure whether Hunter was referring to the Daisy-Lincoln moment when they had been experimenting with their powers or the compromising situation that they had ended up in when Ward had been trying to prevent the Zephyr from getting hit by missiles. Either way, neither were moments that he liked thinking about, so he deflected, even though that meant getting angry at Hunter. Which was honestly not hard because he was still distrustful of Hunter for attempting to drop Daisy, Kora and Lincoln out of the plane. 

“Didn’t stop you from dumping them like contaminated waste,” he countered. “That was uncalled for.”

Hunter scowled at him. “It was the hard call to make and I made it!” he retorted. “I did what I had to do to keep the team alive.”

Sousa glared at him. “Chances were high that only one of them was swayed and you made the choice to sacrifice two for one! And we’re currently under the belief that none of them were! Three innocent lives. Was that worth it to you?”

While Sousa was more than willing to sacrifice himself for the people he cared about - he had been willing to die closing the Zero Matter rift so that Peggy, Jarvis and the others would live - he was a staunch believer that that the sacrifice had to be the dying person’s choice. Otherwise it was essentially murder. 

“Guys!” Ward interrupted, even though he was still flying the plane. “Not the time!” 

It wasn’t really in Sousa’s nature to argue with anyone, but he was feeling frustrated, heart-broken and more than ready to finally take his annoyance out on someone. Hunter was a good outlet because Hunter _had_ wronged the Inhumans. Plus, he was sticking by his decision that it was the right one, which was infuriating to Sousa. Although he had been doing remarkably well at not showing it...up till now. 

Miles smirked at Sousa. “Still caught up on Daisy, huh?” he asked, shoving several splinter bombs into his pocket. 

While Sousa hadn’t told any of the guys about himself and Daisy, Miles had overheard him and Deke interrogating Gideon Malick. Although Hunter and Ward had been absent at the time since they had been in the cockpit of the plane, Miles _had_ mentioned him having feelings for Daisy earlier when he was complaining that women were the root of all their problems. 

Sousa ignored him, but Hunter spoke up. 

“Take my advice, mate, interspecies relationships never work out,” he said. 

“You dated an Inhuman?” Sousa asked, ignoring the sting in his heart at Hunter’s words. As far as he knew, Bobbi was human, although he could be mistaken. He hadn’t known anyone in this timeline prior to their initial meeting, unlike Daisy; Kora obviously had the advantage with her knowledge of the timestream. 

Miles started laughing. “No, he just called Bobbi a ‘demonic hellbeast’ when they were on the outs. But he has a point. May and Andrew’s marriage imploded after Andrew’s Terrigenesis.”

Ward spoke up from the cockpit. “Andrew turned into Lash,” Ward said. “He was killing innocent Inhumans. And he couldn’t suppress that side of his nature anymore. That was what ruined their lives, not the Inhuman gene in general. Some Inhumans like Lincoln, Daisy and Kora were and still are the same after their Terrigenesis. And I don’t just mean physically.”

Sousa felt a wave of gratitude towards Ward. At least _one_ person wasn’t telling him that his relationship with Daisy was screwed. Forget about being pardoned for cursing. Living with Daisy and Kora for a year had at least prevented him from worrying about swearing. 

“Except for the void,” Miles reminded Ward.

“The void?” Sousa repeated.

“Dude, you dated an Inhuman and you don’t know about the void?” Miles asked. He could have worded it better, but the genuine curiosity in his voice was evident. “ _Lincoln_ told me and the dude’s not even my boyfriend.”

“You wish,” Hunter teased him; Miles pulled a face at him. 

“Sousa, ignore him,” Ward said, interrupting before Miles and Hunter could get into a bickering war. “Miles just likes riling everyone up. The Inhuman void is what Inhumans feel before Terrigenesis. They don’t feel complete; it’s an emptiness inside. They feel like they’re in constant pursuit of something. Even after Terrigenesis, they still feel that way sometimes. I can’t speak for Daisy, of course, but even after Lincoln got his powers, he was still feeling a little incomplete.”

“Was?” The words slipped out of Sousa before he could stop himself. 

Ward hesitated, but Miles didn’t have qualms about filling Sousa in, even if it hurt him. Miles was never one to pull punches.

“He’s been different since the four of you returned from the other timeline,” Miles explained. “It’s like he’s found whatever he was missing.”

A thought came to Sousa unbidden and while he tried to ignore it, the thought was still there. “Is it...do Inhumans have...soulmates?”

Hunter snorted. “Now you’ve been reading too much fantasy,” he joked. “Lay off the _Twilight_ , Sousa.”

Now Sousa was beyond confused. Was _Twilight_ a book? An alcohol brand? And what did either of those things have to do with soulmates?

“You’re confusing him,” Ward sighed as he tilted the yoke to bring the plane lower. “Guys, we’re landing, so brace yourselves.”

Ward’s warning, while nice, was unnecessary. The landing was one of the smoothest that Sousa had ever experienced. The Quinjet had arrived in the Badlands in South Dakota. Ward flipped the last of the switches to turn off the engine and then the engine fell silent.

“And,” Ward added as he climbed out of the cockpit. “To answer your question, Sousa, I don’t think so. Lots of Inhumans end up together - Shane and Lori Henson, for example - but I think that’s just because they have stuff in common. Shane and Lori are friends of Lincoln’s, by the way. Unaffiliated with S.H.I.E.L.D..” 

“Then why do they still have the ‘void’ as you put it?” Sousa asked, curious regardless of its connection to Daisy. “Even after Terrigenesis?”

“No idea,” Ward replied. “You’d be better off asking Lincoln. He knows Inhuman history and he is one. Of course, asking Raina would be best - she’s one of the world’s experts on Inhumans, but obviously that’s not an option right now.”

Sousa wasn’t sure if Daisy was still feeling that ‘emptiness’. He knew that the team meant a lot to her, but was it the team that had been filling that void? He had no idea. He wondered briefly if Kora was going through the same thing. Had finding each other helped with that? Had _he_ helped with that, even briefly? She had never brought it up with him, although she had mentioned spending her youth hunting fruitlessly for her parents. He hadn’t realized that that obsession had stemmed from an emptiness inside her, an actual biological thing in the Inhuman genome that made them need something to fill it. Yet another thing that he hadn’t understood about Inhumans. And probably never could, because he wasn’t like them. 

At that moment, the communications tablet that Hunter was holding beeped and he looked down at it.

“Speak of the devil,” he said. “We have a message from our lovely aliens. A reminder to be careful about landmines…. Lincoln’s telling us to watch out for bullets as well and that it would be a good idea to bring ICERs in addition to our regular guns in case James refuses to come. Daisy says that there will be a companion piece to a Kree Orb under the floor of his trailer. And that we need to take that with us when we bring James with us.” He paused. “Oh. Miles, you would _love_ this. Don’t know how she did it, but Daisy did some coding on it to make sure that it would arrive when we got near James’ trailer. She’s giving you a run for your money!”

While Miles might be feeling professional jealousy towards Daisy and her hacking skills, Sousa felt a now-familiar flare of frustration and jealousy at the mention of Daisy and Lincoln being together. Yes, he had broken up with Daisy to give her space and while he still didn’t think it was the wrong choice, necessarily, it was difficult when her definition of space apparently included being inseparable from Lincoln. 

“Want me to ask them about the void?” Hunter asked, his fingers hovering over the keypad.

“It’s fine,” Sousa said quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb them with questions about something that obviously a more private and personal thing for Inhumans. To search for something all their lives must be difficult, even once they had gone through Terrigenesis and the emptiness was filled a little. While he was curious, it definitely wasn’t a suitable thing to ask over a tablet, much less via Hunter, who would make fun of whatever response Daisy or Lincoln would give. 

Hunter laughed. “Whatever you want, man,” he said, placing the tablet on one of the built-in chairs.

“Come on, be serious now,” Ward said, shoving bulletproof vests at each of them; he had taken them from an overhead bin. “We’re about to go into a location with landmines and possibly Hive. Time to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, not clowns.”

That sobered them up a little. Each of them strapped into a vest, grabbed a shotgun or rifle and belted smaller handguns around their waists. They even added splinter bombs to their arsenals and an ICER. 

Ward turned to Miles and Hunter. “You two are on perimeter watch. Sousa and I will go inside and talk to James.”

“Sousa?” Hunter began, but Ward cut over him.

“We’re trying to get James to come with us, not to make him so angry that he decides to deliberately go with Hive,” Ward said. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait, you’ll need this,” Miles said, reaching into his pocket.

In his hand was a see-through plastic container; Ward exploded and Hunter stepped back quickly, even though the container was sealed.

“Miles, you stole a Terrigen crystal?” Ward demanded. “Where the hell did you get that from?”

Sousa knew enough about Terrigenesis to know that the crystals were what triggered powers in Inhumans and that they were deadly to humans. All the crystals back in the original timeline were kept under very safe security. The very fact that Miles, a human, had snuck one out was not only absurd, but also dangerous for all of them in the Quinjet.

“Lincoln took it,” Miles replied. “He got permission from Raina, though, before he did and he gave it to me. Bargaining chip. Apparently James really wants his Inhuman powers, but S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t let him undergo Terrigenesis because he tried to steal a Kree Orb from the facility once.”

“Regardless, I don’t think Deke and Raina would let _you_ have it!” Ward said. “All four of us here are human, Miles! It’s one thing for Lincoln to have it and quite another for you to have it!”

Ward had a very good point. Sousa was fully human; he knew that despite Nathaniel Malick thinking otherwise. In the original timeline, unbeknownst to all of them, though, Ward had become a host for Hive and Hunter had tried a fish oil pill; both of them were also completely human. Miles having the Terrigen crystal was like him carrying around a primed grenade that none of them could touch. 

Miles shrugged like his close contact with the deadly Terrigen crystal didn’t bother him. “Lincoln gave it to me on the Zephyr. After Kora, Deke, Sousa and Daisy had all left the communications centre. Maybe Lincoln’s already told Deke. Who knows? It’s not a big deal. Deke wouldn’t get very mad at him anyway.”

Sousa remembered that moment all too well. After Deke and Kora had left, he had also left the room, unable to look at Daisy or Lincoln in the eye. He had simultaneously wanted and not wanted Daisy to come after him. Ultimately, she had followed him, but Kora had returned before Daisy could explain anything (not that there really could be a good explanation) to ask Daisy to go downstairs so that she could be with Deke while Kora and Trip were flying the Zephyr. Lincoln and Miles had been alone in the communications centre; that must have been when Lincoln had given Miles the Terrigen crystal.

“That’s not the point!” Ward objected. “We’re talking about Terrigen, that none of us can touch without it killing us! Deke being angry at us is the least of our worries!”

“We can bribe him to come with us,” Hunter said. “That’s actually a great idea!”

Sousa was on Ward’s side. Miles and Hunter were way too impulsive and eager to take risks; Ward was much more logical. Either way, Sousa didn’t like the idea of any of them carrying around a ticking time bomb.

“And a terrible one if Hive is anywhere on the premises,” Ward said, snatching the container from Miles and shoving it into one of his pockets. “Come on, let’s go, before we’re too late and Hive _does_ show up.”

With that, the four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents left the Quinjet, each armed to the teeth with weapons and nerves that they were about to encounter a deadly Inhuman who could kill them with a wave of his hand. 




Even though Trip had just dropped a bombshell on them, Daisy’s mind was reeling. She had kissed Lincoln. She had _kissed_ Lincoln. She had kissed _Lincoln_. He had kissed her back. She’d wanted to kiss him, he’d wanted to kiss her…. In the moment, it had felt so right. It had felt perfect. It had been everything she had ever wanted since her Lincoln had died five years ago. But that hadn’t been why it had been so perfect. Not because she was kissing someone who looked identical to her Lincoln and had his memories. It had been perfect because she’d wanted to kiss this timeline’s version of Lincoln as well. Because she cared about him too.

But now...guilt was churning her insides into mush. While she cared about Lincoln, there was still Sousa. Only hours ago had she told her team that she was loving her journey with Sousa. And that had been true. But now...in that moment, the only person that she had thought about had been Lincoln. Not her Lincoln, this timeline Lincoln. Either way. Whichever. Both. She had only been thinking about him. 

But with Trip’s return, his presence reminded her that Sousa, along with Ward, Hunter, and Hunter, were all facing James, who was lethal enough without Hive’s influence or Inhuman powers in the Badlands in South Dakota. This was not a fun holiday to Deke’s timeline where she could find her long-lost first love and catch up with her old friend. Someone on the team was going to die. And the wretched cross necklace of death had just reappeared. 

“Wait, hang on, Lash is the anti-Hive?” Deke asked, interrupting Daisy’s thoughts before she could get lost in them. “What do you guys know about this wretched timeline that you aren’t telling us?”

Daisy held up her hands in a pacifying gesture. “Deke, we just haven’t had time-,” she began, but Lincoln was speaking over her.

“Deke, I’m sorry, but answers have to wait,” he said. “We need to get him up here now. Trip, is the pod still with the others in containment?”

“Yes,” Trip said. “Wait, you don’t want me to come with you?”

“Set up a lab station for me,” Lincoln said urgently. “Daisy, Kora, come with me; Deke, help Trip. I need their powers to try to heal Lash and move the pod quickly. Let’s go, guys!”

The medical field was so clearly Lincoln’s area of expertise that all of them jumped to follow his commands without question, even though Deke was the director. Daisy and Kora raced out the door after Lincoln, who had taken off at top speed while Deke and Trip started heaving a table upright and hunting for medical equipment that Lincoln would need.

“Where are we going?” Daisy asked Kora as they ran; Lincoln bolted down a nearby flight of stairs and they followed, hurrying through the door that slammed shut behind them on its swinging hinges. “And how much did you tell Trip? He knows about Lash?”

“The emergency med labs in containment,” Kora said. “And...I told him a lot of stuff.”

Daisy shot Kora a _look_. While being coy was something that Kora did frequently, Daisy could almost have sworn her sister was blushing. Her mind raced yet again in a different direction, this time at the possibility of Kora and Trip becoming romantically involved. She wasn’t opposed to it; Trip was a great guy. He’d even died trying to prevent her from dying. While she had never had romantic feelings for Trip, his death had also been heartwrenching for the whole team. Meeting him in the Framework had been the only good thing about that hellscape. 

So if Trip and Kora had romantic feelings for each other, Daisy would totally support that. 

It still wasn’t really the time - when was it ever really? - to think about Kora having a boyfriend, but either way...Daisy would be happy if that happened. Kora hadn’t had one since Nathaniel Malick and that had been a disaster, to put it lightly. But if Kora ended up with Trip, would she want to stay in Deke’s timeline? Did _Daisy_ want to stay in Deke’s timeline? She didn’t know if Lincoln would want to leave - he had his family here at S.H.I.E.L.D. - but if she chose to be with Lincoln, would she want to stay as well? She only saw Fitzsimmons, May, Coulson, Mack and Yo-Yo once a year and that was never in-person. If Fitz or Deke managed to figure out a way for the timelines to communicate, she would really be no further from them than she had been for the last year. 

Daisy was pulled out of her thoughts when she and Kora almost ran straight into Lincoln, who had frozen outside the corridor to the containment modules. While upstairs had had no bodies as far as she had seen, down here, there were some. It wasn’t even bodies that were in the hallway. It was bones. Bloody bones and guns. 

“Christ,” Kora said, clapping a hand to mouth. She looked like she was about to be sick.

Daisy had seen this before...seen it through her connection to Hive. While Kora had also seen it through the timeline, it was one thing to see it in their heads and another to see it in person. Lincoln, at least, was a doctor and had experience with dead bodies, but even he looked a little queasy. 

“We have to identify them later,” Lincoln said grimly. “Come on...we need to be careful.”

The trio picked their way around the bones without stepping on any of them and went into the first room on the right. It was white and made of the same material as the containment modules were; Daisy presumed that this was the room that Inhumans with injuries or illnesses went to, to accidental incidents of shorting out half the computers in the lab or causing all the windows in a room to shatter. Like she and Lincoln had discussed earlier...both had destroyed a lot of property in the Playground before. 

Lash was lying in one of the healing pods. He wasn’t breathing, but even though he was dead, Daisy had hopes that Lincoln could figure out something with his blood. She couldn’t even pretend to know any medical jargon, but if he could do something, then all the better for all of them.

These healing pods were more advanced than the last one Daisy had seen...as they should be since it had been 33 years. Unlike the one that she had lain in, these pods had an attachable scanner but no glass encasing them. 

“Is it okay if I just climb on?” Kora asked Lincoln, her eyes a little worried and wild. Seeing the bones had clearly rattled her.

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “I’m going to power it while you work because the machine won’t be accustomed to having your life energy manipulation thing going on and I’ll have to try to compensate for it. Daisy, you’re just in charge of pushing.”

“On it,” Daisy said, pushing her sleeves back a little to free her hands, that much she could do.

Lincoln had been smart when he’d made the assignments. Without all three of them, their plan wouldn’t have worked. Kora climbed on top of the pod and pressed her glowing hands to Lash’s head, Lincoln’s electricity started crackling between him and the machine, and Daisy’s vibrations started shoving the pod out the door and towards the elevator, which they would definitely have to take this time instead of the stairs.

It wasn’t the fastest progress, but it was miles better than Deke or Trip trying to shove the pod on their own. They reached the elevator with minimal effort; the pod, Lash and Kora’s weight were really no heavier than Hive’s nuclear missile that Daisy had pushed in the original timeline into the Quinjet. Not that that was the right thing to be thinking about at the moment. Thankfully the power was back on the base because Daisy had no idea how they would manage to get the pod up the stairs if it wasn’t. She might be able to manage, but it would be slow progress. Giyera, she was not.

When they reached the main floor, Lincoln said, “Not a word about the bodies to Deke, okay?” He looked anxious despite the electricity still flowing out of his body; his eyes were electric blue instead of their usual normal blue colour. “He has enough to deal with without us not knowing who’s dead.”

Daisy and Kora both nodded. There were so many bones down there and they couldn’t even tell if they were male or female, much less how many agents had died down there. Additionally, there were so many other places in the Playground that agents could be lying dead: the shooting range, the vaults, the bunks, the armoury, the lounge, the locker room…. The list was endless. Given that Hive had probably gone after the Terrigen crystals as well, Daisy fully predicted that the armoury (if that was where they were kept) was also full of bones. 

In their absence, Deke and Trip had transformed the wrecked lab into a workable one. They had already set up a series of needles, syringes, a blood transfusion kit, bottles of unknown medical supplies (at least unknown to Daisy), and even an IV stand, in case they could possibly still save Andrew’s life. Trip was waiting at the table for them; Deke was piecing together the brain scanner at the next table.

“Is it working?” Trip asked, referring to Kora’s life energy manipulation powers; Daisy realized that Kora must have explained her powers to him while they had been in the cockpit of the plane.

“No,” Kora said, her face grim. 

“You tried,” Lincoln told her as she climbed off the pod, a little unsteadily. “Trip, get me a blood sample of Kora’s blood, would you?”

Trip nodded already reaching for Kora’s arm. 

“Daisy, help me connect this to that blood bag,” Lincoln said, handing her a length of tubing that he was already connecting to a needle. “I need to compare his blood sample to a sample without GH., that would be Kora’s; a sample with GH., mine; and a sample with GH. _and_ immunity, yours.”

“On it,” Daisy said, already pushing the end of the tubing into the empty bag that he gestured to. Draining a body of its blood definitely wasn’t ideal, but if it was what was needed to create an antitoxin, then Daisy was all for it.

At this point, Trip had come up behind Daisy, holding something that resembled a standard syringe, but was probably anything but. 

“Hold still,” Trip said. 

Daisy winced at the prick, but it was over in less than a second. 

“That was fast,” she said. 

“Vacuum syringe,” Trip replied, putting Daisy’s sample down on the table and then approaching Lincoln with another syringe. “It’s actually an old invention. Extracts a blood sample in less than a second. Dr Jason Wilkes invented it in 1947 before S.H.I.E.L.D. was even founded.”

“History nerd,” Daisy teased. 

“Hey, I didn’t live it,” Trip reminded her. “Agent Carter and your ex-boyfriend, Sousa, were the reason behind its invention. You should ask him for the details.”

Daisy glanced at Kora, who was busy digging out glass slides from a box. So not only had Kora told Trip about her powers, but she’d also told him about Daisy and Sousa’s previous relationship. What hadn’t Kora told him at this point? 

In addition to that revelation, the vacuum syringe and its inventor were still news to Daisy. While Sousa had obviously told her a lot about his past life, she hadn’t known that they had invented a vacuum syringe of all things. 

“How did _you_ know that?” Daisy asked. 

“Because Sousa knew my grandfather,” Trip replied. “He was one of the Howling Commandos. While some people had fairytale bedtime stories, I had tales of Agent Carter saving the world from Zero Matter.” 

Never before had the gaps between the timelines felt so strange. Unbeknownst to Daisy, Kora had earlier been pondering the gaps between the generations; here was actual proof that there _were_ big gaps between them, even though time-travel made them within physically within five years of each other. Had Sousa not ‘died’ and been plucked out of time, Trip would have known Sousa as a friend of his grandfather’s growing up. It was as mind-jarring a revelation as Deke being Fitzsimmons’ grandson. 

“Talk less, help more,” Lincoln said sharply; Kora was already helping him prep blood samples for a microscopic scan. “Trip, get me the sample of Creel’s blood.”

“On it,” Trip said, putting down the vacuum syringe that he was holding. He rushed away, deeper into the lab; Daisy turned back to Lincoln. 

“Do you need my help with anything?” Daisy asked, not knowing what to do. She was the most useless when it came to this medical stuff because not only did she know next to nothing about medicine, but she was also pretty clueless when it came to Deke’s technology.

As Daisy spoke, Deke suddenly sprang up. 

“Got it!” he called out triumphantly. 

Daisy, Kora and Trip all looked over at him; Trip as he was racing back over with a vial of blood. Lincoln was too focused on his task to look up, but then again, he was doing the bulk of the work for preserving Lash’s blood to create an antitoxin. Deke waved the brain scanner enthusiastically, coming over to them. 

“How did you manage to do it that fast?” Daisy asked. “That thing was in pieces!”

“It was just wires and circuitry,” Deke said, shrugging. “The same way you can hack through Miles’ security features in less than 15 minutes.” 

Deke had a good point. Lincoln glanced up from where he had successfully collected several syringes of Lash’s blood, but hadn’t gotten the blood flowing into the blood bag yet.

“Deke, get me a sample of Yo-Yo’s blood,” Lincoln said. 

“What?” Deke asked, taken aback. 

“Use the airborne drugs in containment to knock her out,” Lincoln said. “I need a sample that has been infected with Hive’s parasites. Trip needs to stay up here to test Daisy and Kora and I for the sway.” 

“Lincoln,” Daisy said warningly. In his rush, he had forgotten that Deke would definitely encounter the bones of the fallen agents downstairs if he went to containment.

Lincoln’s fingers stilled on the microscopic slide for a second. “Deke, wait!” he called, as Deke reached the door, holding a vacuum syringe in his hand. “Daisy should go. I need you to get me the drugs that increase the viscosity of the blood. Daisy hardly knows the difference between Advil and Ibuprofen.”

“Thanks a lot!” Daisy retorted, but she knew exactly why Lincoln was insulting her medical skills. It was the most convincing way of preventing Deke from rushing down into the basement and finding the bones of all of his agents. 

Even though Lincoln’s cover was convincing, it wasn’t enough to fool Deke. He was frowning.

“What’s down there?” he asked. “Are the agents dead?”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln, wondering if it would be better if he broke the news to Deke. It probably would be, but he was still contending with keeping Lash’s blood cells alive as long as possible. She had no idea what the pod was doing to him, nor would she be much help with the blood samples. Even Kora was helping Lincoln connect the brain scanner to one of the working computers in the lab.

Telling Deke would have to be her job, even though it might come better from Lincoln. 

“Deke,” she said quietly, taking a step towards him. “Deke, listen to me, it’s not your fault. It’s _not your fault_. You couldn’t have done anything to stop him.”

Deke’s hands were clamped tightly around the syringe. 

“They’re dead?” he asked, his voice stretched as tight as a wire.

“Yes,” Daisy said, not seeing any other way around the inevitable conversation. 

“None are alive?” Deke asked, glancing from her to Lincoln briefly and then back again.

Daisy shook her head. “I’m sorry, Deke. They’re….” Her voice trailed off, unable to say the words.

“What?” Deke’s tone was probably harsher than he’d intended for it to be, but he didn’t apologize. “Spit it out. They’re what, Daisy? Dead?”

Daisy glanced at Kora for help, but for once, Kora didn’t come to her aid. Kora was not as close with Deke as either she or Lincoln was; it was up to one of them to break the news to him. Ideally, it would be Lincoln, but Lincoln was seriously pre-occupied right now.

Swallowing hard, Daisy faced Deke. 

“They’re bones.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Daisy wasn’t entirely sure what reaction she’d been expecting Deke to have. It had been 33 years since she had seen him and while she knew he had matured and changed a lot, she hadn’t known him long enough in this timeline to be able to infer what his reaction to it would be. 

Deke’s fingers tightened on the syringe and for a split second, Daisy was worried that it might shatter. Then, without a word, he turned and left the room, each step precise and deliberate.

“Deke!” Daisy moved after him, but Trip caught her arm. 

“Don’t, Daisy,” he said. “He wouldn’t want you to see him like this.”

Daisy shook his arm off, but as she turned to go, she caught Lincoln’s gaze. One look at him and she knew that Trip was right, that Deke wouldn’t want her following him. She sighed heavily, leaning back against one of the counters. This was something she couldn’t help Deke with, as much as she wanted to. While she had previously outranked him, in this timeline, he technically outranked her and if he wanted to shut her out, he could. While Deke had stood up to her before, when they had been arguing about Freddy Malick, this was one time that Daisy knew her presence would be more of a hindrance than a help.

“Hey,” Lincoln said gently, putting down the slide he was holding and approaching her. “Deke will let us in when he wants to.”

Daisy had to believe him; she did believe him. It was strange to think that Lincoln knew Deke a lot better than she did, but true. It had been 33 years for Deke since she had been in his life; at least three of those last years, Lincoln had been with Deke. If anyone should go after Deke, it should probably be Lincoln, not her.

Daisy nodded, holding his gaze. While it was not the first time they had communicated without words, she felt even more connected to him than usual. Something had changed since their kiss, she wasn’t sure what, but she could tell that he was more confident in himself. Maybe his memories were settling in better now that they agreed about something. 

Trip cleared his throat loudly. “I’ve run the scan on Kora, Lincoln, but you need to read it to see if she’s been swayed. I don’t think she has been, but your confirmation would be great.”

While they had been distracted, Trip had been hard at work. 

Lincoln stepped away from Daisy, the agent on a mission once more. Daisy had no idea what he had abandoned in order to comfort her, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t have left his task if there had been something more urgent. Whatever he had abandoned in his research hadn’t been at detrimental risk of failing thanks to his departure. 

The scan was on the computer that Kora had set up. To Daisy, it looked like a bunch of brown goop, but it must have meant something else entirely to Lincoln because he nodded a second later.

“She’s clean,” he said.

A grin spread across Kora’s face, but her smile faded a little as she looked at Daisy and Lincoln, both of whom had yet to be scanned. Trip came up behind Daisy with the scanner.

“It won’t hurt,” he promised her.

Trip was right. It was the least invasive of all the medical treatments that Daisy had undergone, which, to be honest, was not saying much considering that she had almost died from a gunshot; had the life sucked out of her by her mother; had her blood drained, not once, but _twice_ ; and had actually died in space. After all those experiences, she had naturally needed medical treatment; getting her brain scanned for parasites was the least traumatic process of them all.

“Done,” Trip said, after a minute or two; Daisy followed him over to the computer where he brought up the scan.

“Linc, man, it’s up,” Trip called when Daisy’s scan appeared on the screen.

Lincoln glanced up from the microscope that he was working on. He took more time than he had with Kora’s - Daisy wasn’t sure why - but he pronounced her clean as well, as did Trip. 

“Your turn,” Trip said, stepping up behind Lincoln with the scanner. 

Lincoln held still while Trip ran the scanner along the length of the back of his head; Daisy found herself holding her breath. While she had been pretty sure she would be clean - she was also pretty sure that she was still immune - she wasn’t as sure about Lincoln. After all, they _had_ set him up to be her in this timeline. Of everyone, he was the one who had been the least safe from Hive. It was good that Trip could interpret the scans as well. If Lincoln was swayed, he could be lying about the scans and Daisy would have no clue. She knew all too well that someone swayed would be more than willing to lie and frame someone else as the swayed victim...even if she loved him. 

“You’re good,” Trip said, looking at the scan. 

Both Daisy and Kora looked as well. Seeing as it was a brain scan, which did not flag GH. in the blood, Lincoln’s scan for all intents and purposes was identical to both Daisy’s and Kora’s. 

While all three of them had been pretty positive that they were clean, especially after Raina’s being swayed at the Playground instead of at Hive’s base, it was wonderful getting that confirmation. Out of all of them, Daisy was the only one who had experienced Hive’s sway before and she knew just how damaging it could be, both to her body, mental wellbeing and psyche. Both Lincoln and Kora had known what she’d gone through, but only Lincoln had the closest understanding to her addiction. Only he had known exactly what it was like to be so addicted to something that they would do anything to get it/her back.

Lincoln visibly relaxed, slumping against the counter, leaning on his arms. Daisy hadn’t realized just how worried he had been, but it made sense; he likely had encountered Hive in some way at the Transia Corporation building when he had been trying to save Charles Hinton. Additionally, she remembered that while they had been at Hive’s base, there _had_ been that moment that he had been out of contact. It was even possible that one of them could have been a sleeper agent for Hive and not known about it, rather like LMD May who hadn’t known about her mission until she had gotten her hands on the Darkhold. 

“Hey, you good?” Daisy asked, stepping up next to him. Right now, all the pressure was on him to create an antitoxin; he could not help Deke and the worry about who was swayed had obviously been getting to him as well.

He glanced up and their eyes met. She could see the shadows under his eyes; she didn’t blame him for being tired and stressed. All of them were. She felt a flood of emotions at that moment. If she had been worried about Deke, Lincoln had probably been equally as worried and he had still tried to comfort her. 

Before she could do or say anything though, Kora flung her arms around both of them and squeezed.

“We’re all Hive-free, guys! Come on, we should celebrate! Find some of Hunter’s beer or Deke’s Zima or something!” she said. 

Daisy laughed and wrapped her arms around her sister and Lincoln as well. In the absence of the immature guys who were fond of making jokes at her expense, Kora was providing them some light-hearted amusement that was very much needed. 

“Come on, get your ass over here, Trip,” Kora called, her arms still around Daisy and Lincoln, making Daisy raise an eyebrow; Kora appeared very familiar to him at this point.

Laughing, Trip joined in the group hug from behind Kora. However, while they were still in the middle of their hug-fest, Deke came back into the room, causing all of them to break apart and quickly return to various tasks. Lincoln went to his microscope, Trip to the blood bag collection, Kora to Lash’s side to check the draining of his blood and Daisy to stand next to Lincoln, handing him slides of blood. None of them wanted to do anything to aggravate Deke any further. 

Deke’s face was completely void of emotion, but his eyes were even more haunted than Lincoln’s. He was undoubtedly feeling the burden of the agents’ deaths. However, he walked calmly over to Lincoln’s station - Daisy was still standing next to him - and handed him the vacuum syringe.

“Yo-Yo’s blood,” he said. 

“Thank you-” Lincoln began, but Deke cut him off.

“I don’t care what the four of you have been doing or how important that antitoxin is, but you three are going to tell me what you know about the timeline,” Deke said. “Now. Before we lose any more agents.”

The great irony of that statement was that someone was destined to die. Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other; Lincoln nodded. 

“We’re in the waiting stage for the antitoxin,” he said. “We do actually just need to wait for it now. You’re right. It’s time. We need to talk.”




The five of them sat in the lounge, clustered around the table. Again, Daisy was struck with a strange sense of déjà vu. Although Kora, Trip and Deke were clearly not Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons, this was where the six of them had been when they had previously discussed spacetime in the original timeline. 

“Before we start, should I get you an ice pack?” Kora asked Daisy, her lips twitching a little. “For your head injury, I mean.”

Daisy pinched the bridge of her nose. “We’re jumping like mad,” she muttered. “First the kidnapping of the team by Giyera, then the sway, then back to Lincoln’s pre-Cocoon assessment,” - that was the most PG way of describing the progression of her and Lincoln’s relationship while Coulson, May, Bobbi and Hunter had been at the Symposium of Alien Contagion - “now back to spacetime. God, this timeline is screwed.”

“You forgot the trip to James,” Lincoln reminded her. “That happened before the team’s kidnapping.”

Daisy raked a hand through her hair, wincing as her fingers came in contact with her injury. “What’s next? Going back to Afterlife _again_?” 

Daisy was actually incredibly grateful that May and Yo-Yo had been the ones who had gone to Afterlife, not her. She knew that she wouldn’t have been able to handle it. It was one thing seeing Jiaying as the mother that she was supposed to be at the Lighthouse and to get closure about her. It would have been another entirely to see the place where she had gained and lost her mother and her first love. 

Deke banged a hand down on the table, making Daisy and Kora jump. Even Lincoln and Trip looked uneasy.

“Talk,” he ordered. “Tell us what’s going on.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln, wondering if he wanted to take the lead this time. After all, it had been his vision. He nodded grimly, letting her know with his eyes that she could speak up as well if need be, and then faced Deke.

“Deke, I got another vision of the future,” he said, steepling his hands on the table. “From Charles Hinton.”

“It happened in the original timeline as well,” Daisy jumped in. “There, it was me. Who got the vision. And because it already happened in the original timeline, that’s how I know the future. Well, Lincoln, Kora and I do. Sort of. Um-”

“We don’t know the _exact_ future,” Kora interjected. “We know parts.”

Deke’s nostrils flared. “One at a time! What do you know about the future?”

There was no good way of saying this. Daisy glanced at Lincoln again; he reached for her, taking her hand under the table to give it a comforting squeeze. Despite her confused emotions, it felt so good to have him anchoring her to reality. Reminding her that he was still alive and that maybe, just maybe they could still change the future.

Given that Deke had just lost a base full of agents, he was probably going to freak out when he found out about the vision. But they had to pull the Band-Aid off the wound quickly because the wound, aka Deke, was irritated. 

“Someone on the team is going to die,” Daisy said, causing Deke to lean against the table, muscles standing out on his arms as he gripped the wood.

“You guys got this vision from the Inhuman who predicts death?” Deke asked.

“It’s going to be in the Quinjet in space,” Kora said quietly. “It’s the way that we defeat Hive. He’s going to create a bomb with a pathogen that will turn all humans into Primitives, these failed experiments at recreating the Kree experiments that produced Inhumans. The only way to get rid of Hive and the virus will be to send the Quinjet into space and let it blow up there. That’s how someone on the team dies.”

Lincoln nodded. “Someone will be in that Quinjet with the warhead.”

Deke sat down in the last remaining chair at the table. “And in the original timeline, that was you,” he surmised, looking at Lincoln. “You died to save Daisy.”

Lincoln nodded again, glancing at Daisy; she bit her bottom lip, sadness, guilt and grief racing through her in a whirlwind of complex emotions. 

Trip whistled. “How did you know that, Deke?”

“Daisy told me,” Deke said. “Like 35 years ago or something.” He turned his attention back to Daisy, Lincoln and Kora, some sort of relief settling on his face, despite the obvious confusion on Trip’s. “Okay, you three pessimistic people. I don’t know why you’re so worried, but don’t give up on us yet. The last time we thought the future was inevitable, we changed it! My dystopian future never came to exist! All we have to do is figure out what we need to do to change it...and it’ll be fine!”

Daisy, Lincoln and Kora exchanged dubious looks. Of course Deke hadn’t yet understood how inevitable the future was. In his experience, they had always managed to change the future. However, Charles’ visions had always come to pass. Unlike Robin, who had managed to view different timelines, Charles’ knowledge of the future was always about spacetime. 

“Deke, I don’t know how much we can change,” Daisy said slowly. “We can still change the future...but I think we’d only be changing _who_ dies in space, not preventing someone’s death altogether.”

Deke knotted his hands together on top of the table. “So are you saying that Lincoln’s going to die again?” he asked. Then he answered his own question before Daisy could. “No. You wouldn’t be half so relaxed if he was.”

Daisy bit her bottom lip. “It could be anyone,” she said. “Anyone on the team. At first we thought that it was as simple as Lincoln being me in this timeline, but so much has changed that I don’t think it’s limited to me, Lincoln, Kora and Sousa anymore. I think any of us - including you, Deke, Trip, Ward, Miles, Hunter, maybe even Bobbi - could become the agent in space. I don’t think we can prevent someone on the team from dying.”

“You’re right,” Kora interrupted, making all of them look at her. “It’s too late. We’ve already encountered Yo-Yo’s cross necklace. This future is going to pass.”

“What about that wretched necklace?” Deke asked. “What does it have to do with anything?”

“It blows up in space with the fallen agent and Hive,” Lincoln said. “It’s...it’s a talisman of death.”

“Okay,” Deke said. “It’s that simple then. We destroy that necklace now. And we’ll change the future.”

“No!” Daisy, Lincoln and Kora said at the same time, making Deke jerk back.

“Why not?” he demanded at the same time as Trip said, “It sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Because if we destroy the necklace, we might never defeat Hive,” Lincoln explained. “We still have to kill Hive. And that’s the only way we know how, right now.”

Deke heaved a sigh. “And we still don’t know who this bloody Hive is?” he asked.

“In the original timeline, Ward was his host,” Daisy said. “But now...obviously he’s not.”

“Okay,” Deke said wearily. “But if the timeline is screwed and we’ve obviously deviated from it somehow, are we able to trust what you three know about the future? Are his motives still the same? Are we able to stop him by guessing what he wants?”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other again, but Kora was the one who spoke up.

“He needs Daisy or Lincoln,” she said. “For their Kree blood.”

“He’ll need Radcliffe first,” Daisy said, realization dawning. “Fitzsimmons went to speak to Radcliffe in Bucharest and Hive got to him first. If we can get to Radcliffe first, maybe we _can_ change the future.”

“Radcliffe? Holden Radcliffe?” Trip asked. “The transhumanist?”

“The one and the same,” Lincoln said. “I’ll have to go; as a doctor, that’s the only way I’ll be able to get in the door.”

“Daisy should go with you,” Kora spoke up. “You just tested her blood to see if she’s still immune and she is. She’ll be able to keep you safe from Hive. You can still be swayed, Lincoln, and you going is risky when we _know_ that Hive will be there.”

“Sure,” Daisy said, glancing at Lincoln. Going on a mission with him wasn’t going to be a problem. While part of her was obviously still concerned about the future, she was more than happy to go on a mission with him. Even better, she wouldn’t be trying to kill her friends nor would she be on Hive’s side this time in Bucharest. Then she realized that Raina was essentially her - Hive’s swayed inside Inhuman. “We might encounter Raina there, Lincoln.”

“We will?” Lincoln asked, confused.

“You don’t know that?” Daisy asked, also becoming confused. “That I was there?”

Lincoln shook his head, massaging his temples with his free hand. The memories were clearly doing a number on him.

“Sorry,” he said. “I got confused. She’s sort of you, I guess, because she got swayed. Even though Fitzsimmons mentioned encountering you and Hive in Bucharest, I’d forgotten. But also...I know what I knew...up until I died. Kora showed me what happened to the team after I died, which is how I know everyone’s experiences even if you weren’t there. But prior to that, I only know what _I_ knew. So even though Fitzsimmons encountered you there, I only remembered that because they told me, not because I saw what happened there.”

“Wait, so Daisy was swayed in the original timeline,” Deke interrupted, putting things together at last. “And Lash is the anti-Hive...so, Daisy got immunity from him?”

Deke had become really good at this inference thing. When it came to figuring out missions and the like. He was still clueless at all his accidental innuendos. Regardless, Daisy knew that this detective side to Deke was important as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.; it was useful when dealing with spies on a daily basis. 

“Yes,” Daisy said, tightening her grip on Lincoln’s hand; he squeezed back just as urgently.

“Are we all going to go to Bucharest?” Trip asked, returning the subject to something that was more understandable to him. “Or just Daisy and Lincoln?”

Kora’s lips twitched. “The singularity,” she murmured. “‘The defining moment. The point at which a measurable variable becomes infinite.’ Oh...that would be...interesting.”

Before any of them could ask Kora what she meant, however, the computer in the corner started beeping. Their attention went there instead.

“Communications,” Deke said, springing to his feet. “Might be agents from the Triskelion or the Academy...or it might be our team.” He raced for the staircase that led away from the lounge, towards his private office. “Come with me, guys!”

Daisy, Lincoln, Kora and Trip quickly got up and followed him. Deke’s office was...certainly different to how Coulson’s had been. Coulson’s had had many historical artifacts and memorably had the little model of Lola. Deke’s office was full of Deke Squad merchandise, but in addition to that, there were several framed photographs that covered the front of the table: Deke and his team. Daisy saw a photograph of Deke, May, Andrew and a little girl, whom she could only presume was May and Andrew’s daughter; a photograph of Deke, Lincoln and Mack, with the latter two holding their official S.H.I.E.L.D. badges, presumably when they first became recognized agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; and perhaps, most touching of all, a photograph of Fitz and Simmons. Deke was not in the photo, but Daisy knew instantly that it was because they didn’t know who he was. Deke’s way of protecting his grandparents whom he loved.

Deke was busy calling up the communications on the big screen, but Lincoln murmured in Daisy’s ear, “You’re here too.”

“What?” she asked, eyes still locked on the photographs.

“Deke has one of you too,” Lincoln said, pointing to one picture frame at the back where a black-and-white sketch of Daisy was staring back at them. In the drawing, she was actually smiling, something that had been rare in the few years that she’d known Deke. “After the Zephyr jumped back to the original timeline, Deke didn’t have any photos or reminders of you guys or anything. All the photos here are of this timeline’s version of the team, but seeing as you were never born here, he didn’t have a photo of you. So he got a sketch artist to draw you.”

If Daisy didn’t now know just how much Deke cared, she might previously have been creeped out by that. But now, she was just touched. Just as much as the team had been family to her, they were still family to Deke. And family didn’t abandon family...but they had. 

At that moment, Daisy wanted to hug Deke and apologize for all the times she had doubted him. Except, of course, when he’d sold her to Kasius, but still. Deke deserved much more credit than what the team had given him.

At that moment, Ward popped up on the screen and Daisy gasped out loud. Ward’s entire face was covered in blood and sweat; he was dabbing away at it with a rag.

“Ward, what _happened_ to you?” Deke demanded, staring at him. “Where are the others?” Then he rounded on Kora. “Kora, how did you not know this was going to happen?”

Kora was pale. “I told you, I don’t know everything about the future!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know that that was going to happen, honest!”

Even though Deke was being demanding, it was clear from his face that he believed her. The genuine anxiety and stress on Kora’s face was clearly not being faked. 

On the screen, Ward spoke, his face grim and resigned. “It was a trap,” he said. “The Inhuman James was gone, but there was evidence of a post-Terrigenesis husk on the floor of his trailer. The Kree homing device was gone as well; I think it’s safe to say that Hive has it right now. And Deke, we have a serious problem.”

“It can’t be anything worse than what I’ve heard today,” Deke said grimly, his face gaunt and drawn. “Spill, Ward.”

Ward’s expression tightened. “I think Sousa, Miles and Hunter are Inhumans,” he said. “Either that or they are immune to the Diviner properties in that wretched Terrigen crystal that Lincoln gave to Miles.”

“What?” All five of them said at the same time. 

“That’s not possible,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “I’ve done bloodwork on Miles countless times.”

“Yeah, and Hunter tried a damn fish oil pill,” Kora said. “He’s as human as it gets.”

“Sousa is not Inhuman,” Daisy insisted. “There’s no way he is.”

Ward threw his arms up in frustration at their vehement denial. “Well, I don’t know what to say to you because that damn Terrigen crystal broke and then all three of them were swayed.”

“ _What_?!” All five of them gaped, open-mouthed at Ward.

“Swayed?” Daisy repeated, her thoughts reeling. Sousa was swayed. _Sousa_ was swayed. After all their troubles to make sure that she, Lincoln and Kora weren’t swayed, somehow the sway worked on humans? What twist had the timeline thrown at them this time? 

Poor Sousa. She could still remember how she had felt as though she had been on drugs after being under Hive’s sway. It had been tortuous; the withdrawal time had been one of the most painful of her life. They - her and Lincoln - had sent Sousa, Miles, Hunter and Ward into that situation. It had been on their word that they try to prevent James from being swayed by Hive and the rest was three other agents being swayed as well. Daisy felt like throwing up. 

But worst of all, was the fact that while Sousa had been fighting for his life, she had been making out with Lincoln. And she had enjoyed it. She was the worst person ever; she still didn’t know who she was going to choose and now she was stringing both of them along. Unintentionally, but still.

“Why the hell did Miles have a Terrigen crystal?” Deke demanded, turning to his son figure. “Lincoln!” 

“Raina gave it to me!” Lincoln defended himself. “I had permission to use it as a ruse for James.”

“But not to give it to Miles!” Deke said. 

“It wasn’t one that was deadly to humans,” Lincoln said. “There were no diviner metals laced within the Terrigen. That was a pure Terrigen crystal.”

Deke relaxed a little. “Still, I can’t believe Raina just gave it to you. She should have come to me. Damn!”

Kora changed the subject before Deke could fully rip Lincoln to shreds for having given Miles a pure Terrigen crystal. 

“So they underwent Terrigenesis?” Kora asked Ward, her brow furrowed in thought “When the crystal shattered?”

“I think so,” Ward said. “I don’t know. We didn’t know that it was a pure Terrigen crystal. Those are much rarer than the diviner ones. When it shattered, I fled. Sousa, Miles and Hunter were already gagging and coughing from breathing in the Mist. I thought they were done for, but a short while later, they were out in the yard, disabling the landmines.”

“What?” Daisy breathed in shock. “So Hive was there and swayed them? That’s...absurd.”

It wasn’t possible. Sousa was not an Inhuman. Had they been wrong and Hive already had Radcliffe _and_ proper Kree blood? Had he already created the Absolution virus? With Deke’s insane medical advancements, was it possible that Radcliffe had successfully recreated the Kree experiment that had created the Inhumans in the first place? Had using Kree blood instead of her or Lincoln’s special GH. blood changed that? Were they Inhumans now instead of being Primitives? She voiced her concerns aloud.

“Does Hive already have Radcliffe?” she asked. “And somehow given them Inhuman powers instead of turning them into Primitives?”

“Oh God,” Lincoln said. “That would be a _disaster_. If he’s developed a proper pathogen…. Then we’ve skipped right over Holden Radcliffe and failed antitoxins and Lash…. We’re at the missile stealing time already.” 

‘Oh God’ was right. If Lincoln was correct, they had hours left before someone was going to die in space. Daisy stared at Lincoln in shock and horror. A few hours was not enough time to come up with a plan of preventing someone from dying in space. 

“That’s not the only problem,” Ward interrupted. “I finally saw Hive. And Hive is a _girl_.”

“ _What_?!” Daisy, Lincoln and Kora exploded in unison. Hive was a girl? Of all the things, they had not considered that Hive would be female. He had always had male hosts in the original timeline. 

Lincoln said slowly, “I mean, Hive could take a female host….” 

“Do we know her?” Daisy asked, his mind racing through a thousand different scenarios at once. “Ward, is she an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Or Hydra? Stephanie Malick, maybe?” 

“Not Stephanie,” Ward said. “She’s no one whom I’ve ever seen before, but she looks like a teenager. She’s _young_ . And for reasons unknown, all of them are still in the trailer. I don’t know why. It’s like they’re waiting for someone or something. They _can’t_ be scared of me. Either way, we can’t abandon the team. We need some friendly human or Inhuman power here right about now. Any of you. All of you. However many you can spare. The three guys in there...they need the Cavalry.”

Daisy’s mouth dropped open. She spun towards Lincoln; he turned to her at the same time, the same recognition in his eyes at Ward’s words.

“Could it be….?” Daisy whispered.

“It would make sense,” Lincoln said. “They’re not Inhumans, so they couldn’t be swayed…. Unless Radcliffe’s already invented the pathogen, which wouldn’t make sense because there wouldn’t have been enough time to create it…. But if they’re human….”

“What makes sense?” Deke asked, but Daisy was speaking again, ignoring Deke as she tried to figure out the truth for herself.

“Her powers work against humans,” Daisy said. “We know that….”

“And we know that she’s alive,” Lincoln said quietly. “It never happened here…. May has a daughter….”

“Bahrain never happened,” Daisy repeated. “Oh God, Lincoln….it’s Katya Belyakov.”


	20. Episode 6: Hot Cross Soup - Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, so the second trailer has officially been made and is up! Here's the link! There's so much footage that I could use that I'm going to try to make a third one!!! I really hope you guys like it. Similarly to last time, I'm trying not to include spoilers past this chapter. Also, if you haven't watched the first trailer, you might want to watch that one first because it'll make more sense HAHA. Feel free to like and comment on it and share it with anyone who might enjoy it! 😊
> 
> Trailer Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SpQOpu1mZg

**Episode 6: Hot Cross Soup**

**Chapter 20**

Deke exploded. Unsurprisingly because they had just had the world’s most confusing conversation where they speculated how three humans could somehow possibly become three Inhumans and debated how quickly the timeline had advanced. 

“Who the hell is Katya Belyakov?” he demanded. 

Still trying to gather her confused thoughts, Daisy turned to Deke. “She’s an Inhuman who can manipulate the senses,” she said. Then she swivelled back around to Lincoln. “Hive recruited her? I thought May killed her!”

“May killed who now?” Trip questioned at the same time as Deke asked, “So she isn’t Hive?”

Although Deke and Trip were confused, Daisy, Lincoln and Kora still were too; they were also trying to figure out what was going on. Which was saying something, because between the three of them, they had more knowledge about the future than Enoch the Chronicom. Unfortunately, that knowledge of the timeline wasn’t doing anything for them because apparently, they were still playing catch-up.

“Sousa, Miles and Hunter aren’t Inhumans,” Lincoln said slowly. “She used her power on them. That means...we still have time… and Hive doesn’t have Radcliffe yet.”

Well, _that_ was one piece of good news. Considering that Katya freaking Belyakov was alive and kicking. 

“And Hive swayed Katya,” Daisy said, rubbing her temples, trying to figure out what was happening. No wonder Lincoln was confused. This latest bombshell was doing _her_ head in and she didn’t even have memories of another timeline to contend with. 

“So we still don’t know who Hive is?” Deke repeated, but the three Inhumans were still sorting out the timeline with each other. 

“May didn’t kill Katya in this timeline,” Kora realized. “Different timeline, different rules. The Bahrain incident never happened.” She paused. “Actually, scratch that! _This_ is the Bahrain incident.”

“Or the Cambridge incident,” Daisy said, horror dawning. “Kora, if we don’t stop Katya, we could end up with Hydra taking over the world and major Inhuman oppression. It’ll be the wretched Framework world...in reality.”

That would be a _nightmare_. The worst part was, Daisy could actually see it happening. Deke’s world, which had been pretty awesome up till now, could technically be ‘a world with no regrets’. Daisy and Lincoln had even spoken about how similar it was to the Framework. For those who had been in the Framework: May and Mack’s ‘no regrets’ world was a reality in Deke’s timeline since Bahrain had never happened and Hope was alive. Even for Daisy, who hadn’t had her biggest regret in the Framework removed, was having it right now; Lincoln was alive. Even Ward and Trip weren’t dead and were working for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Oh God. A world where Inhumans were hunted and tortured and experimented on for their powers…. Deke’s timeline could become the Framework hell in a few short days.

“And no emergency escape route,” Lincoln muttered. “ _Damn_.”

Before Daisy or Lincoln could express just how disastrous the Framework world in reality would be, Kora reverted the subject to their current calamity. 

“Katya’s been swayed by Hive,” Kora said grimly. “God, they make the perfect team. One with a long-distance connection to Inhumans and one with a short-distance connection to humans _and_ Inhumans. Katya’s powers are so strong that she can influence squads of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. And she’s powerful enough without Hive telling her what to do…. We don’t have a choice. We have to take her out.”

“Wait, so she’s not Hive?” Ward demanded, confused. 

At least Daisy, Lincoln and Kora now had finally figured out what was going on. You would have thought, given that this had all happened already in Daisy’s timeline, that they were going to know exactly what was going to happen, but no. It was never that simple. Even understanding what was currently going on was a major improvement. Small comfort. 

“Katya’s an Inhuman whose power is sensory manipulation,” Daisy explained. “She’s not Hive. Hive can’t take over Inhuman bodies. She’s been _swayed_ by Hive. Her gift enables her to control human and Inhuman emotions within a short-distance. Sousa, Miles and Hunter are under her control, but it’s not permanent like Hive’s. If they can get out of her range, they’ll be fine. Hive’s is a long-range infection; her’s isn’t.”

“Dear God,” Deke said, sitting down in a chair. “These _wretched_ aliens!!!”

While they knew that Deke wasn’t referring to them, it still stung to have Deke curse against the Inhumans in such a fashion. Deke caught the looks that Daisy, Lincoln and Kora were exchanging. 

“I didn’t mean you three,” he said. “I’m sorry.” He heaved a sigh, leaning forward in his chair. “Now what? What does the future hold?”

Ward interrupted before Daisy, Lincoln or Kora could respond. With the blood mostly gone from his face, it was easier to see his expression; he looked as stressed as Daisy had ever seen him. 

“Is Kara with you guys?” Ward asked. 

Oh God. The bones downstairs...Lincoln hadn’t even started to identify them. How could they tell Ward that Kara was quite possibly a pile of bones near the containment rooms? Ward would likely freak out and Daisy didn’t blame him. If he cared even a fraction for Kara what she did for Lincoln, he would be a mess. 

Despite her lingering mistrust for Ward, Daisy was surprised at him putting the team first. It was obvious that he loved Kara, but despite his worry for her, he had told them all about the emergency situation with Sousa, Miles and Hunter first before inquiring about the woman he loved. It was surprisingly unselfish of him. However, as Kora put it, different timeline, different rules. 

However, Daisy was still concerned about Kora’s previous prediction in this timeline that if Ward lived, Lincoln, Andrew and Rosalind Price would die. Andrew was already dead...and who knew where Rosalind was? Lincoln...at least Lincoln was still alive, but still. They hadn’t yet reached the time that he would die in the original timeline. 

At Ward’s words, Deke’s expression tightened. Daisy had no idea how much Ward meant to him - not as much as Lincoln did, she knew - but either way, it was not pleasant news to break to anyone. However, before he could say anything, Kora spoke up first.

“We haven’t found her yet,” Kora said. “But we’re looking. The base seems pretty deserted. It’s possible that she and some of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fled via the tunnels. Missing doesn’t mean dead, Ward.”

Ward nodded, but his jaw was still clenched. Daisy glanced at Kora, wondering if she knew something that the rest of them didn’t. Did she know that if told the truth about the bones, Ward would do something reckless and dangerous? She wouldn’t put it past either of them; she knew full well that Kora would lie if the need arose and that Ward would go off the rails if Kara died. In the original timeline, Kara’s death had caused him to go from a closure-seeking bad guy to the new head of Hydra. It was probably a good thing that he wasn’t told the truth, especially when they didn’t _know_ if Kara was dead or not.

“Just find her,” Ward said, emotion heavy in his voice. “Please. Even if it’s only her body.”

“We will, man, we will,” Trip assured him.

Not wanting to give away the fact that they knew something that they weren’t telling Ward but needing to look at the others, Daisy glanced at Deke and then Lincoln in turn. Deke’s face was tense and unreadable; Lincoln looked stoic and grim. She averted her gaze before she could draw attention to the additional stress on their faces, fiddling with her fingers the way she did when she was anxious about something. 

“So now what?” Deke asked Daisy, Lincoln and Kora. “What’s going to happen next in this timeline? What are we trying to prevent from happening? Who’s the target?”

This felt frustratingly similar to the whole situation with James and Alisha. They had tried going after James because they had thought that it would be too late for Alisha; now they were chasing after Hive yet again. As much as they knew the future, it was almost as if Hive somehow knew the future too and was staying multiple steps ahead of them. 

“Radcliffe,” Lincoln said grimly. “We still need to get to Radcliffe before Hive does. Because we weren’t wrong about one thing; in this timeline with its advanced medical technology, Hive might be able to recreate a proper pathogen, not just the Absolution virus.” 

“Not just that,” Kora interjected. “I just remembered…. Hive took the Kree homing devices, yes, but he doesn’t need them. He already has Raina. She can recreate GH.325. She did it for Lincoln already; she can stick herself or any other Inhuman with it and Hive will have all the blood he needs. He doesn’t need either one of you.”

Daisy and Lincoln stared at her. This timeline was getting worse and worse. So many people whom Daisy had loved and missed were alive, but with them came all the bad guys as well. It was as Lincoln had said in the original timeline: “There is a balance that has to be maintained”. Apparently in this timeline, that meant getting back her loved ones...and enemies as well.

“You’re right,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “We have to get to Radcliffe first.” 

He glanced at Daisy as he spoke and Daisy remembered that they had decided to Bucharest together...before they had found out about Katya ‘swaying’ Sousa, Miles and Hunter. Unable to look him in the eye, Daisy looked at Deke, mentally pleading with him to understand. He _was_ the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.; he would have the deciding say in who went on which mission.

“We can’t just leave the guys,” Daisy protested. While Katya’s influence was obviously less intense than Hive’s sway, she hated the thought of Sousa being under Katya’s control. She couldn’t even imagine how bad the emotional repercussions would be. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as a drug, but still...having an Inhuman controlling his emotions and actions would likely require lots of therapy. 

It wasn’t just that either. As much as she cared for Lincoln, she couldn’t turn off her feelings for Sousa in a few hours. She didn’t know which one she cared for more or whom she wanted to be with for the rest of her life, but she did know that no matter whom she chose, she would still care deeply for the other, maybe not in a romantic way, but she would still have deep feelings for them. 

“We won’t,” Deke assured her grimly. “We’re going to split up. Half of us go to Bucharest and half of us go to South Dakota.”

Kora glanced at Trip. “I guess this answers your question,” she said, referring to his earlier question before Ward had made contact with them. “Daisy and Lincoln will go to Bucharest. We’ll go to South Dakota.”

“I can’t just-” Daisy began, but Kora cut her off.

“Daisy, I know what you’re going to say,” Kora said. “And I’m sorry, but you can’t go to South Dakota. I’m not immune to Hive. If Lincoln and I go to Bucharest, both of us will be swayed. You know that. You’re still immune. You’re the only one who can protect him. And he’s the only one who can successfully get a meeting with Radcliffe. If you don’t go with Lincoln, he _will_ be swayed.”

Daisy sagged in her chair, recognizing the truth in Kora’s words. “I can’t lose him,” she whispered, but which him she meant, none of them knew, not even herself.

Lincoln spoke up. “Daisy, you aren’t going to lose Sousa,” he said firmly, holding her gaze until she had to look away, out of guilt for not knowing how or what to feel. “Kora _will_ save him. You can trust her. She won’t let him die.” 

Daisy didn’t know to do or say. If she went with Lincoln, she could save him. In fact, she was the only one who could. But that would result in her abandoning Sousa. Kora might be able to save Sousa, but there was still that big ‘might’ there. Kora could probably tell her the exact percentages that would result in her saving Sousa and the exact percentages that would result in her not being able to do so, but at that moment Daisy didn’t want to hear the logical reasons. She wanted to go and save Sousa. But another part of her wanted - wanted desperately - to go with Lincoln.

She couldn’t let Lincoln be swayed. Of all experiences, she knew how awful that felt and she would never wish that emotional repercussions on anyone, much less Lincoln, whom she had incredibly deep feelings for. As much as she wanted to save Sousa, another huge part of her was equally determined that she should go with Lincoln because she needed to protect him. She would rather be swayed again than let Lincoln be swayed. But would she rather let Sousa remain under Katya’s influence than let Lincoln be swayed? 

What could she do? What _should_ she do? While going with one wasn’t exactly choosing one over the other, it certainly felt like that. Going with Lincoln felt like she was choosing Lincoln over Sousa. In a way, it was. She would be choosing which guy she wanted to save. But did that mean choosing which guy to save was choosing which one she wanted to be with in the end? Was it choosing whom she wanted to love? Or did she already know whom she loved? And deciding would just be the representation of her decision? 

When Daisy didn’t say anything, Kora spoke again, her voice more gentle. “If you do your job and let me do mine, you won’t lose either of them,” Kora said. “But if you go after Sousa tonight, you will lose Lincoln. I guarantee it.”

“I can’t lose Lincoln,” Daisy whispered, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. 

Lincoln looked at her, surprise on his face. She didn’t blame him. The last few minutes, she had been adamant about how she had to go after Sousa. And now she was stating to everyone that she couldn’t lose Lincoln.

“I can’t,” Daisy said, holding his gaze. “I can’t lose _you_.” 

Deke, Trip and Ward didn’t understand the emphasis in Daisy’s words, but Lincoln did. His shoulders relaxed; Daisy was addressing this timeline Lincoln, not just her Lincoln. His face softened.

“You won’t,” he promised; Kora interrupted.

“You won’t, if you go with him,” she said. “Daisy-”

Daisy cut her off, knowing what she had to do. 

“I’ll go with Lincoln,” she told Kora. “But you have to save Sousa. Please. Whatever it takes. It’s my fault he’s in this situation. I brought him into this. He doesn’t deserve to be there.”

“It’s not your fault, Daisy,” Deke interrupted. “I made the assignments. Sousa and Hunter and Miles...that’s on me.” 

“That’s not true,” Daisy said. Deke was already blaming himself for his lost agents. She couldn’t let him think that he was responsible for Sousa, Hunter and Miles as well. “We - Lincoln and Kora and I - told you what we knew about the future and you based your decisions on our knowledge. It’s on us. The three of us.”

“I’m the one who knows the most about the future,” Kora told Daisy. “It’s not your or Lincoln’s faults. If you want to pick one single person to blame, it’s me.”

“Hey, enough with the blame game,” Trip interrupted all of their self-loathing moments. “All of you! Why is everyone making this about themselves? We were all doing what we thought was right and necessary to stop Hive. Stop blaming yourselves. It won’t get the job done.”

Lincoln shook his head a little, a small smile crossing his face. To Kora, he said, “‘We all care about them!’” 

Kora snorted. “‘It’s not the same!’” she countered, making all Daisy, Deke, Trip and even Ward on the screen look at them and their private joke.

“What’s the joke now?” Deke asked wearily.

“A conversation that May had with Lincoln and then with Mack,” Kora said, shaking her head. “And May...and in this case, Trip, is right. It’s not anyone’s fault.”

Daisy heaved a sigh. She was not in the mood to put up with Kora’s jokes at this time, even though Kora meant well. 

“Just promise me you’ll get them back,” Daisy told Kora. “Please. Regardless of who’s to blame. Just save them.”

Kora sobered up instantly at Daisy’s plea. Daisy didn’t often beg or plead. Kora knew just how much this meant to her sister. 

“I promise,” Kora said, taking Daisy’s hands in her own. “Trust me. I _will_ save him. I’ll bring him home.”

Daisy felt the tears coming, but she was so sick and tired of crying. She nodded and then trapped Kora in a hug. Kora hugged her back tightly, whispering in her ear, “I love you. No matter what. Be safe. And Daisy...it’s okay to tell them how you feel. Both of them. You need to tell them how you feel.”

Daisy felt panic rising in her stomach, but Kora was already releasing her from her desperate hug. Kora knew. Kora knew how Daisy feared letting anyone in and telling them she loved them. Maybe Kora even knew what Daisy wasn’t sure of right now: who Daisy wanted to be with for the rest of her life. Regardless, Kora was right. She had to decide what she felt and let the guys know where she stood and where they stood.

“I’ll go with Lincoln,” she repeated quietly, not able to meet his eyes. He knew what Sousa meant to her, but after their kiss earlier...she could not bring herself to look at him. 

Trip spoke up. “I’ll go with Kora,” he volunteered, although that was pretty much given, considering that Daisy and Lincoln were already paired up. “Field medic and pilot rolled in one.”

“I’ll go with Daisy and Lincoln,” Deke decided. “And we’ll take Yo-Yo with us. Lincoln, you’ll need to bring all your antitoxin studies with us. Maybe you can test antitoxins along the way.”

Lincoln nodded. “Done.”

“Oh, wait,” Kora interjected. “Before we go, Daisy and Lincoln need to change.”

“What?” Daisy glanced down at her outfit: a leather jacket, a shirt, jeans and boots. “I like my clothes. Plus, I don’t have anything to change into.”

“We have a whole costume room with options,” Deke assured her. “Lots and lots and lots of options. But why, Kora?” 

Kora smirked. “Because Daisy and Lincoln can’t meet Radcliffe looking like the kick-ass warriors they are. Daisy needs a dress - or at least a fancy jacket - and Lincoln needs a suit. At the very least.”

Dressing up for an undercover operation was the last thing that Daisy felt like doing. But at least, it was an undercover mission with Lincoln. He was the only person right now who might make her feel even remotely more like herself. But he was also the only person in the room whom she was feeling incredibly guilty about. 

“Okay,” Deke said. “Lincoln, take Daisy to the costume room. Trip, start taking Lincoln’s research up to Zephyr Three. Kora, you and I are going to do a really quick sweep of the base for any remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Lincoln, Daisy, when you’re done, join either our sweep or help Trip. We’ll load Yo-Yo onto Zephyr Three; Kora, Trip, you two take Zephyr Two. Zephyr One is still missing its containment module and something tells me we’ll need it to hold rogue Inhumans.” He glanced at the screen. “Hang tight, Ward. We’re on the way.”




In the end, it was just a frenzied rush to get all of them on board one of the Zephyrs. Daisy wished she had more time to gawk in awe of the crazy collection of costumes and clothes that Deke had collected seemingly since 1983, but she had to be content with grabbing what she thought she needed and leaving. After that, Deke asked her to grab whatever remaining Terrigen crystals there were in the armoury; after grabbing a suit, Lincoln joined Trip in loading all his antitoxin and vaccine research into Zephyr Three. Kora and Deke swept the base for any remaining living S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, to which they found none, and then when all five of them reconvened on the gallery deck, Trip and Deke disappeared into each of the Zephyrs to fire up the engines, Lincoln and Kora went to bring Yo-Yo up in a containment module and Daisy was tasked with getting her and Lincoln invited to Radcliffe’s party at the Transhumanists’ Club.

“I’ll have agents sent from the Hub and the Triskelion to clean up this place,” Deke told Trip and Kora before they split up. “They’ll look for any more agents whom we weren’t able to find in our sweep. Reconvene with us here after you get the guys in South Dakota. Yes?”

“Done,” Trip said. “Take care, guys.”

Kora grinned. “‘Don’t die out there’,” she said, making both Daisy and Lincoln smile at the familiar phrase. “We’ll get them back,” she added, stepping forward and crushing Daisy in a quick hug. 

Daisy hugged her back and then, to her surprise, Kora hugged Lincoln and Deke as well. Before Daisy could wonder if there was a hidden motive behind her actions, Kora and Trip were gone, disappearing in Zephyr Two. 

Once on board Zephyr Three, Daisy went into one of the bunk rooms to change. Deke was piloting the plane and she had already scored her and Lincoln invites, so she wanted to do something to prepare for the mission so that she could keep her mind off worrying about Sousa and the talk she would have to have with Lincoln later. The outfit she had picked out wasn’t too crazy, just a pair of almost black jeans, a glittering top and a matching jacket. Thank goodness she had experience with having to blend in with the times. Even her hair was not as crazy as when she had had to style it back in the 1930s. When she had finished her make-up, she left the bunk and headed to the lab to find Lincoln; she couldn’t procrastinate on talking to him any longer. 

Lincoln was alone in the lab - Deke was still in the cockpit - so Daisy didn’t have to worry about Deke walking in on them yet again. Lincoln’s back was to the door, so she took the opportunity to admire him from behind. He was working over a bunch of slides and a microscope, rotating them in and out with a practised ease. He looked so comfortable in this scene that Daisy almost didn’t want to interrupt him. But she needed to talk to him. 

“Hey,” Daisy said, knocking lightly on the doorframe. “Lincoln...I’m so sorry.” The words came out in a rush. “I mean...I didn’t…Sousa...I….”

Lincoln jumped when she spoke; he hadn’t been expecting her to be there. Carefully, he started putting down the slides so as not to compromise his research. 

“Don’t worry,” he said, putting samples back in a box. “I understand. I know exactly what Sousa means to you. I know it’s not as easy as turning off a switch of emotions...just like it’s not easy for me to understand if I’m your Lincoln or he’s me or anything like that. You want to save Sousa. He means a lot to you. And I completely understand.”

He turned around as he was finishing speaking and Daisy saw the gentleness and understanding on his face. To her intense relief, he didn’t look angry or jealous, but the kindness in his expression faded as he took in her appearance, replaced by admiration.

“Wow,” he said. “Wow.”

Daisy probably blushed. She hadn’t ever dressed up in Lincoln’s presence before; the fanciest thing they had ever done for a date was probably go on the mission to James’ place where they could openly express their affection for each other without making everyone else in the room feel awkward. But now...she was wearing make-up, her hair was done in a fancy style and she was wearing heels. Heels. That said enough.

“You look...amazing,” Lincoln said, stepping towards her.

Daisy smiled, but even his compliments weren’t enough to make her stop feeling guilty about the disaster that had happened earlier. She took a deep breath.

“Lincoln, no matter what happens,” she said, “I want you to know that our kiss...I wanted it to happen. I don’t regret it. And I meant it when I said that I have feelings for you. For _you_ you, not just my Lincoln. That doesn’t mean that I’m over Sousa; I’m sorry I can’t say that...but I want, no, I _need_ you to know that what I feel for you is real.”

Lincoln smiled. “You got all dressed up to tell me that?” he asked; she playfully shoved him and he laughed, catching her hands to pull her closer.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I knew that when I started falling for you. I knew that you weren’t going to instantly get over Sousa or even if you’d choose me instead of him. I’m just...grateful to have you in my life. And as much as you needed to tell me that you don’t regret our kiss, I need to tell you that me kissing you - that wasn’t only him. It was me too.”

Daisy smiled, relaxing a little; Lincoln let go of her hands to give her space if she wanted. The instant he let go, Daisy missed his touch, but at the same time, guilt was chewing at her insides, demanding why she was flirting with Lincoln when Sousa needed her help. 

Why, oh why was this so complicated? Daisy liked Lincoln, he liked her, why was it so hard for them to be together? Why was there the added confusion over Sousa and why was Lincoln still struggling to deal with the onslaught of his memories? 

For the first time since this entire love triangle had started, Daisy wished that she had never met Sousa last year. Up until then, she had still been completely and totally in love with Lincoln. Even asking Deke to kill Freddy Malick had stemmed from her desire to keep Lincoln alive. If she hadn’t met Sousa, or if she had insisted that they go to 2016 and save Lincoln from dying in space the way she had hoped they could after they had saved Sousa in 1955, she wouldn’t be worrying about a stupid love triangle that would end with someone’s heart broken. Of course, the timeline had been screwed up so badly that she had never been born in this timeline and they had never reached 2016, but after they had rescued Sousa, the very first fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. ever, she had initially been so hopeful that they could save Lincoln as well, another fallen agent. Her fallen agent. 

Daisy didn’t know what to say, but she did know what she wanted to do. Hesitantly, she reached out to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. Lincoln returned her embrace, holding her as tightly as she was holding him. They stayed that way for awhile, just relishing in the moment, when suddenly a device on Lincoln’s wrist started beeping, causing them to break apart.

At least it wasn’t Deke.

Lincoln glanced down at it, as did Daisy, and then they just gaped at it in shock. Throughout the entire rescue operation at Hive’s base, the confusing return to the Playground, even falling out of the sky, Lincoln had still been wearing it, but they had forgotten all about it. Now, it was flashing blue and white light. 

“Oh my God,” Daisy said, holding Lincoln’s wrist up so that she could see the device. “Oh my God.”

Lincoln’s blue eyes were wide with shock. “I don’t understand. How is he...what...oh my God. Something must be wrong with the tether. The timeline….”

Daisy looked up to meet Lincoln’s eyes. “Oh my God, Lincoln.”

On Lincoln’s wrist, on the time-travelling device that Deke had made, that was supposed to help them leap between timelines, was a simple message, one that Daisy had seen once before. ‘Working on it. - Fitz.’


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The second they saw the message, Daisy and Lincoln bolted from the lab in pursuit of Deke. They ran into him in the communications centre; once they were en route to Bucharest, he had put the Zephyr on autopilot. Deke was dispatching messages to the Hub and the Triskelion, listening to his Walkman at top volume, so loud that he didn’t hear Daisy and Lincoln run in.

“Deke!” 

His Walkman must have been _loud_. He didn’t hear either of them shouting his name; it was only when Lincoln put his hand on his shoulder that he looked up.

Deke pulled out his earbuds. “What’s going on?” he asked, taking in their flushed, breathless appearances and, in typical Deke fashion, got the complete wrong end of the stick. “Guys, come on, the whole purpose of wearing the earbuds was so that I _wouldn’t_ have to hear you guys bumping lemons. And if you guys are here for a wretched con-”

Lincoln spoke over him before the situation could get any worse. Kora wasn’t even there to be the buffer...or make things worse. Depending on the time and who was teasing them, Kora could take either side. Daisy still wasn’t sure what “singularity” Kora had been alluding to, but she had a pretty good feeling it was another joke at their expense. 

“Deke, Fitz contacted us,” Lincoln said breathlessly. “The Fitz from Daisy’s timeline.” He shoved the device on his wrist under Deke’s nose; Deke froze in stunned silence, staring at the message.

“Holy Kree,” Deke swore, still staring at the device. Then he leapt to his feet. “Lincoln, can I have that?”

Lincoln took it off his wrist and handed it to Deke, who started pulling out other electronic devices and considering them. As he worked, he spoke.

“That device was never meant to be a communication tool,” he said, pulling out another device, debating on its uses, and putting it back in its drawer. “That was supposed to be exclusively for getting there and getting back.”

“Then Fitz must have done something on his end,” Daisy suggested, but Deke was shaking his head.

“Something must have gone wrong,” he said. “The only way Fitz could connect with this device would be if he had access to the one on the other side. The one with Bobbi. He must have accessed Bobbi’s containment module in the other timeline. She should have been frozen in time until the time came for her to come home. Fitz shouldn’t have been able to find her.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded concerned looks. Something going wrong with time-travel was not good. Not good at all. Especially considering that Bobbi was pregnant….

Suddenly Deke froze. “Hey!” he said suddenly. “This is great news!”

“What?” Daisy asked, wondering momentarily if the stress of losing the Playground, the three agents in South Dakota and something going wrong with the timelines had caused him to take a leave of his senses. “Great news?”

“Yes!” Deke said triumphantly, looking at both of them. “This is a message from Fitz! _From Fitz_! Do you two know what this means?”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other again in confusion. 

“That we can communicate with the original timeline?” Daisy asked.

“That the team might be coming here?” Lincoln offered.

“No, you two dingbats,” Deke said. “It means that we can change the future! We had one of these in my dystopian world, remember? And we changed the timeline! My dystopian world never happened! This is a _sign_!”

Deke sounded so happy that neither Daisy nor Lincoln wanted to tell him that it probably _wasn’t_ a sign. They might be living in a reality that had similarities to the Framework, might be battling an ancient Inhuman and trying to prevent someone from dying in space, and might have just received the same cryptic message from Fitz that he had old-fashionedly delivered to the future, but it still wasn’t an indication that they were going to be successful in changing the future.

“I don’t know if it works that way, Deke,” Daisy began, but Deke held up a hand, still focusing on trying to power the device so that it could communicate back. 

“I’m telling you, it’s a sign,” Deke said cheerfully as he opened the back of the device to look inside. “Hmm. Might need to find a splicer…. Anyway. I’ll figure out a way to communicate back. I got this.” He looked up from his task. “Daisy, you look great. Lincoln, buddy, you need to change.”

“I was working in the lab,” Lincoln explained, glancing down at his clothes, which were still covered in grime, sweat and blood from the various fights they had been in. “I’m trying to figure out the antitoxin. I wish Raina were still here. She’s so much better at this stuff than I am. She’s a scientist and one of the world’s experts on Inhumans and I’m just trying to play catch-up based on my memories of Simmons’ work.”

“Hey,” Daisy said, putting a hand on his arm. “You’ll figure it out. I know you will.”

Lincoln turned and their eyes locked. For a brief moment, it was like the rest of the world had faded away; Deke cleared his throat very loudly.

“Still in the room,” he said. “Feeling very awkward and very much like a parent who has to give his kids _the talk_.”

Daisy closed her eyes. As much as she cared about Deke, right now, she was currently debating the merits of drowning herself or Deke before he could do or say anything else to make the situation more awkward. 

“Okay, _Dad_ ,” Lincoln teased, trying to cover up his embarrassment with a joke. “I’ll go and change. Are you going to interrogate Daisy while I’m gone?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Deke countered; Lincoln laughed. 

“See you in a bit,” Lincoln said in a low voice to Daisy and then he was gone, disappearing through the door to the bunk rooms.

When Lincoln was gone, Daisy sank down into the chair next to Deke, grateful to be taking the pressure off of her feet thanks to her high heels.

“It’s really good to see you again, Deke,” she said, causing Deke to look up from his task. “I missed you. We all did. We all _do_.”

Deke smiled, the shadows in his eyes from the loss of the agents at the Playground appearing to lighten at her admission. “I missed you guys too,” he said, working on the edge of the device, using a screwdriver to open the back panel. “When we were in my office...well, you saw the pictures.”

Daisy nodded. “Lincoln told me that you looked out for him and Mack, and that May was on your team too,” she said. “And you obviously know where Fitzsimmons are in this timeline...thank you, Deke. You’ve been...a rock star.”

Deke smirked. “A literal one, thank you very much,” he said, making both of them laugh. Then he paused. “I’m sorry, you know. Sorry about putting your life in danger with Lincoln’s return. I didn’t know. About the vision of the future. But well...at least you have him back in your life, right? And it’s worth it?”

Deke was referring to all the little moments he had seen and interrupted between Daisy and Lincoln. And Daisy couldn’t, and didn’t, blame him for that. Having Lincoln back in her life was closure in its own way; even if she didn’t end up with him in the end, just having him alive and talking to her in this timeline was more than enough to help her come to terms with everything. But Deke didn’t know that she still wasn’t over Sousa.

“Deke...I know you mean well,” Daisy said. “You know how much Lincoln means to me. I...even though I was with Sousa, part of me still wasn’t over Lincoln. I hadn’t been able to say goodbye. I was still...I was still an emotional wreck on his birthday, on the anniversary of our first kiss, on the anniversary of his death….”

“Sounds like you’re really in love with this guy,” Deke said pointedly.

Daisy sighed. It wasn’t the first time that Deke had told her that...two years previously in her timeline, he had said the same thing to her when he’d first found out about Lincoln’s existence. Her answer then was her same answer now.

“Kinda still am,” she muttered under her breath, but Deke heard her. It was the first time she was admitting it out loud to anyone since she had gotten involved with Sousa, but this was Deke. She knew without thinking that Deke had her back. Always. “But there’s still Sousa. And I’m not over him, even though Lincoln has his memories back...in some fashion.”

Deke put down the device, giving her his undivided attention. “Kora gave him back his memories via the timestream,” he said, remembering what they had talked about what felt like so long ago, back when they had first escaped from Hive’s base.

“Yeah,” Daisy said slowly. “He remembers what happened in my timeline...but he didn’t live it. So it’s complicated...because he looks like my Lincoln and he remembers everything that we went through together, but he’s still this Lincoln too. This timeline’s version of Lincoln. And it’s complicated because he’s still trying to sort out his memories, but he knows for sure that he definitely likes me for me and I definitely like him as him, not just as my Lincoln-”

At this point, Daisy was rambling. She had no idea how Deke had suddenly become a confidant for her, but there was no going back now. She had literally just spilled her guts about her lovelife to him. 

“Sorry,” Daisy muttered. “You probably don’t want to hear about all my relationship drama.”

Deke laughed. “Trust me, there is nothing more I’d rather be doing right now,” he said. “I meant what I said about just wanting you to be happy and Lincoln, well, I want him to be happy too. And you make him happy. You haven’t seen it, but I do. Me and the rest of the team who have known him for so long. He’s lighter, more complete with you around. And you...well, I haven’t seen you in decades, but you seem happy around him. And, it might just be me, but you seem to be...connecting with him.” He paused. “I didn’t mean it that way. Gah. You know what I mean.”

Daisy nodded, a smile curling her lips. “I do.”

“Not that I’m biased or trying to tell you who to choose or anything,” Deke added.

Daisy shot him a look.

“Okay, fine, maybe I am a little biased,” Deke said; Daisy shook her head at him, a wry smile on her face.

She heaved a sigh. “I...I really like Lincoln, I do. I don’t want anything to happen to him. And not because he looks like my Lincoln. I like him for who he is as well. But Sousa….” She sighed again, remembering a conversation with him that had taken place after Lincoln had gotten his memories back and they were about to storm Hive’s base. They had just had their disastrous parachute landing; Sousa had pulled Daisy aside before they could go in. 

_“I’m in love with you,” Sousa said, startling Daisy with his admission. But it made sense; he had just seen her emotional break down with the reintroduction of Lincoln in her life with his memories. “I...I just needed to tell you that. So that you know. You don’t have to say it back. I understand. And I know that I promised you space. And I intend to give it to you. But...I needed to tell you that.”_

_Daisy had been stunned by the revelation. It wasn’t that she didn’t care for Sousa, because she did. But after everything...she honestly didn’t know what to say or do._

_“I don’t know…,” she said, closing her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to see the heartbreak on his face. “Sousa, I….”_

_“You don’t have to say anything,” Sousa said, holding up a hand. “You really don’t. I just needed to tell you that...in case we don’t make it out of here alive. Or if you end up swayed. We don’t know what’s going to happen in there. Even though you three kind of know the future. I just needed to tell you that.”_

_“Sousa…,” Daisy began, not knowing what to say._

_“Let’s go rescue the team,” Sousa said firmly. “I’m in this with you till the very end, Daisy. No matter what.”_

“No, I know,” Deke said, jolting Daisy out of her memories.

“Lincoln…,” Daisy said. “He died...he died for me. Well, not this timeline version, but he would have done it anyway to prevent me from getting swayed. He still would. Regardless of his memories.”

Deke looked at her shrewdly. “He’s remembering you. But he cares about you regardless of your Lincoln’s memories. You just told me that. Right?”

“Right,” Daisy said, biting her bottom lip. “Right…. This is all messy.”

Deke shrugged. “Well, look at it this way. You just admitted that you have feelings for Lincoln regardless of whether he’s your timeline version or this timeline version or a combination of both. I don’t think it matters. Your mother loved you even though in this timeline she didn’t give birth to you and literally knew that you were her daughter for five seconds. She still loved you and she still died for you. It doesn’t matter what timeline version of us we are. The feelings are there all the same. And anyway...you also just told me that you care about him for him and he cares about you for you regardless of your past selves. Maybe those feelings are stronger _because_ of your past selves, but either way...you like each other. This is S.H.I.E.L.D.. Life is never without it’s complications. My grandfather was jealous of _himself_ , for crying out loud. You and Lincoln...I don’t see the problem if you guys really like each other. And it’s not an issue even if you’ve only known each other a few hours...in this timeline. Your mother is proof of that.”

Daisy stared at Deke. He had a really good point. Jiaying hadn’t known who she was until practically five seconds before Nathaniel had attacked the Lighthouse...and she had died for her after finding out the truth anyway. It had taken _seconds_ for Jiaying to decide to sacrifice her life for the daughter whom she loved. In the same way...Daisy cared for Lincoln regardless of what timeline version he was.

“How did you know about my mum?” Daisy asked, although her mind was still reeling with the truth in Deke’s words.

“Kora told me,” Deke said. “While we were sweeping the Playground for any living S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Regardless...it’s true, you know. It doesn’t matter which timeline version of yourselves you are. If you love someone, then you love someone.”

Daisy gave Deke a faint smile. “You’re really good at this, you know?” she said. “Who are you and what have you done to the Deke I knew?”

Deke laughed. “I grew up,” he said, causing Daisy to smile wider. He paused. “So do you know what you’re going to do now?”

Before Daisy could answer, Lincoln came back into the room. He had showered and changed and was now wearing a suit and tie. It was Daisy’s turn for her jaw to drop. 

“You look...incredible,” Daisy breathed, standing up and walking towards him. “You should wear suits more often.”

Lincoln smiled. “Gotta try to keep up somehow,” he said, gesturing towards her and her finery; Daisy laughed. 

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Dr McSparky,” she teased, adopting Kora’s nickname for him. 

He laughed. “That sounds much better coming from you than Kora,” he admitted. 

A bright flash caused Daisy to blink. At first, she thought it might be some sort of attack or electronics malfunction, but it was just Deke, holding a camera.

“Sorry, guys, couldn’t resist,” he said. “Besides...when are you next going to have a chance to dress up?”

Daisy couldn’t help but smile. “Want one for your collection?” she asked, referring to the photos that Deke had on his office desk in the Playground. She glanced up at Lincoln. “Do you mind?”

Lincoln shook his head. “Let’s do it.”

He put his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him, resting her head against his chest. There was just something so comforting about being with him and with Deke taking photos to commemorate the moment, it felt like the calm before the storm. 




They still had a few hours before they reached Bucharest, so after their impromptu photoshoot, Deke resumed trying to communicate with Fitz, Lincoln disappeared into the lab to continue his research on an antitoxin and Daisy was left to her own devices. Something which she really hated because the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was think; with thinking came worrying. 

That was how she ended up outside Yo-Yo’s containment module, staring at the Inhuman, wishing she could come up with some way of helping her. The only solution she knew as of right now was what Lincoln was working on and Daisy was so far off from a doctor, that she had no idea how to help him. In actuality, her presence might be more of a distraction than a help. 

Yo-Yo was glaring at her through the glass, doing her speedy running thing that looked like she was bouncing off walls. Daisy wasn’t entirely sure if Yo-Yo had figured out how to prevent herself from bouncing back yet, but she had a pretty good feeling that she hadn’t. Either way...it was difficult staring at her through the glass, knowing that she was helpless to undo Hive’s sway on her.

“Elena?” Daisy tried, but Yo-Yo continued glowering at her while she ran laps in boomerang style, bouncing off the walls. 

Daisy folded her arms over her chest. While she desperately wanted to help Yo-Yo, she was feeling even more useless; Yo-Yo had never met Mack and hence hadn’t learned English. Daisy couldn’t speak Spanish for beans. She missed Joey all of a sudden. He had been their main communicator prior to Yo-Yo learning English. 

Nonetheless, she couldn’t give up. She leaned closer to the glass. 

“Elena, I’m Daisy,” she said. “I….” 

Her voice trailed off when she noticed that something was wrong. Oh no. It couldn’t be. 

Daisy scrambled away from the glass and bolted into the lab. 

“Lincoln!” 

He looked up immediately, hearing the combination of panic and fear in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing her arms as she reached him. “Daisy? Talk to me.”

Daisy gripped his arms just as tightly as he was holding hers. Her heart was racing in her chest and not from the close proximity she had to Lincoln. It was from a combination of nerves, fear and sheer panic.

“Tell me you have it,” she said.

“Have what?” Lincoln asked, his brow furrowing.

Daisy swallowed hard. “I won’t be mad. I promise. I know you’re just trying to protect me. But please...no more secrets. Please. Just let me know if you took it from Yo-Yo.”

Lincoln’s expression straightened out as he put two and two together. “Her cross necklace,” he surmised.

Daisy nodded. “Lincoln, please, if you took it, tell me,” she said. “We can figure it out together; don’t keep it to yourself. Don’t keep secrets from me. Not again. Not after what happened last time-” She cut herself off. This timeline’s version of Lincoln hadn’t kept any secrets from her. It was her timeline’s version of Lincoln who had. And although he had hidden the Terrigen crystal and the drunk driving accident with his ex-girlfriend and stolen the cross necklace from her, they had all been with good reasons. Still...he had kept secrets from her and Daisy didn’t, couldn’t have that in this relationship. If that was what it was shaping up to be. 

“Daisy, calm down,” Lincoln said, moving his hands from hers to her shoulders, his touch gentle, thumbs caressing her skin. “You’re mixing me up with him. I haven’t kept any secrets from you. Not deliberately, anyway.”

Daisy took a slow calming breath. Then she spoke again. “Lincoln, do you have the cross necklace?” she asked. “Do you?”

“No,” Lincoln said. “I honestly don’t. I swear. I would tell you if I did. I know that he kept things from you...I’m trying to be honest with you. All you need to do is ask me and I’ll do my best to answer you honestly. I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us.”

The honesty and openness in Lincoln’s expression made Daisy relax a little. She believed him. 

“Yeah,” she whispered, nodding slightly.

Lincoln too, relaxed at her acceptance that he was innocent. He let his hands drop, but stayed facing her, consternation all over his face as they both realized what it meant if neither of them had the necklace. 

“Who has it then?” Daisy asked. “Who would take it from her? There were five of us and I highly doubt Trip would have taken the necklace without Deke’s permission….”

They realized the truth at the same time. 

“Either Deke or Kora has the cross necklace,” Daisy said. “Dammit! They know exactly what they’re doing, taking that wretched thing.”

Lincoln nodded, his countenance stressed. “We told them that it blows up with Hive in the Quinjet in space. One of them has the necklace. And they took it on purpose to protect the rest of us.” He paused. “They’re setting themselves up to be the fallen agent.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

For the second time in what was less than fifteen minutes, Daisy and Lincoln raced back upstairs to the communications centre. Deke was working on the time-travel device like he had said he would be, once again listening to his Walkman. This time, neither Daisy nor Lincoln bothered with calling his name; Daisy touched his arm to alert him to their presence.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Deke asked, frowning. “What’s going on this time? Did your futuristic grandson from a dystopian timeline appear?”

“What?” 

Of all responses, Daisy had not been expecting that one.

“Yeah, Kora told me all about curses, and alternate timeline versions of lost lovers after the death of the guy saving the girl and the world at the same time-” Deke began.

Daisy and Lincoln exchanged a glance, a semi-amused, slightly embarrassed look. 

“The next thing you’ll be saying is he’ll be in love with Kora,” Lincoln said, shaking his head, trying to downplay the situation.

“Hey, that is what I said!” Deke said, but Daisy had had enough. It wasn’t that she was upset at Deke’s jokes. She could understand why he wanted to lighten the mood. They were dealing with a whole ton of heavy. But the missing cross necklace was of utmost importance. She couldn’t lose either Kora or Deke and whoever had it was essentially cursed. Cursed with death...although being the one left behind was almost as bad as dying and in some ways worse. Daisy couldn’t lose either of them...but she couldn’t lose Lincoln again either. Or Sousa. Or Trip. Even losing Ward and Miles felt wrong, given how much Deke trusted and relied on them in this timeline. It was an impossible situation that had no solution. 

“Deke, did you take it?” Daisy demanded, her emotions causing her voice to come out sharper than she had intended. 

“Take what?” Deke asked, returning his attention to the time-travel device.

“The cross necklace,” Lincoln said, stepping closer to the table. “Deke, if you did-”

“I didn’t take it,” Deke said, but he did not look at either Daisy or Lincoln while he spoke. That was enough giveaway to them to recognize that he was lying. It wasn’t easy to lie to spies. Sometimes, it was successful, but usually only when the lies were wrapped in a kernel of the truth. Or if you wanted to believe the lie...like when Daisy had wanted to believe that Lincoln cared enough about her to want to be swayed with her. 

“Dammit, Deke, that’s not funny,” Daisy said. “We’re trying to save everyone on the team-”

Deke stood up, so quickly that he knocked his chair over. Daisy stopped talking; the anger in his expression was unmistakable. She had never seen Deke so angry at her, not once. The closest he had ever come to the breaking point was when he had been arguing with Fitzsimmons about his company and his “stolen” inventions, not that Daisy had been around to witness that. But now he was so obviously angry that Daisy subsided, almost afraid of him.

“You think I don’t know that?” he demanded. “You think I’m not worried about everyone on my team? There’s also all the agents we lost back at the Playground! My agents! I vetted each and every one of them. Their deaths are all on me. You think I like the fact that you and Lincoln and the rest of my team are all destined to die? Do you think I _like_ the fact that Lincoln died in the original timeline for you? I know you two self-sacrificing idiots! You would die for each other again in space _again_!”

“How did you know-,” Daisy began; Deke had not been around when she’d temporarily died in space and Kora had saved her.

“Kora told me,” Deke said, still glaring at them both. “I know we haven’t had much time alone, any of us three, but I think it’s pretty important that my freaking mum has been born in the original timeline. Although who knows if my dad and mum will even meet because we’ve changed the timelines and created so many alternate ones so many times.”

“Deke, I….” Daisy began, guilt turning her stomach upside down. He was right. She should have told him about Alya first thing. She had been planning on telling him, but in a group setting, it really wasn’t appropriate, and he _had_ brought the subject round to Lincoln almost immediately after their reunion. She knew how much he had hated that he had been left in the dark about Fitz’s death. Not telling him about Alya was a double blow and she knew that, while he would forgive her, he wouldn’t forget that she hadn’t told him. 

Deke held up a hand. “I’m not upset that we talked about you and Lincoln,” he said. “Far from it. All I want is for both of you to be happy. As much as I tease you two and apparently have the world’s worst timing when it comes to interrupting you two, I care about you both. A lot. But that doesn’t mean that it’s okay for me to be left in the dark. If there’s anything else you two are keeping from me, you need to tell me now. And you two also need to understand that I know this isn’t a game. I took that bloody cross necklace because I don’t want you two to die again. I care about you both too much to watch either of you die. Daisy, you’re not the only one who has watched everyone who gets close to you die. Or disappear on you. I built S.H.I.E.L.D. back up here and look what’s happened to it! I lost Yo-Yo to freaking Hive! Bobbi’s MIA thanks to _my_ time-travel device. Hunter and Miles are ‘swayed’ - for lack of a better term - by Katya freaking Belyakov, not to mention that Hunter is going to _freak_ when he discovers that Bobbi is in danger. And she’s pregnant! I should have known or guessed and pulled her from the field earlier. And now look at what’s happened!”

Deke paused for breath, but Daisy didn’t fault him for lashing out. He had been a rock for so long and now, he was finally cracking. Everyone could only take so much before they exploded. The words stung, but they were true. Deke was right. Although Daisy and Lincoln knew much more about the past and the future than he did, having Deke playing catch-up all the time was not fair or safe for any of them. 

Daisy pressed her lips together, trying to hold herself together; Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder, sensing her need for emotional support. He knew perfectly well that he was as much to blame as she was for not letting Deke know more about the timelines. Although he hadn’t lived it, that knowledge was in his memories as well. 

“I know it’s not a wretched game,” Deke continued. “The only reason I didn’t destroy that cursed necklace is because I know it’s essential in ensuring that Hive dies. We can’t have that ancient Inhuman running around swaying more Inhumans. Speaking of, even though we know that Hive can sway Lincoln, I’m still sending you into danger to risk getting Radcliffe. As far as I know, you haven’t made any progress on the antitoxin and the doctors at the Academy haven’t figured out the vaccine. The closest thing we have to anything even remotely capable of stopping Hive is the Suspension Gel matrix with Rosalind Price-”

“Wait, the Inhuman vaccine? And Rosalind Price is alive?” Daisy asked, her confusion overriding her concern over Deke’s anger. The vaccine? The one that could somehow inhibit Inhuman powers? And what did it mean that Rosalind was still alive? What did that mean for Lincoln? Daisy was still worryingly fixated upon the fact that Kora had told them if Ward lived, Andrew, Rosalind and Lincoln would die. Seeing as Lincoln and Rosalind were still alive, did that mean that their clocks were ticking away? 

“Yes, she works for the ATCU,” Deke said impatiently. “Coulson is our liaison. But that’s not the point. We don’t have any method of defeating Hive aside from a suicide bomb mission in space and whatever happens, I’m not losing either of you!”

At long last, Deke appeared to run out of steam. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln said anything, waiting to see if he was about to start another tirade. 

“Deke?” Lincoln said tentatively. “We know how much you care. We weren’t trying to imply that you weren’t. We’re just worried about you.” 

“We care about you,” Daisy added, stepping closer to the table; after his explosion, he had slumped back down at the table on a different chair, resting his head in his hands.

Deke gave a bitter laugh. “You’re wasting your time caring about me,” he said. “The man who got so many of his agents killed. Who had to be saved from himself again and again. That’s who I am.”

As Deke spoke, Daisy and Lincoln turned slowly to look at each other, recognizing the words that he was saying. Fear surged inside Daisy and she blurted out, “Stop!” before she could realize that she was really not making anything any better; in fact, she was making it worse.

“Deke, you _save_ lives,” Lincoln said. “You did that with us, with me! You save lives because you’re meant to-” He cut himself off before he could finish the sentence, eyes widening with shock at the words that had come out, almost unbidden.

“You two should know better than anyone if everything around you crumbles then you’re the cause,” Deke said bitterly.

“Oh my God, we have to stop talking,” Daisy said, panicking. “Deke, please, please upon pain of death, give me that cross necklace. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I do! I trust you more than almost everyone in the timeline. But I’m afraid _for_ you. What you were just saying...Lincoln and I had a conversation almost exactly like that in the original timeline...and he died trying to defeat Hive. Deke, don’t put yourself more at risk by keeping the necklace!”

Deke stopped talking, glancing from Lincoln to Daisy with a curious expression on his face. “Were you two doing it also?” he asked. “As in saying words that you said in the other timeline?”

Both of them nodded; Lincoln had said one sentence that had been Daisy’s. 

“Huh,” Deke said, his brow furrowed. Then it cleared. “And that happened before...in the lab back at the Playground, didn’t it?”

“How did you-,” Daisy began.

“Kora,” Deke said. “She says little things as jokes, but they really are what happened in the original timeline, aren’t they? The whole ‘losing control’ debacle, me interrupting you guys, ‘Inhuman birthrights’, the discussion about spacetime, even the ‘singularity’…. That all happened already. And not just in the previous timeline. You guys were stepping into ‘roles’ of either yourselves or your other teammates?”

Daisy and Lincoln exchanged glances. Deke was...surprisingly good at piecing together all this timeline stuff. Although it made sense; the team had dealt with so much past and future disasters that they might as well be living in circles. In a way, they actually were. Going in circles.

“Not just us,” Lincoln said. “I mean...we did ‘play’ - for lack of a better term - ourselves, but right now, we’re Fitzsimmons. _You_ were Simmons earlier when you interrupted our...conversation in the lab. When we were rescuing you guys from Hive’s base, I was Daisy, Kora was me, Daisy was Yo-Yo and Sousa was Joey.”

“But it’s not as simple as someone being someone else in another timeline,” Daisy added. “Like Lincoln said...we were ourselves and now we’re Fitzsimmons. It isn’t that simple. I initially thought that it might be that easy...but it isn’t. The timeline’s changed too much and too little at the same time.”

“Huh,” Deke said thoughtfully. “Well, aside from running into Hive at the Transhumanists’ Club later, is there anything else I should know? What’s this ‘singularity’? Is this the tip-off point when we figure out whether or not we can defeat Hive?”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other, for once equally clueless. 

“I have no idea,” Lincoln said. “Kora only gave me my memories until I died…. After that, I have access to everyone else’s.” 

“Me neither,” Daisy said. “I was there...but I didn’t hear everything everyone said. Maybe Fitzsimmons named...something after it? I have no clue.”

“Huh….” Deke repeated. “Well, if it was really important, I guess Kora would have told you guys. Or something. Hmm. Maybe we should ask her….”

A loud beeping from downstairs interrupted Deke’s speech. Daisy and Lincoln turned in the direction of the sound; Deke stood up. 

“What’s that noise?” Deke asked. 

Lincoln was frowning. “I think it’s the blood analysis,” Lincoln said. “The computer program must have flagged an anomaly...come with me.”

He hurried back downstairs to the lab; Daisy and Deke followed him, Deke still carrying the time-travel device. When they reached the lab, Lincoln sat down on a stool in front of the computer and clicked a button on the screen to make the sound stop. Pulling up the results on the screen, he started scrolling through them with the touchscreen function. 

“What is it?” Daisy asked. “Is it to do with the antitoxin? Or the vaccine?”

As much as she hated the thought of the vaccine, she understood its necessity now. If there was an option for taking away Hive’s powers, she would do it in a heartbeat. Maybe with Deke’s alternate timeline inventions, the antitoxin, vaccine and Suspension Gel might be able to stop Hive. Just because they knew the future didn’t mean that Daisy wasn’t going to do her utmost to prevent it from happening. 

Lincoln was staring at the screen, a mixture of confusion and concern on his face. 

“Neither,” he said slowly. “I set up the machine to check Sousa, Miles and Hunter’s blood just in case they were Inhuman, to confirm that Katya influenced them and not Hive. While none of them are Inhuman...there are some weird results.”

“What do you mean, ‘weird’?” Deke asked.

“It recognized someone’s blood as a match,” Lincoln said, clicking on one of the faces on the screen, maximizing that tab. “Hunter’s blood is already in the system.”

“Wait, why wouldn’t their blood already be in the S.H.I.E.L.D. system?” Daisy asked, confused. “Don’t you keep records, Deke?”

“We try to,” Deke said. “Sometimes we don’t. A few months ago, Bobbi and Hunter had to officially be disavowed from S.H.I.E.L.D. so I had Miles wipe their records from every system.”

Daisy nodded. She had done that for herself and the original team way back after the initial fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. to Hydra. After Lincoln’s death in the original timeline and she had left S.H.I.E.L.D. to become a vigilante, at one point, via an encrypted request from Bobbi and Hunter, she had helped them wipe their records clean, in order to aid their laying low from the various governments. It didn’t surprise her that Miles had done the same in this timeline. But that raised a whole bunch of other questions.

“Then how come Bobbi and Hunter are still in the field?” she asked, referring to how they had been disavowed from S.H.I.E.L.D. in her timeline. She still missed them...their presence would have been very welcome. Maybe with her magnetized and electrified batons, Bobbi could even disabled the Quinjet’s manual controls and no one would have died in space with Hive. Daisy sometimes hated how often her brain convinced her of methods that could have saved Lincoln’s life. Over the years, Daisy had come up with more than a hundred ways she could have saved Lincoln and each time she thought of a new one, she felt more guilty than ever. But now...maybe that practice would come in useful when the time would come that someone in this new timeline would be in the Quinjet with Hive. 

“Bobbi works in the lab with me sometimes,” Lincoln explained, pulling Daisy out of her dark thoughts. “Not all the time, of course. But when she and Hunter do go out on missions that allow the public to see their faces, they use nano masks.”

“Christ,” Daisy muttered under her breath, thinking of Agent 33’s scarred and burned face. “Please tell me that they aren’t permanently fixed to their faces.”

“Thank God, no,” Lincoln said; Daisy gave him a grim smile in response.

Lincoln returned his attention to the computer screen where Hunter’s blood work was on display. Then he frowned. 

“This doesn’t make sense,” he said slowly, scrolling down the page.

“What doesn’t make sense?” Deke asked.

Lincoln swivelled the screen to show Daisy and Deke. On it was a list of the usual stuff: blood type, Inhuman markers (in this case, none), potentiality for diseases and so on. However, although the system had flagged a commonality within the system, the commonality was redacted. 

“Not many blood works are redacted,” Lincoln said, frowning. “The last one I encountered...actually, I haven’t encountered any in this timeline. Not that I can think of. Maybe I have. I don’t know. My memories are jumbled right now.” 

He rubbed his forehead as if that would help him sort out the memories; Daisy felt a wave of concern for him that had nothing to do with any romantic feelings that he might have for her. Having two lives in his head had to be doing his mind in and the last thing she wanted right now was for him to develop a split personality disorder like Fitz had. 

Automatically, she stepped behind him, putting her hand on his shoulder; he covered her hand with his, glancing up at her. At her touch, he relaxed a little and Daisy could practically feel the tension leaching out of his body as he focused on her. He _had_ said that her presence helped, but this time, Daisy could actually see the change in him. She smiled slightly at him, the smallest upward curve of her lips, and he smiled back, his face more calm now. 

“Yours was redacted in the original timeline,” he said to Daisy. “But that was because your mum was Inhuman and S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to protect you. If Hunter was also an 0-8-4, that would make sense, but Hunter’s not Inhuman. The blood test results don’t even flag any Inhuman carrier genes in his blood. He’s as human as it gets.”

“Then why would his blood be redacted?” Daisy asked, wishing that, for once, something could be simple. There were so many new issues and complications that were arising that it was doing her head in. And if it was confusing her, then she could only imagine how insanely bemused Lincoln must be. 

“I have no idea,” Lincoln said.

Deke had been silent for a while, but now he swore. Both Daisy and Lincoln rounded on him, startled by his cussing. Even though they hadn’t been having a private conversation, nor had they been doing anything really romantic that would make his presence unwelcome or him feel uncomfortable, Deke had been silent for so long that both of them had momentarily forgotten his presence. 

“Deke?” Daisy asked tentatively. “Are you okay?”

Deke pulled something from his pocket, a small round metallic object that Daisy initially thought was a button, but, upon closer inspection, appeared to be a bug. 

“Is that….” Daisy began.

“A bug?” Lincoln finished, squinting at the object in Deke’s hand.

Deke nodded, shaking his head, clenching his jaw. “I don’t think either of you have been tagged with any, because you both just showered and changed clothes, have you?”

Daisy and Lincoln both shook their heads. 

“I didn’t find any,” Daisy said. “But I wasn’t looking for any.”

“Same here,” Lincoln said. 

Deke grimaced. “At any rate, I have a pretty good feeling where this one came from,” he said grimly. “I should have known that she had ulterior motives.”

The truth dawned on Daisy as Deke spoke. There was only one ‘she’ who had come within close proximity of Deke recently and it would be just like her to do something sneaky like that...especially because she wanted to protect them.

“Wait,” Lincoln said, also putting two and two together. “Are you saying that Kora planted a bug on you? Why would she do that? She’s not swayed.”

That was a fair question. Daisy herself was pretty sure that Kora had done so so that she would be able to hear what was going on all the time; Kora had her reasons. In her own way, she was more calculating than Raina even, who spoke in riddles and metaphors. Kora just didn’t speak like a sphinx, but she knew a whole heck of a ton about the future. 

Deke shook his head. “It’s not just the bug, although that _is_ an invasion of privacy. Although...I am glad she had the sense not to plant it on either of you. Both because you two were going to change and because she probably would have heard things that you two want to keep private.”

Once again, Daisy and Lincoln traded a slightly embarrassed look; Deke continued speaking, ignoring their byplay. 

“Anyway...that bug isn’t the biggest problem,” Deke said. “While I initially didn’t trust Kora, I know none of you - her included - are currently swayed by Hive. Trip confirmed the results, so I know you didn’t lie about them, Lincoln. And I know that I can trust her if she hasn’t been swayed.”

It was reassuring that Deke now trusted Kora. But what wasn’t reassuring was what he was keeping from them...the problem bigger than the bug.

“What’s the problem?” Lincoln asked. 

Deke looked grim. “Kora planted the bug on me...and at the same time, she stole that cursed cross necklace. Daisy, your sister is the new target for death.”


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

In the cockpit of Zephyr Two, Kora pulled her S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket tighter around her shoulders, adjusting it so that the cross necklace was concealed beneath her shirt. The second she and Lincoln had gone into the containment cell to carry an unconscious Yo-Yo up to Zephyr Three, she had seen that Yo-Yo’s necklace was gone. Based on the conversations she’d had earlier with Deke, she had guessed that he had taken it; later, she had been proven right. Under the ruse of hugging him and Lincoln good luck, she had found it in his pocket and stolen it. He might be feeling guilty right now, but as the director, S.H.I.E.L.D. needed him. Not only that, but the further the cross necklace was from Daisy and Lincoln, the better. After all...Kora was pretty sure that if blown up in space, she could survive the blast. 

_You survived the destruction because you caused it._

Well, maybe she could detonate before the nuke went off and survive the blast that way. Among all the potential futures she had seen, it was a possibility. A probability. Percentages. What she dealt with a lot of the time.

She would be lying if she said she hadn’t seen this future. There were so many different possibilities that she hadn’t considered that this one would happen, but she was grateful that Daisy hadn’t yet asked her if she had known that there was a possibility that Lincoln would re-enter her life. While she had, there hadn’t been many paths that had led them down this road. But now that they were here...Kora had a pretty good feeling she knew how some things were going to play out. 

Some, not all. Daisy and Lincoln constantly asked her questions about the future to which she did not know the answers. There were too many gaps in her knowledge, but the one thing she did know was that she was not going to let Daisy die in space, nor was she going to let Daisy lose Lincoln this time around. This was another timeline; things were frustratingly similar and different at the same time. Regardless, Kora was confident that the person who would die in the Quinjet was going to be someone else. 

As much as Deke was biased towards Daisy choosing Lincoln, Kora was partial towards the future that would result in Daisy being happiest. And she knew perfectly well that if Daisy lost Lincoln a second time, regardless of whether she chose to be with him romantically, Daisy would never forgive herself...which was saying something, considering that part of Daisy was still in love with Lincoln, five years after his death. And that meant that Kora would do whatever it took to protect Lincoln as well as Daisy. 

Family first, always. 

When Kora had stolen the cross necklace from Deke, she had slipped a listening device into the same pocket that he’d put the necklace in. Maybe it wasn’t the most honest of options and it wouldn’t help her keep direct tabs on either Daisy or Lincoln, but given how they were going to shower and change clothes for the Bucharest mission, Kora figured that a listening device on Deke would be undetected longer. 

Except now, they had found it, of course. But not before she had listened to Deke and Daisy’s reunion, and later Deke’s tirade about doing whatever it took to keep Daisy and Lincoln alive. And the weird redacted file associated with Hunter’s blood. 

There were too many mysteries going on and too many unknown entities. And one of those was Trip. 

She had to keep the cross necklace hidden from him. She knew him well enough by now to guess that he wasn’t going to let her just hang onto the wretched talisman of death, but really, who could they give it to without ensuring that person’s death? The five of them - her, Daisy, Lincoln, Deke and Trip - all knew that whoever had the cross necklace was an instant target for death. As long as she had it, she was up to bat...and hopefully would not strike out. 

“Are you okay?” Trip asked from where he was sitting next to her, piloting the plane, jolting Kora out of her thoughts. “You look nervous.”

Kora tried for a smile. She liked Trip, she really did. He was friendly, smart and he even laughed at her stupid jokes. Daisy and Sousa usually took her a tad too seriously for her liking and it was nice having someone she could be a bit of a clown around.

“Just concerned about saving the others,” Kora said. “I promised Daisy that I would save Sousa.”

That wasn’t a lie. There were so many possibilities of the future and Kora knew that in some of them, she didn’t save Sousa. But she also knew that Daisy could survive temporarily losing him. Sousa was not Lincoln. And as much as Kora hated to put the two guys in a head-to-head battle, she knew perfectly well who she would choose to save if it came down to the two of them. 

Trip looked sympathetic. “What’s the deal with those two?” he asked. “Cuz let me tell you, she’s all googly-eyed for Sparky over there and then suddenly it’s like she’s all heart emoji to Sousa.”

Kora laughed, grateful for the distraction. “It’s complicated. In the original timeline, she and Lincoln were in love and happy and ladida and then he died for her. Three-ish years later, she was finally over him enough to try to “get back in the field” - I’m saying that because she never moved on from Lincoln - hence, Sousa. A year later, bam! He’s back.” She paused. “Oh, and he didn’t remember her whatsoever, but because I have the timestream in my head, I kinda gave him back all his memories. But he’s still...I think he’s still partly this Lincoln and partly her old love. So that’s even _more_ complicated. Now she’s like…’Do I want the old love who literally died for me? But he’s not really my old love! But I still care for him regardless of my old love! But I also care for Sousa! What do I do?’” 

“Complicated,” Trip mused. “These timelines are really throwing things in loop…. What about you? Does a tragic love story run in your family?”

Kora laughed again, a faint hint of excitement running through her veins at his question. He didn’t _have_ to ask her about her love life...but he had. Maybe it meant something. Maybe it didn’t. All she knew was that Trip wasn’t one of Daisy’s exes...although he _had_ died trying to save her. That seemed to happen unfortunately way too much. 

“Maybe not tragic exactly,” she said. “But certainly falling for evil Hydra Nazis is.” 

“Something tells me you’re not talking about Lincoln or Sousa,” Trip said, an easy grin on his face. “I’m all ears.”

Kora grinned back wryly. “Okay, so in the original timeline, before Lincoln, Daisy liked her S.O.. Ward. Who turned out to be an evil Hydra agent. Then he died and got possessed by Hive and when he swayed Daisy, she had a...connection with him. And when Daisy, Deke and the rest of the team created the alternate timeline and Nathaniel Malick saved me, I kinda liked him...and he was also an evil Hydra baddie. Oh, and in the original timeline, Nathaniel Malick was Hive at one point, so you can see how messed up _that_ was.”

Trip blinked. “And I thought that the whole Daisy-Lincoln-Sousa thing was weird. This is even more crazy! At least Ward already has Kara. I can’t imagine your sister wanting _another_ potential boyfriend.”

Kora’s grin grew wider. “Well, it’s not just Ward,” she said. “In Daisy’s timeline, Miles is also her ex, and Deke was in love with her for years. He stayed back in this timeline so that she could be happy with Sousa.”

Trip nodded slowly, his eyebrows raised in his forehead. “And now Deke is basically Lincoln’s father. Dang, girl, that is messed up!”

“Deke’s not in love with Daisy any more,” Kora assured him. “He _does_ love her, but more like a….”

“A future daughter-in-law?” Trip joked. 

Kora shrugged. “I mean...I do know a lot of possible futures,” she said. “There are so many different paths we could go down.”

Trip smirked. “So that’s a possibility? Daisy and Lincoln getting married?”

Kora made a face at him. “I’m not telling you that. I don’t want to accidentally cause the future to change.” She was well aware of how hypocritical she sounded when she said that. There was a fine line between influencing the future for the better and manipulating it to suit her own wants and needs. 

Trip’s face sobered as a thought struck him. “So do you know who’s going to die in the Quinjet with Hive?”

Kora’s face tightened. “There is at least one future where each of us is in that Quinjet,” she said. “There is no way that I could figure out which one we’re going down.”

“Not even as events pass?” Trip asked.

“Well, it narrows the field, certainly,” Kora said, toying with her fingers. “Like for example, when Daisy chose to go with Lincoln to Bucharest, that eliminated all the paths where Lincoln would get swayed at the Transhumanists’ Club. I was perfectly serious when I said that she was the only one who could save him.”

The future was fickle like that. Kora hated it because it was so confusing. Radcliffe was right. In Daisy’s timeline, he had told her that taking away one regret could change someone’s entire life; one _decision_ now could change all of their futures. It didn’t even have to be a big one. Something as simple as Daisy and Lincoln deciding to kiss back at the base in the lab was enough to alter the path they were going down. 

Trip paused, adjusting the yoke to redirect their flight path. Then he said, “That was very brave, what you did.”

Kora looked at him. 

“For your sister. You really shouldn’t have,” he said.

“What, volunteering to save Sousa?” Kora asked, a little confused. “So that she could save Lincoln? Sousa’s like a big brother to me. The brother I never had.”

“Not that,” Trip said. “Although that too. I’m talking about stealing the cross necklace so that you can keep it away from your sister and Lincoln so that their chances of survival are higher.” He gave her a meaningful look as he said it.

Kora’s hand went to her throat. She hadn’t expected Trip to see it. She could deny it, of course, but she had literally just given herself away with that gesture. Damn spies. It was practically impossible to keep anything hidden from S.H.I.E.L.D. agents unless someone wanted to believe the lie. 

“Lincoln means everything to Daisy,” Kora said. “She lost him once...she can’t lose him again.”

In all of the future paths in which Lincoln died, Daisy was unconsolable. Some of them were so bad that Kora deliberately avoided thinking of them because of the amount of pain Daisy was in. Although she had lost Lincoln once, losing him a second time would destroy her completely. Even though the timeline versions of Lincoln were slightly different, Kora knew that both of them cared for each other a lot and that Daisy would see this as a second chance to save the man she loved. 

Trip shook his head, jarring Kora out of her dark thoughts. “You should give it to me,” he said.

“What?” Kora said, shocked, covering the cross necklace with her hand as if she could protect it that way. “No way!”

Trip shrugged. “I’m an enigma in this story. I wasn’t around in Daisy’s timeline when her team fought Hive, was I?” 

Kora bit her lip, not wanting to tell him the truth, but he saw the look on her face. 

He shook his head. “I’m alive now,” he said, correctly guessing the cause for his absence. “And maybe giving me the necklace will change the future.”

Kora hunched her shoulders, drawing into herself a little. “It doesn’t work that way. When Daisy and Deke were first time-travelling, they thought that their actions would change the future. It really doesn’t. It just creates an alternate timeline. Fitz was right. Spacetime exists. The future in this timeline is already determined, it’s just this timeline’s story. Which has both similarities and differences to the one that Daisy came from.”

“Huh,” Trip said. Kora’s statement left a lot to unpack. It wasn’t easy hearing that the future was already set in stone and that no one could change it, no matter how many waves they tried to create. “So what happens if people like Daisy are thrown in? From the original timeline?”

Kora shrugged. “It alters the future, but not in the same timeline. If that wasn’t the path that the timeline was originally intended down, then it creates an alternate version. But you wouldn’t know that unless you tried to go somewhere else from the point in time that you’re at.”

“Huh,” Trip repeated. “That’s...really something.”

Kora didn’t blame him for being confused. The timelines were a mess. And Kora was no Fitz, who could explain spacetime and going being alternate timelines, nor was she Deke, who had theories about the multiverse and the timestreams. At least Bobo and his grandson had something in common. 

“Uh huh,” Kora said, staring straight ahead at the clouds. Then she looked at him. “Scared off now?”

“Hardly,” Trip said with a wry grin and a wink, which made her heart race a little. “But on that note, you should still give me that necklace.”

Kora scoffed. “If I took it away from Deke, what makes you think I’d give it to you?”

“Deke had it first?” Trip asked. “I assumed you took it from Yo-Yo.” He pulled a face. “You guys are all self-sacrificing maniacs.” 

Kora pulled a face at him and he gave her a slight shrug. 

“You should still give it to me, Kora,” Trip said. “If Daisy can’t survive losing Lincoln, what makes you think she can survive losing you? You’re her _sister_.” He paused. “And while I don’t know all the details, Deke told me that you used to be on the bad side.” He held up both hands when she opened her mouth to explain. “I’m not judging. I don’t do that. I know that good people can do bad things and make mistakes. Ward’s one of my best mates and you just told me that he royally screwed up in Daisy’s timeline. Again, I don’t know the details. But I do know that you feel like you owe her and that’s part of why you’re doing everything you can to protect the men she loves.” He hesitated. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Kora felt her throat closing up. While she loved her sister and would do anything to help protect her, it _did_ go beyond that. There were many reasons that she was trying to save Daisy and Lincoln. Daisy hadn’t figured it out - neither had Sousa - but Kora did feel indebted to her sister. In addition to loving her as family. No one had ever guessed that truth, but then again, Kora hadn’t had many interactions with people aside from Daisy and Sousa. Certainly not deep conversations. 

“Daisy gave me a second chance,” she said quietly. “She didn’t know me, didn’t trust me…. Remember when you mentioned Ward? Well, he turned out to be Hydra and even after he ‘so-called turned over a new leaf’ and reunited Daisy with her dad, she still didn’t forgive him. She shot him in the side. Twice. Lethally. I was on the side of the man who had killed our mother and tried to kill her and she still gave me a second chance. She gave me a family. A chance at happiness with her and Sousa. I owe her everything.”

Trip looked thoughtful for a moment. “There’s a difference between giving someone a chance and owing her everything. Daisy wouldn’t want you to die for her.”

“I’m not trying to,” Kora assured him. “But I do want to help her. To save her from losing herself. And when she lost Lincoln...she lost herself. For a long time.”

“That makes sense,” Trip said. He was silent for a moment and then he grinned. “You think she’ll pick Lincoln?”

“You want to bet against the girl who’s seen the timestream?” Kora asked, grateful for a lighter topic. 

“Is that set in stone?” Trip asked curiously. “If Daisy and Lincoln both survive, that is, will they get together for sure?”

“Telling would be cheating,” Kora said, smirking and tossing her black hair back over her shoulder.

“Fine,” Trip said with a grin. “Then, seeing as you have the advantage, I get to pick who I think she chooses and you have to take the other side. Even if you disagree. Loser owes $20.”

“Deal,” Kora said, leaning forward, her elbow on her knee. “Who’d you pick? Lincoln or Sousa?”

“Lincoln,” Trip said immediately. “I have faith in my man.”

“Interesting,” Kora said, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.

“So?” Trip asked. “Do I owe you $20?”

“Telling takes the fun out of it,” Kora said. “I guess we’ll find out if/when they get together.”




Deke was back in the communications centre when, for the third time in less than two hours, his work on the time-travel device was interrupted yet again. This time, however, it wasn’t the dynamic duo, but just one of them. 

Lincoln.

“Hey, what’s up?” Deke asked, pulling out his earbuds yet again. At this rate, he shouldn’t even bother trying to put them in. Although he did think they were a good thing, because who knew what Daisy and Lincoln might be up to while they thought he wasn’t listening. “Where’s your other half?”

Lincoln smiled wryly. “She’s in contact with Trip and Kora. Sounds like Kora’s refusing to talk to her because she knows that she’ll get a hell of a scolding for taking the necklace.”

“I understand why she did it,” Deke said. “Heck, any of us would take that wretched necklace for each other. You did! Daisy basically did too when she died killing Nathaniel Malick.” 

Lincoln shook his head in amusement. “You have no idea the irony of what you just said.”

Deke looked at him. Lincoln pulled up a chair to sit down in, before explaining. “In Daisy’s timeline, Nathaniel Malick _was_ Hive. One of Hive’s hosts. So yes...when she died in space to save the team, killing Nathaniel Malick, it was essentially my death...five years later.”

Deke rubbed his forehead. “Good God. The next thing you’re going to be doing is telling me that _you_ were tortured by crazy Hydra doctors and that _Daisy_ saved your life.” 

A small smile started to cross Lincoln’s face.

“Wait,” Deke said. “That really happened? I was _joking_! Christ almighty.”

“Yeah, it happened,” Lincoln confirmed. 

Deke shook his head. “Okay then,” he said wryly. “I’m going to predict that she sat by your bedside in recovery every single day.” 

“It gets better,” Lincoln told him. “In addition to that, she also told Fitzsimmons that she wanted to bring me home...and there was also a Mike involved. Mine was Mike Peterson and hers was Mike Stephens.” 

“You lost me there,” Deke said, sighing. Then he sobered up. “Well, now it’s finally clear to me why she started liking Sousa. He reminded her of you.”

Deke had known that Daisy had still been in love with Lincoln two years after his death. When Mack had mentioned Lincoln's sister, Amanda, and Jemma had brought him up a year after Daisy had told him that she was still in love with him, it had been very clear to him that Daisy hadn't been over him. It made perfect sense that the one guy she would start something with, three years later, was one who reminded her, not physically, but certainly in character of her first true love whom she had lost. 

Lincoln’s smile faded. “I’m not...I’m not exclusively him, Deke,” he said. “I’ve got his memories, but I didn’t live them. I -”

“She just told me that she likes you for you,” Deke interrupted him. “And Kora told me that there was a 90% chance you guys kissed back in the lab so I’m wagering a guess that she told you that as well.”

Lincoln couldn’t suppress his smile at those words. Deke saw it and shook his head, hiding how pleased he was that he and Kora had bet correctly that the kiss had happened. 

“Don’t worry about it, Lincoln. She cares about you. A lot. _You_ you, not just him you.” He paused as a thought struck him. “Hang on. Do you like her?”

Lincoln gave him a look that implied that Deke was an idiot. 

Deke held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Geez, it was just a question,” he said. “I mean, I was pretty sure...but anyway, I like your reaction.” 

It was Lincoln’s turn to shake his head, but both guys were smiling. After a momentary silence, Deke spoke again. 

“How are you doing?” he asked, causing Lincoln to look at him at the serious tone in his voice. “I mean, with the memories, with Daisy, with Hive’s return….. Daisy told me that the memories are confusing you and if this is triggering for you in any way...like PTSD or something, you should tell me. Not just because I’m your director, but because I’m your friend. Or at the very least, tell Daisy because she probably understands this entire situation better than I do.”

“Thank you,” Lincoln said. Deke was family to him...even though it was weird that they had both been in love with Daisy at some point in their lives. Then again, S.H.I.E.L.D. was always weird. It would be strange if things _weren’t_ so bizarre. 

He sighed. “It’s...it’s complicated. The whole situation, I mean. It’s...it’s a mess...but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I finally...I finally feel complete. The Inhuman void that all Inhumans have...it finally feels filled. I feel whole.” 

Deke glanced at him. He _had_ noticed that Lincoln seemed more complete with Daisy around, but he was glad that Lincoln was bringing it up; it wasn’t just in Deke’s head. Deke didn’t know what the emptiness inside Inhumans felt like, or if it was dependent on someone else filling it, but either way, Deke wasn’t complaining that Lincoln was feeling more whole. 

Deke smirked. “It’s _her_ , isn’t it,” he said, but it was a statement, not a question.

Before Lincoln could respond, their conversation was interrupted by a slight tapping on the door. It was Daisy.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But we’re nearing Bucharest and we should go over our game plan for getting to Radcliffe.”

Deke suppressed his laughter with difficulty. First Lincoln interrupting his and Daisy’s conversation about Daisy’s feelings for Lincoln and now the situation was reversed. He might as well be the team therapist for romantic couples.

Deke didn’t know if Daisy had overheard his and Lincoln’s conversation. Her expression was unreadable, but as she entered the room, she sat down next to Lincoln, slightly closer than Deke thought she needed to be. 

“Did you get the invites to the Transhumanists’ Club?” Deke asked Daisy.

She nodded. “Last time, Fitzsimmons got an audience with Radcliffe by trying to sell him eye technology, but he thought that they were Hydra because of it. We should probably use something else if we want to avoid getting taken prisoner...but maybe it doesn’t matter because as long as we reach Radcliffe, we can take him into our protection.”

“Are we going to kidnap Radcliffe?” Lincoln asked Deke. “If we can’t convince him to come with us willingly?” 

Deke nodded. “If that’s what it takes.” He paused. “Radcliffe was the one who originally created the Framework, right, Daisy?”

“Fitzsimmons and Aida helped him, but essentially yes,” Daisy said. “Why?”

“He’s not a good guy,” Deke surmised, knowing what he had to convince the Inhumans to do. Sometimes they had to do the unpredictable in order to change the future. Deke knew that one all too well. “I’ve heard enough about how you guys were fighting LMDs and Aida and struggling to escape a digital world where Hydra ruled the world and Inhumans were being hunted, experimented and killed. So...if it’s the only way to prevent Hive from getting him...you two should kill him.”

There was dead silence for a moment, none of them saying anything. Both Daisy and Lincoln were staring at Deke, trying to judge how serious he was in his admission. When it was clear that he wasn’t joking, Lincoln spoke up. 

“Deke, we’re not going to do that,” Lincoln protested. “He’s innocent!”

“For now,” Deke said pointedly. “Daisy knows what I’m talking about. She wanted me to shoot Freddy Malick as a boy, a teenager, because he would grow up to father Gideon and Nathaniel Malick, one of whom brought back Hive and the other of whom _was_ Hive, simply because it would spare your life. If you two kill Radcliffe, you’ll save hundreds of lives.”

“But you didn’t do it,” Lincoln argued. “You spared him.”

“And look at what’s happened!” Deke retorted. “First the entire Nathaniel Malick disaster with the wretched Chronicoms, now this! All our lives are at stake _again_! If I had killed Freddy like I was supposed to, way back when, none of this would have happened.”

“Then we’d be living on Chronyca-3!” Lincoln protested. “You guys would never have stopped Sibyl and the Chronicoms.”

“You say that now,” Deke warned. “But when the time comes that Daisy’s life is in danger, you would do anything to protect her.” 

Up until now, Daisy had been silent; Lincoln turned to look at her. Her brow was furrowed and stress was standing out all over her face. 

“Daisy?” Lincoln’s voice was questioning, primarily concerned. 

She met his gaze, her eyes bleak. “It’s true,” she confessed. “I asked Deke to kill Freddy Malick because of you. I hoped if he did, then Hive wouldn’t return and you wouldn’t die.”

Her emotions were high on the surface. She reached out for his hand, but Lincoln’s eyes were troubled by her admission; she dropped her arm halfway. 

“Lincoln, I was trying to protect you,” she said, the tremble in her voice ever so slight, but present. 

Lincoln didn’t say anything or move for a minute and then he sighed, reaching out to her. She let him take her hand; their fingers interlaced, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on her skin. They were almost too close for Deke’s comfort, but for once, he subsided and let them do their thing. After the conversations he had just had with both of them, the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt this moment. And if that meant sitting like an awkward third wheel, he was going to remain silent and let them figure their feelings out. 

Even though when they sorted it out, he was still going to insist that they kill Radcliffe if the choice came down to Hive taking him or not. 

“Daisy, I understand,” Lincoln said. “Better than almost anyone, I think. I’m the one who threatened to torture Alisha just to get you back. I know exactly what it’s like to do anything for someone you care about. To be so addicted to something, you'd do anything to get her back. Deke’s right about that. But while I was threatening to hurt Alisha...it was a threat. It was wrong. I know that. I don't think I would have killed her, but I guess we'll never know. I was desperate. I went overboard. But while we have to do something to prevent the future from happening...we have to try to still do the right thing. We can’t lose ourselves in the process. Radcliffe is still innocent right now. You know that.” 

Daisy looked at him, seeing the tension and anxiety in his blue eyes, but also seeing the struggle to do the right thing, seeing the concern about his old timeline self mixing with his new one. He was right. Maybe it wasn't what they had always done - Mack certainly wouldn't approve of the road they were going down - but it was one of those impossible choices. What would she do to save someone she loved? She didn't know. Radcliffe wasn’t a good guy, but he _was_ currently innocent. Different timelines, different people. She couldn’t kill Radcliffe because of something he might do in the future. Although she had wanted Deke to kill Freddy Malick to save Lincoln, Lincoln himself was living, walking proof that different timelines had different versions of people. Kora too, was proof of this. Even though it was highly likely that Radcliffe would, in fact, create Hive’s Absolution virus and could possibly create the Framework as well, she knew that different timelines created different people. If she could accept Lincoln as who he was in this timeline, then she could accept that Radcliffe might not be the same guy who would eventually create the Framework and indirectly be responsible for Jeffrey Mace and a whole ton of other agents’ deaths. Slowly, even though her emotions were in whack - for once not about Lincoln and Sousa - she nodded. 

“Yeah,” she said softly. 

Then she reached out with her free arm and wrapped it around his neck for a hug; he let go of her hand to hug her back, pulling her closer, even though they were still sitting in their chairs. Despite the fact that Deke was sitting not five feet away, Daisy couldn’t bring herself to care. It just felt right. 


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Yet another loud beeping interrupted Daisy and Lincoln’s moment; Deke got up to go over to one of his control panels. Upon glancing at the computer, he grimaced, looking back over his shoulder at Daisy and Lincoln, who had broken apart by this time. 

“Daisy, I’m sorry, I meant to tell you this sooner,” Deke said. “I thought I’d have more time, but I guess it never works that way anymore. Now I’m just going to ask you to stay quiet while I take this call. You too, Lincoln. I’ll explain everything later. Or maybe Lincoln will. Either way, please just trust me.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln, but it was clear from his face that he also had no idea what Deke was talking about. The way he was talking, she had a pretty good feeling that she wasn’t going to like whatever his explanation was going to be. However, it really wasn’t the time to argue, so she subsided, chewing on the skin of one of her fingers, her other arm in a fist, supporting her elbow.

Deke pressed a button on the panel in front of him and Daisy almost gasped out loud when she saw a familiar face appear on the screen. Thankfully, she stopped herself in time; from the angle of the camera, both she and Lincoln were out of sight of the screen, although they could still hear what was going on. Regardless, she had a pretty good feeling Deke wanted them to be an invisible presence in the room since he had asked them to be quiet. 

“Doctor Johnson, so good to see you,” Deke said. “You got my message?”

“Hello to you too, Deke,” Doctor Johnson, aka Daisy’s father from the original timeline, said. “Yes, I did. You want me to contact my colleague, Radcliffe, and get two of your agents special access to him tonight at the Transhumanists’ Club?”

Daisy felt like she was going to throw up. While she knew her father in the original timeline, he had no idea who she was; they had wiped his memories thanks to the T.A.H.I.T.I. program. Now here was another version of her father, who also had no idea who she was, but was possibly working for S.H.I.E.L.D.. At any rate, he knew Deke. And judging from the greeting that he had given Deke, Daisy could tell that he wasn’t the compassionate, animal-loving vet whom she knew in her timeline. The only thing that was going to make this day any more of an emotional trainwreck would be if her father had somehow managed to have another daughter in this timeline, _ another _ half-sister of hers. 

“Yes,” Deke said. “And you know one of those agents. He’s your former student. Lincoln Campbell.”

Stunned, Daisy turned to look at Lincoln, the sting of betrayal almost overwhelming the shock at seeing her father again. He had known. He had known that her father was alive in this timeline and was working with S.H.I.E.L.D.. He had even studied under him! The accusation in her eyes was enough to make Lincoln hold up his hands in a placating gesture, mouthing the words, “I can explain,” at her.

“Raina’s protegee,” Doctor Johnson was saying as Daisy turned her attention back to the screen, her arms now tightly folded over her chest. “He’s one of the lucky ones. He looks just the same after Terrigenesis. Raina, on the other hand….”

“Her transformation was drastic,” Deke agreed. “But she’s still the same person. She’s just different now.”

Although Daisy appreciated Deke’s attitude towards Inhumans - Fitz had told her almost the exact same thing when she had first undergone Terrigenesis - she was still furious at both him and Lincoln for keeping this secret from her. At least Deke hadn’t told her father that Raina had been swayed. In all fairness, that was a good thing. The last thing any of them wanted was for the government to think that all Inhumans couldn’t be trusted.

“Hmm,” Doctor Johnson said. “I’m presuming there’s another reason why you wanted me to call? Something other than contacting Radcliffe?”

Deke nodded. “Lincoln has the latest samples of the Inhuman vaccine that Raina was working on. Are they the updated ones that you have?”

If Daisy had been feeling betrayed before, that was nothing on how she was feeling now. The Inhuman vaccine! Lincoln knew how she felt about the vaccine and he had worked on it? He should have told her, even though she respected his decision to work on it if he wanted. After the whole Hive debacle...if a vaccine could take away his powers, she wouldn’t be against it, even though she knew that if it ended up in the hands of the government, it would be a disaster. She rounded on Lincoln, glaring daggers at him with her eyes, but he shook his head at her. While they could sometimes communicate simply by looking at each other, now was not one of those times. In addition to feeling betrayed, she now felt confused by his denial. What was he trying to say? 

“Yes,” Doctor Johnson said. “We last spoke about them yesterday. You want me to bargain with Radcliffe for an audience with two of your agents and for them to ask him for his insight on the vaccine? That’s a big favour, Deke...drinks will be on you next time.”

“Deal,” Deke said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But...there’s just one other thing.”

Doctor Johnson flared his nostrils on the screen. “There always is with you. What is it this time?”

Now Daisy was feeling really confused. What sort of position did her father hold that enabled him to speak to Deke that way? Was he some sort of...high-ranking doctor working for the U.S. government instead of S.H.I.E.L.D.? 

“My second agent going tonight isn’t a doctor and has no reputation within the medical field,” Deke said. “Radcliffe won’t know her. Can you tell him she’s your daughter or your niece or something? They’ll believe it because she resembles you a little and she’ll be with Lincoln.”

Daisy couldn’t believe her ears. She was going to have to pretend to be her father’s daughter, which she actually was, and play nice with Holden Radcliffe, via the Inhuman vaccine. She couldn’t believe the situation Deke was putting her in. Without asking her first! When Deke hung up the call, he was going to have the wrath of the Destroyer of Worlds on his head.

“I don’t have any children,” Doctor Johnson grumbled. “But I’m sure you and your agents can fabricate something. I’m presuming you already have invitations to the Club. Invites there should be a piece of cake to that Miles boy you have.”

“We do have invites,” Deke assured him, deliberately concealing the fact that Daisy had been the one to get them, not Miles. He clearly didn’t want to alert Daisy’s father to the fact that Miles was currently under Katya’s influence in the Badlands. “All we need is for you to help us get a private audience with Radcliffe and let him know that Daisy - my second agent going tonight - is related to you in some fashion.”

“Fine,” Doctor Johnson said. “Next  _ two _ meetups will be paid by you, Deke.”

“Deal,” Deke repeated. “Let me know when it’s done.” 

Doctor Johnson signed out of the call and the second the screen went black, Daisy rounded on Deke, her emotions on the surface yet again. She hadn’t felt this left in the dark in absolutely ages. Coulson had always been on the surface with his team...in fact, one of the few times she had felt in the dark was when Hand had been in charge of Ward and Fitz’s mission. Seeing as Deke was director, it made sense that he kept some things from his subordinates, but still, this was something that she had a right to know about. 

“What. The. Hell,” she said, standing up. “Deke, seriously? You’re in contact with my father and you never told me? He’s not like he is in my timeline. He’s more like...oh, I don’t know, Alistair Fitz in the flipping Framework!”

While Deke didn’t know all the details of the Framework, it was clear by Daisy’s tone that she didn’t approve of the person her father was. The mention of the name ‘Fitz’ was enough to make Deke angry in return, even though he didn’t know who his great-grandfather was. 

“Well, you never told me about Alya,” Deke snapped back. “Guess that makes us even.”

That stung. Since they were at a stalemate, Daisy rounded on Lincoln instead.

“And you! You knew!” she accused him. “You worked with him. On the Inhuman vaccine? And you didn’t tell me? You lied to me. I  _ trusted _ you.” Her voice almost cracked on the last word; she repressed it. 

Lincoln stood up as well, holding his hands out in a defensive position. “Daisy, I never worked with him on the vaccine!” he protested. “Raina did. And yes, I did study under him briefly while I was at the Academy, but it was on Inhuman biology only. He and Raina are the world’s experts on Inhumans. To be taught by both of them...it’s almost unheard of. Deke engineered it for me. But it honestly didn’t register until now.” His voice lost its defensive tone and became more anxious, more concerned. “I didn’t realize...I’m sorry. I would have told you if I’d remembered. I know how you feel about the vaccine. I swear, I would have told you. My memories...I’m trying, Daisy.”

As he spoke, for the first time since Daisy had met him, involuntary sparks flickered along his fingers. All at once, all Daisy’s anger towards Lincoln vanished. She knew what that meant. She knew instantly that his memories were confusing him so much that he was close to losing control. And she knew that him not telling her hadn’t been voluntary. 

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said, all her anger towards him gone in a flash. “I’m sorry I got a little malintent-” She cut herself off when she realized what she’d said. “Oh crap.”

Lincoln looked at her with concerned eyes, realized why she had stopped talking and shook his head. “Okay,” he said. “We really are screwed.”

“We’re going in circles,” Daisy muttered, slumping into a chair. She didn’t even know what order of events they were at now. They had started with the calling in of the Secret Warriors, then gone to the rescue from the Hydra base, the sway and losing Lash, then all the way back to before Lincoln’s Cocoon assessment, then forward again to spacetime. When she had finally thought that they were on track with dealing with Radcliffe, they rewound all the way back again to when Lincoln was on the run from the ATCU with Deke as Lincoln, and now they were back again at Lincoln’s pre-Cocoon assessment. Not to mention that there was the added confusion of jumping back to Katya Belyakov and then forward all the way to Fitz sending them a message from the past. Or maybe it was the future this time. Whatever. It was way too confusing. The timeline was seriously screwed. All day they had been joking about Sousa’s statement about the timeline being screwed, but he was right. The timeline was a mess.

Sighing, she said to Lincoln, “So let me get this straight. In this timeline, you worked under my dad briefly? First Jiaying, now Cal...geez, my family really can never leave you alone.”

Lincoln gave her a helpless shrug. “I didn’t orchestrate it.”

“Not saying you did,” Daisy said, sighing again heavily. Then she rounded on Deke, whom she was still furious at. “Deke, tonight you seriously want me to pretend to be my father’s daughter, which is a freaking paradox in and of itself, and attempt to get advice on the flipping Inhuman vaccine from Holden freaking Radcliffe? You have  _ got _ to be kidding.”

Deke frowned at her. “It’s the best way to get you through to Radcliffe. He’ll be expecting both of you and you’ll get a private audience with him regardless of any technology that you bring to try to impress him with. Then you’ll be able to bring him into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.”

Deke had a really good point, but Daisy was still not appeased. She was still frustrated with his earlier outburst about killing Radcliffe if it came down to that. Additionally, having to pretend to be her father’s daughter when she really was his daughter in another timeline was just messed up. 

“Let’s get this straight,” she said. “Yo-Yo is downstairs. She’s been swayed. Would you kill her to prevent one of us dying in space? She’s family. Even though she’s a different version of Yo-Yo. She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know you. Would you kill her?”

“Of course not!” Deke protested, not sure where they were going with this train of conversation.

“Tonight are you going to make Daisy and I wear murder vests?” Lincoln interrupted. “And be prepared to push the button if we get swayed as well? Because that’s what Coulson made me do in the original timeline when I insisted that I stay in the field to try and save Daisy after she got swayed.”

Daisy turned to Lincoln. “Coulson made you wear what now?” she demanded.

“A murder vest,” Lincoln said. “They were made of nanothermites and May had the detonator. Coulson ordered her to push the trigger if I got swayed.”

“If Coulson weren’t already dead,  _ I’d _ murder him,” Daisy muttered darkly, her mind reeling. She hadn’t known that; neither Coulson nor May had told her. As much as she loved Coulson, that was way out of line. “Hypocrite! I’m betting he wasn’t willing to kill  _ me _ even though I’d been swayed.”

The look on Lincoln’s face was enough of an answer. 

“To be fair,” Lincoln said, “You were the closest thing Coulson had to a daughter. And he didn’t always like me. I later accused him and May of wanting me to die so that the three of you could go back to being ‘one small messed up family’ again.”

“Neither of you are wearing murder vests!” Deke interrupted before Daisy could respond. 

“Well, at least this Dad approves of me,” Daisy muttered under her breath, before realizing what she’d said. Oops. Ah well. She’d said it. All three of them knew that Deke was essentially Lincoln’s father, so it wasn’t like she’d said anything that they didn’t already know. It was just that she was clearly associating herself as Lincoln’s...significant other, when nothing had been defined between them. All three of them knew that there was  _ something _ going on between her and Lincoln, but what it was, none of them knew.

“The long and short of it is,” Lincoln said, glancing briefly at Daisy before turning his attention back to Deke. “Neither Daisy nor I are killing Radcliffe because of something he might do under coercion in the future. Besides, he wasn’t that bad of a guy. The Framework wasn’t intended to become hell. It was initially a simulation, then it became a virtual reality. It was only when Aida took over that it became a Hydra hell. And he only created Aida because I died and he wanted there to be LMDs - Life Model Decoys - to prevent another tragedy.” 

“And he saved our lives in the Framework,” Daisy added. “He got Fitz to go to the exit portal and he got Mack and Yo-Yo to leave after Mack initially refused because of Hope. He saved their lives. He had good intentions, Deke. He truly thought that his creation would bring peace and give people a chance at living past their deaths in the real world.”

Deke heaved a sigh at their revelation. “Okay, okay,” he said. “You’re both right. It was the wrong thing to try to make you guys do.” He sighed. “You two don’t understand. There’s something...it’s complicated.” 

Daisy and Lincoln exchanged confused glances. Neither of them knew why Deke was so highly strung. It appeared to be something more than just their lives at risk. As much as both of them cared about Deke and Deke cared about them, there seemed to be something else that he wasn’t telling them.

“What is it?” Lincoln asked. “You can tell us, Deke. You can trust us. You know that.” He paused. “Or if you find it weird coming to us...talk to someone else. Ward, maybe. He gives good advice. Better advice than Miles and Hunter, that’s for sure.”

Deke gave them a wry smile. “I’ll have to talk to someone about it soon,” he admitted. “But first...can I borrow your medical computer, Lincoln? I need to run some tests.”




Zephyr Two touched down in South Dakota, a far enough distance from James’ trailer so that he couldn’t see them coming; the Zephyr was cloaked, but they still didn’t want to take any chances. Kora unbuckled her belt quickly and stood up, eager to get out of the plane and rescue Sousa and the others. Trip caught her wrist as she was turning to go.

“Listen, Kora, don’t do anything reckless out there,” Trip warned. “This Inhuman...I know you’ve seen the timestream so you probably know what she’s capable of, but she sounds incredibly dangerous. Don’t underestimate her.”

Kora glanced down at his hand, feeling a jolt in her stomach at the contact. It was a sensation that she hadn’t felt in a while; the last time she’d experienced what she thought was romantic attraction, well...that had been the connection that she’d _ thought _ she’d had with Nathaniel Malick. That had been a disaster. This, thankfully, was very different. 

“And don’t you go playing the hero,” Kora teased, trying to make light of the situation. She started walking towards the staircase that would lead to the exit ramp; Trip scrambled out of his seatbelt to follow her. 

Trip caught her arm as they reached the lower deck, spinning her around to face him. “I’m serious,” he said, his dark eyes boring into hers. “Don’t be reckless out there.”

Kora met his gaze. “I won’t be, if you won’t,” she said seriously. Then her tone became more teasing again. “Plus, how can I cash in on my bet if you die?”

Trip raised an eyebrow. “So you’re saying my boy Lincoln doesn’t get the girl?” he teased. “Damn, I was so sure he was going to.” 

Kora laughed. “Again, not telling.” She turned and opened the weapons box that he had brought, grabbing a gun and strapping it in a holster around her waist. Who knew if she might need it? “Do we need to bring weapons for Ward?”

“Yep,” Trip said, grabbing a rifle and several splinter bombs. “Get what you think you need...even though you’re a weapon in and of itself.”

Kora smirked at the compliment, taking two splinter bombs as well and adding them to her pockets. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” Trip said, holding a hand out in front of her to stop her. 

Kora raised an eyebrow skeptically, but her heart started racing. Was he going to…?

“Give me the cross necklace,” Trip said.

Kora scowled, trying to avoid the disappointment that she was feeling. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t wanted to kiss her. She wasn’t Daisy, who attracted the attention of basically every guy she encountered who wasn’t already involved in someone else. Or even those who  _ were _ involved with someone else. She was Kora.

“No,” Kora said, zipping up her pocket deliberately. “Especially not while you’re wearing that.”

She nodded to his S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket.

Trip looked down at his jacket. “Was this what the agent was wearing in the Quinjet?”

Kora nodded. 

“Damn,” Trip said. “Everyone has one of these. Ward’s probably wearing one now. Lincoln had one on earlier…. Miles and Hunter too.” He paused. “You’re wearing one too. Take it off!”

Kora raised an eyebrow at him. “I will if you will,” she said.

“If you wanted a look at my bod, all you had to do was ask,” Trip teased, flexing his muscles as he stripped off his jacket.

Kora shoved him, but she had a pretty good feeling she was blushing under her shield of black hair. She shrugged off her own jacket, taking the necklace out of the pocket and pushing it into the pocket of her jeans instead. 

“Come on, Kora, give me the necklace,” Trip said, his tone more serious now. “You know Daisy wouldn’t want you to die for her. She was in my ear for ages, trying to convince/threaten me to put you on the line with her. She loves you.” 

“I’m doing this  _ for _ Daisy,” Kora said firmly, although her heart was racing at his willingness to put his life before hers. Not that it meant anything really...he had died for Daisy in the original timeline and he hadn't had any romantic feelings for her. “It’s what sisters do for each other. They protect each other.” 

Trip looked at her for a moment longer and then dropped his gaze. “Okay,” he said seriously. “But if we see a nuke any time soon, I’m tackling you and stealing that necklace.”

Kora turned, so that he wouldn’t see her smiling. As he headed down the ramp, Kora grabbed his arm. 

“Trip - thanks,” she said. “It means a lot.” 

She tried to put more emotion into those words, but she could already tell from the look on his face that he understood what she was trying to tell him. He smiled. 

“Any time.”

The duo hurried out of Zephyr Two and followed the same path that Daisy and Lincoln had taken in the original timeline and that Lincoln and Bobbi had taken in the alternate one. It didn’t take them long; they reached the barbed link fences that surrounded the trailer not five minutes after they left the Zephyr. There, they found Ward, crouched behind the Quinjet that he had landed near the trailer. 

“Hey,” Ward said grimly. He was aiming a sniper rifle at the trailer, carefully watching for any movement through the magnifying scope. The dried blood was gone from his face, but he looked tense and anxious, muscles locked into position. Watching the house all alone while his friends were inside and under Katya’s influence was taking a toll on him. 

“Hey,” Kora said and Trip nodded at him. 

“Are they inside?” Trip asked.

“Yeah,” Ward said. “I’ve been watching the house nonstop since the attack. Well, except for when I contacted you guys. From what I can tell, Miles, Hunter and Sousa are inside, but so is Katya. I haven’t seen anyone else, and there’s been no outside movement since they disabled the landmines.”

The landmines being gone was a strange tactic. Technically they were good protection, since Katya’s power came from physical contact. With the landmines disabled, if Kora got within her blasting range, Katya was as good as gone. She wasn’t sure what the strategy behind removing the explosives was, but whatever the reason, it couldn’t be good. 

“Great,” Kora said, not sure whether she was being sarcastic or not. “Although I must say, I can give her a better burn than any explosive.”

Ward shook his head. “If you can get a clear shot at her without killing the guys, have at it,” he said. “But I have a feeling that they might be waiting for that. If one of the guys jumps in the way...they wouldn’t survive it.”

While Ward hadn’t seen much of her powers, she guessed that he  _ had _ seen her and Daisy destroy the missiles that had been after Zephyr One. He was right though. Aside from Daisy, possibly Lincoln and definitely Hive, Kora didn’t think anyone could survive being hit by one of her blasts if she decided to let loose a killing shot. 

“What’s the layout like inside?” Trip asked, shouldering his own rifle. 

“Single trailer, some furniture, a Terrigen husk,” Ward said. “Honestly, I was just lucky to get out. I think Katya’s abilities affect others through physical contact. After the Terrigen crystal broke, I fled and while the guys were likely freaking out about possibly dying, she grabbed them. I saw her get Miles before I got out of there. She might not be Hive, but she’s one hell of a powerful Inhuman.” 

Ward was right. Many Inhumans had strong powers, but Katya’s were mental, not physical, unlike Kora, Daisy and Lincoln. If Katya had another Inhuman there who had a physical power as well, this was not going to be an easy fight.

“Are you sure James is gone?” Kora asked uneasily. She didn’t think that Hive would leave Katya alone with three hostages, especially if they were bait. Maybe Alisha was around. But in the original timeline, both James and Alisha had been at the Transhumanists’ Club. Then again, this hostage situation and Katya herself hadn’t happened in the original timeline...not at this moment in time. Either way, fighting James would be like fighting herself. Her powers bridged the gap between James and Lincoln. 

“I didn’t see him,” Ward said. “But he could still be around. There could even be an Inhuman with invisibility that we don’t know about.”

Kora screwed up her face. “That would...suck. I don’t know any Inhumans who have that power...but then again, there was no record of any Inhumans with precognition and then look what happened. Raina, Charles, Robin, all in one go! Within like...four years of each other! Although…,” she added thoughtfully. “None of them overlapped.”

“Why does that matter?” Ward asked. 

“The equilibrium in the species,” Kora reminded him. “The whole Yin Yang thing about Inhuman powers. Each of us is given the powers that we have because we’re supposed to balance out the species. Which means that Charles got death prediction because Raina was dead and Robin got chrono vision because her father was gone. Huh. I didn’t think of that before.”

“What are you trying to say?” Trip asked. “Is there an imbalance in the species because you and Lincoln are co-existing?”

Kora turned to stare at him. That hadn’t been what she’d been saying at all. And now she was confused, but what Trip was saying seemed to make some sort of sense. 

“What...what?” she asked, bemused. 

Trip frowned. “Am I wrong? I mean...it’s just that you and Lincoln seem to have really similar powers. I don’t even know who restarted the power at the base. Both of you could have done that.” 

As he spoke, Kora realized something she had never thought of before.

“Oh my God,” she said, turning around and leaning against the wall of the Quinjet. “Oh my God, you’re right.”

“About what?” Ward asked, still staring at the trailer through the magnifying lens on his sniper rifle. “And why is this important?”

Kora closed her eyes. “Damn,” she breathed. “That makes perfect sense. It makes perfect freaking sense and I didn’t realize it earlier. I should have. I really should have. You’re right, Trip. You’re freaking right.”

“Kora, calm down,” Trip said, grabbing her hands; she was on the verge of panicking. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Kora stared at him, her eyes bleak and worried. “In the original timeline, I died in 1983. Lincoln was born in 1985 and he got electricity powers because I was dead,” she said. “In this timeline, I left it in 1983. Lincoln was still born in 1985, but he got electricity powers because I wasn’t around anymore. In the timeline I went to, Lincoln had already died in 2016. It was fine. Still balanced. But now...Jesus. No wonder Jiaying was fond of him. We both almost burned down Afterlife several times, we have similar gifts…. When she saved him from himself, she saw him as the representation of the daughter whom she had failed to save. And when Daisy showed up, of  _ course _ she chose him to be Daisy’s transitioner and protector. No wonder she was happy with them...connecting. Even though it was before the start of their official relationship. Whatever. Details. She saw me in  _ both _ of them. Although that is...completely unimportant right now. Anyway...now Lincoln and I are both alive and in this timeline. We’re throwing off the balance in the species. If one of us doesn’t leave this timeline soon...I think one of us is going to die.” 


	25. Episode 7: Definitely Still Am - Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, so I mentioned that I would be trying to make a third trailer. I am happy to let you all know that it has been made and will be posted fairly soon (after a few more chapters because of spoilers HAHA). AND, to make matters even more exciting, I will even be making a fourth trailer (it is halfway completed) and will be posted some time after Trailer 3!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!! 
> 
> However, to tide us all over in the meantime, I have been creating fan-art based on the Fallen Agent pod. I have posted the first one on Instagram already and will continue to post them there and put the link here so that you guys can hopefully enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed making them! 😊 And while this first one is one you may already have seen, the next few will be new, trust me! 😊😊😊
> 
> Enjoy! https://www.instagram.com/p/CGy1ukclTBI/

**Episode 7: Definitely Still Am**

**Chapter 25**

Daisy and Lincoln walked through the front door of the Transhumanists’ Club, Daisy with her arm looped through Lincoln’s. After Doctor Johnson had gotten back to Deke with his confirmation at their private audience with Radcliffe, Deke had insisted that Daisy act the part of the wealthier elite, seeing as that was the position her father was in. Hence, the “escort”. Doctor Johnson’s daughter would never be without one, even if said escort was her father’s former student.

“Wow,” Lincoln said, his eyes scanning the crowd, taking in the patrons decked out in their finery, complete with their enhancements. Unlike Daisy, he had never seen the Transhumanists’ Club in the original timeline; it was nice to see him surprised about something for once. “They have so many enhancements...Deathlok would fit right in here.”

Daisy laughed, tucking a strand of her brown-blonde hair behind her ear. “I’m guessing you can sense the electronics?” she asked.

“Yeah, and there’s enough in their bodies to light up a Christmas tree,” Lincoln noted. “Can you tell where they are with vibrations?”

“Not without revealing the vibrations,” Daisy admitted. “Although that’s something I should probably work on.”

“I wish one of you was wearing backscatter glasses,” Deke grumbled through the earpieces that they had in their ears, reminding both Daisy and Lincoln that their conversation wasn’t private. “It would be safer. I’d be able to see what’s going on as well.”

“Uh, no,” Lincoln said. “Radcliffe would know instantly what they are...Daisy said that the eye technology was what alerted Radcliffe to the fact that Fitzsimmons were spies in her timeline. And he already knows that I, at least, am an agent, so that wouldn’t go down well. I can sense where the electronics are already, plus, I don’t really want to be able to see them all naked. That would be...TMI.”

“You’re a doctor,” Daisy teased. “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen women naked before.”

Their eyes met and Daisy realized all at once what he meant. For the most part of the evening, he would be looking at her. Whoops. Not that he hadn’t seen her naked before...but that was the other timeline version of him, not this timeline’s version of him. Yep, nope, she really needed to think first and speak later. 

“I’m not that kind of doctor,” Lincoln said, casually attempting to cover their faux pas, as they walked further into the club; Deke snorted in amusement and both of them ignored him. “Anyway-”

He was cut off by a young woman approaching them. Daisy instantly recognized her as Anon, Radcliffe’s assistant, and she turned her head slightly towards Lincoln, murmuring, “Anon,” in a low voice before the woman reached them, at the same time as Deke said in both of their ears, “Anon. Radcliffe’s assistant. She has a cybernetically-enhanced arm.”

“Doctor Campbell, I presume?” Anon said, holding out a hand to Lincoln. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’m Anon, Doctor Radcliffe’s assistant. I have heard many things about you from Doctors Radcliffe and Johnson.”

Lincoln covered his surprise well, shaking her hand. He was an agent first and doctor second, although Daisy supposed that his reputation in the medical field had to be similar to Fitz or Simmons’ from her timeline. “All good things, I hope,” he joked, flashing Anon a disarming smile; Daisy felt an irrational flicker of jealousy in her stomach at the necessary ruse.

“Indeed,” Anon said, looking at Lincoln with flirtatious eyes. “And I must say, you are much more attractive in person than in your picture.”

Lincoln _was_ very good-looking, but Daisy didn’t appreciate the reminder from Anon, who was beautiful and elegant in her own way. Daisy cleared her throat and Lincoln smiled at her, gesturing her forward. 

“Darling, don’t be upset. You know you’re the one for me,” he said, meeting her gaze; the intensity in his eyes made her shiver on the inside. Formally, Lincoln took her hand and brushed his lips over her skin; Daisy felt the tingle of electricity run through her veins, whether from his powers or not, she couldn’t tell. She almost hoped it was his powers; if it wasn’t and it was just his presence...well, she was definitely feeling the effects of him. 

Lincoln turned back to Anon. “Anon, meet Miss Daisy Johnson. She’s Doctor Johnson’s daughter and my fiancee.” 

Oh. That hadn’t been planned, not that Daisy disliked the idea. They had agreed that Lincoln would be her escort and that they would be ‘together’, for lack of a better word, but being engaged hadn’t been something that had come up. While it _was_ a reminder of her mission in the Krazy Kanoe with Sousa where he had pretended to be her fiancee to get Gideon Malick off her back, it was still...reassuring that he was using her to ward off Anon’s advances. Especially since the last thing she wanted was Anon thinking she had a chance with Lincoln.

Anon’s features stiffened slightly. “Ah. Doctor Radcliffe did not mention that you two are...together,” she said. “But it is nice to meet you as well, Miss Johnson.”

She gave Daisy a more stilted smile than the one that she had given Lincoln; Daisy attempted one in response, trying to look like a woman who was irritated with another woman flirting with her man. It wasn’t hard. 

At that, Anon turned, gesturing for them to follow her.

“If you will come with me,” she said. “Doctor Radcliffe has set up a private space for the three of you to talk.”

“Thank you,” Lincoln said; as he and Daisy continued further into the Club, he continued speaking to Anon, while Daisy kept her attention on their surroundings, making note of the exits and patrons. While she didn’t have Lincoln’s ability to sense if they were toting weapons at a distance, there were a _lot_ of people there. And, given how this was the Transhumanists’ Club, she had a pretty good feeling that a lot of them were armed. 

Anon led them into the secret elevator that had been in the original timeline, but took them down a different route than the one that Daisy had traversed the previous time. Instead of taking them into a clinical room, she brought them into a much fancier underground room with a crystal chandelier, antique sofas, bookshelves and cabinets of antiques and jewellery.

Doctor Radcliffe was nowhere in sight.

“The doctor will be along shortly,” Anon said. “Drinks?” She picked up a tray of champagne glasses from a nearby table.

“Thank you,” Lincoln said, accepting a glass each for both of them; Daisy took hers from him, but merely pretended to sip while she was turning to survey the room with the appearance of one of the wealthy elite. Getting tipsy was not advisable tonight, especially since Hive was likely to make an appearance at some point. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of her and Simmons’ night at Kitson and who knew what kind of drugs might be lacing the alcohol. 

“This is a beautiful room,” Daisy said, attempting some small talk with Anon. “Is this exclusively for Doctor Radcliffe’s usage, or is this a special privilege from the Club?”

Anon raised a beautifully manicured eyebrow at her. “Doctor Radcliffe is a generous patron of the Club,” she said coolly. “The room is his to use as he wishes.”

“Oh burn,” Deke muttered in Daisy’s ear as she plastered a false smile on her face. “She does _not_ like you.”

By this time, Anon had turned her back on Daisy, focusing her attention on Lincoln. “Doctor Radcliffe tells me that you’re Inhuman,” she said airly. “Could you show me what you can do?”

Daisy was instantly on her guard. She didn’t know what her father had told Radcliffe exactly to get them an audience, but displaying their powers like circus performers was clearly not on the agenda for tonight. Especially if Hive didn’t yet know who she was. Lincoln being up for bait was bad enough. 

Deke clearly had reservations as well. 

“Bad idea, buddy,” he said warningly; for the first time that evening since he had been talking nonstop in their ears, Daisy felt grateful that he was voicing what she could not. 

Lincoln laughed charmingly, but Daisy knew him well enough to recognize the slight nerves behind his facade. He smiled at Anon.

“I’m sure if you know that I’m Inhuman, then you know that demonstrating my powers wouldn’t be a good idea,” Lincoln said. “How about you tell me about your work with Doctor Radcliffe instead?”

That was a good move. By saying that she worked with Radcliffe, not just for, he was buttering her up to get on her good side. Additionally, it would be good to know what Anon was involved with and what work she did, in case the information became useful. As for the first benefit, however, Daisy had a pretty good feeling he didn’t need to get on Anon’s good side; she was already wrapped around his little finger. 

“Well, I…” Anon began, blossoming under Lincoln’s apparent attention.

Daisy’s focus was distracted from Anon when one of the bookshelves at the side of the room swung open and Holden Radcliffe walked out. He looked exactly the same as Daisy remembered him in the original timeline; he was wearing a sharp and expensive suit with a Rolex watch. He caught her gaze and smiled at her. 

“You must be Miss Johnson,” Doctor Radcliffe said in his heavy Scottish accent, walking towards them. 

He reached out for Daisy’s hand and kissed it formerly, the same way Lincoln had earlier. Instead of feeling a tingle of excitement or anticipation, Daisy had to suppress the urge to flip him over her head for touching her in such a familiar fashion. Or maybe warn him urgently against creating any LMDs or the Framework. Next to her, Lincoln stiffened, but she suspected it had more to do with possessiveness than anything else.

“I must say, you are much more beautiful in person than in your picture,” he said, looking up at her from his bowed posture over her hand.

Deke snorted with laughter in both of their ears. “And of course you two get hit on by Radcliffe and his assistant,” he said, laughing. “Jealous, both of you?”

“Easy there, Doctor, she’s spoken for,” Lincoln said, laughingly, stepping forward and putting his arm around Daisy. As he did so, he negotiated the space carefully so that Radcliffe had to let go of Daisy’s hand. Stepping close, he brushed his lips against her cheek, whispering one word that made Daisy’s heart momentarily stop beating. 

“LMD.”

Ah. That explained the previous stiffening of his posture. Not so much jealousy, but anxiety about the presence of an LMD and not Radcliffe’s actual presence. 

What did this mean? Was an LMD something that Radcliffe used often? Did it mean that they were too late and Hive had him already? Daisy had no idea and that lack of understanding was causing her nerves to sky-rocket through the roof. 

“The boss’s daughter,” laughed Radcliffe, oblivious to the sudden tension emanating from both Inhumans at the same time as Deke swore in their ears; Deke had heard what Lincoln had whispered. “But either way, you both have excellent taste.”

Both Daisy and Lincoln smiled, attempting to play their roles, but as they did so, Daisy brushed her fingers along Lincoln’s arm, sending miniscule vibrations along it, letting him know that she had heard him and was prepared for whatever the situation brought. In a way, it was rather fitting; she had sensed that Jemma was human thanks to her bones with her vibration manipulations and now Lincoln was detecting Radcliffe’s LMD thanks to his electrical powers. How much easier the whole Framework debacle would have been if he had been at her side.

Meanwhile, Radcliffe had turned to his table of drinks and had picked up a glass of champagne. 

“Some drinks?” he offered. 

“No, thanks, still have this one,” Lincoln said, raising his untouched glass that he, like Daisy, had pretended to sip from. 

“If you’d prefer something else, I can bring something up,” Anon offered; Lincoln took that opportunity to get her out of the room.

“That would be wonderful, actually,” he said. “Darling, what would you like?” He addressed this to Daisy; their eyes locked and Daisy recognized the need to press Radcliffe while Anon was absent. 

In her ear, Deke said, “Name something exotic. And rare. 1992 Sauvignon.”

Daisy suppressed the urge to flare her nostrils. She knew that tactic! She had been a spy long before Deke was born. Although now, he had been doing it for decades longer than she had. Which was time travel for you. Messy and complicated. 

“Do you have any 1992 Sauvignon?” Daisy asked, smiling at Radcliffe. “It’s my favourite.” She cast an adoring look at Lincoln as she spoke; he picked up the cue where she had left off.

“Darling, you know how expensive that is,” he said, before turning back to Radcliffe. “Forgive her; that’s what we had the night we got engaged. And it’s our anniversary tonight, so you can understand her desire for something special.”

“Of course!” Radcliffe said, turning to Anon, who looked rather huffy at being ignored. “Find a bottle, Anon, and bring it back here. We should celebrate their anniversary in style. How long have you been together?”

“We met six years ago,” Lincoln said as Anon left the room. “And started dating shortly after that. We met through her parents.”

How ironically true. At least if they had to take a lie detector test, they would both pass. 

“Wonderful!” Radcliffe said, sitting down on one of the sofas. “Have a seat, both of you. I’m impressed with both of your dedication; coming here tonight on your anniversary. I’m sure you both must be excited to get out of here to celebrate...so what can I help you with regarding the vaccine?”

The knowing look in Radcliffe’s eye was enough to make Daisy blush...or at least it would cause the character she was playing to blush. At least that was what she told herself. At any rate, the time had come to be straight with Radcliffe. Or at the very least, figure out where the real Radcliffe was so that they could the hell out of there. If Radcliffe was already experimenting with LMDs, Daisy had no idea what that meant for the future, but she did know that the LMD version would have the knowledge of the real one. If Hive had the real Radcliffe already, that would be very bad and would result in a failed mission, but if he didn’t...well, they could technically destroy this Radcliffe without losing the human. 

But that was something that Daisy didn’t like to think about. The Coulson in her timeline was an LMD, Davis was an LMD...at what point did she draw the line between the human and the machine? They could always replace LMDs, but it felt strange nonetheless.

Lincoln tensed his hand around hers as they sat down on one of the sofas. 

“Doctor Radcliffe, I would like to be honest with you,” Lincoln said. “I-”

He cut himself off as Anon walked back into the room, carrying a bottle of wine and a tray of glasses. However, as she moved, Daisy felt an odd chill settling over her skin, something that she had sensed before. Something that made her skin crawl and her body ache at the memory. 

Lincoln obviously felt it too. He rose in his seat, causing Daisy to stand as well; Radcliffe got to his feet when they both did.

“Is something wrong?” Radcliffe asked as Daisy whispered. “It’s you.”




“We don’t know that, Kora,” Trip said firmly. “We don’t know that.”

Kora started laughing almost hysterically. “Of course it is. Every Inhuman has a purpose. It’s not a coincidence that Daisy’s boyfriend and her sister have similar powers and that one died in space for her and the other saved _her_ from dying in space. Nor is it a coincidence that Jiaying got Lincoln to be Daisy’s transitioner. He was only brought to Afterlife when he was needed. Daisy’s transitioning was so important that Jiaying had Gordon bring Lincoln to Afterlife. Jiaying wouldn’t have trusted just _anyone_ with transitioning her daughter. And now...well, at least that means that Daisy will be safe. One of us will die for her.” 

“Kora, snap out of it!” Trip said, shaking her shoulders; she blinked, staring at him with wild dark eyes. “If you didn’t realize it before I mentioned it, then that means it’s not a fixed future. You said that there’s a future where any one of us ends up in the Quinjet. It’s not absolutely certain that one of you dies while the other lives. And doesn’t that mean that there’s a possible future where both of you and Lincoln survive and...I don’t know, are working with Daisy and S.H.I.E.L.D. or something?”

Trip had a fair point. Kora nodded, her breathing starting to even out. There were futures where both she and Lincoln survived. It wasn’t fixed that one of them would die. Even though she thought that they were imbalancing the ecosystem by coexisting. If they both lived...all the better for both of them. While she was willing to risk her life for her sister, she wasn’t suicidal. Still...death was something she’d like to avoid if that was an option. 

Trip relaxed a little when Kora did, but at that moment, a loud beeping sound started within the Quinjet. All three of them looked up, startled; Ward ran inside to check the radar system, even though he was abandoning his observation post to do so. 

“A plane’s incoming!” he shouted, running back outside. 

The cloaking mechanism surrounding the incoming Quinjet disappeared as Ward spoke. Instinctively, Kora hurled a blast of energy at the enemy aircraft. As she did so, something came flying back and the energy exploded in midair, sending all three of them diving out of the way into the dirt. 

“Fire!” Trip shouted, but the warning was too late. Fueled from the explosives, flames were starting to light up the Quinjet, followed by bullets sparking off the remaining metal, causing them to scramble behind the aircraft, trying to take cover.

“James!” Kora shouted as they sheltered behind what was left of the Quinjet of Zephyr One. “He can create explosives out of anything!” 

“Are you sure _he’s_ not the Yin to your Yang in the species?” Trip asked, prepping his rifle. “That guy sounds like he’s got all the bad side of your powers and none of the good!”

That was a pretty fair point. Kora’s powers overlapped with a lot of Inhumans. Her life energy manipulation was the opposite of Jiaying’s, her ability to manipulate the power in a system was similar to Lincoln’s, and her energy blasts were equal to James’. There had to be some reason why her powers needed to balance all of theirs, but now was not the time to consider why. 

“I thought you said James was gone!” Kora shouted at Ward; he was holding his rifle over the side of the plane leg and firing bullets in rapid succession at the incoming Quinjet. 

“Yeah, well, he _had_ been gone!” Ward yelled back, not shifting his gaze from the petrol lines on the Quinjet that he was aiming at. 

“Stop!” A female voice called from the trailer and all three of them glanced quickly over.

Katya Belyakov was standing in the middle of James’ compound, surrounded by Sousa, Miles and Hunter. All three men had blank, emotionless expressions on their faces, but they were carrying rifles and aiming them at the Quinjet where Kora, Trip and Ward were hunkered down at the side.

Kora felt the blood draining from her face. Next to her, Ward stiffened and on her other side, Trip tightened his grip on his rifle. So this was what Katya’s sway looked like. Mindless zombies. 

“This is bad,” Trip said. “Real bad. Zephyr Two is far...I don’t know if we’ll make it back there.”

Kora cursed under her breath. “Blasted future-predicting Flowers.”

Ward looked at her. “You think Raina told them what we were going to do?”

Kora snorted. “Only way they could have known that we were coming,” she said, eyes already starting to glow with the usual golden light before she let loose a blast of energy. 

Even as Kora spoke, Katya called out; speaking over the onslaught of gunfire from the enemy Quinjet.

“We know you’re there, Kora,” she shouted. “If you try to blow up the plane again, you won’t be hurting Hive. You’ll be hurting your own teammates. Ward, if you want to see your girlfriend again, you’d better get Kora to stop.”

Kora, Trip and Ward all froze; the light fading from Kora’s eyes as she stopped tapping into her power. 

“You’re lying!” Ward shouted, sounding extremely confident, but both Kora and Trip knew without a doubt that he was not. 

Katya laughed. “Want to bet?” 

Something came flying through air towards them. It wasn’t glowing like an explosive, so Trip caught it mid-flight. It was an iPhone, playing a live video from the inside of the plane. James was standing next to Kara, gripping her arm tightly. In his other arm was his long metal chain. If he so chose, she would explode in a second. Her face was pale and terrified, but also stoic and resolved; it was the face of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was resigned to her fate, not a civilian. 

“Kara…,” Ward whispered, his face pale.

Kora cursed under her breath. This _stupid_ timeline and its _stupid_ flips on the original one. Payback was a real biatch. In the original timeline, Ward had threatened May in the exact same situation with Andrew and now here was Katya threatening Ward with the exact same stunt. Although Ward didn’t know it, his counterpart’s actions in another timeline were literally biting him in the ass.

Except Kora was not going to pull a Hunter.

“Maybe it’s doctored,” Trip suggested. “It’s probably not even real. Why else would she show a video and not the real thing if they’re really on the plane?”

Kora glanced up at the plane and as she did so, Katya called out. 

“Want more proof that she’s in there?”

At that moment, on the video, James’s hand, not holding Kara’s arm, the one holding the chain, burst into flames. Kara’s panicked cry echoed from two places: once over the phone and once from the plane. 

“It’s real,” Ward whispered. “Kara….”

“What do you want?” Kora shouted, already knowing what she had to do. This was a different Kara. A different timeline. Different timelines, different people. Things were passing way too quickly for Kora to be able to consider what future was going to happen; she was just going to have to take things as they went and deal with them as best she could. It was at times like this that she hated her limited knowledge of the timestream.

“You,” Katya called. “Oh, and that cross necklace that you have so much faith in.” Her voice was mocking. 

That was a double blow. Whoever had the cross necklace controlled the future. Kora glanced at Trip and Ward; Trip was shaking his head, Ward had his head bowed, not wanting to look Kora in the eye.

“I’ll even return a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in exchange,” Katya called. “Didn’t you promise your sister that you would bring Agent Sousa back to her? She’s going to need him again after Lincoln - or you - dies in the Quinjet in space with the cross necklace.” She paused meaningfully. “Alone.”

At that moment, Kora was screaming every single swear word she knew in her head. Raina. She _hated_ that Hive had her. For every single little detail that Kora knew about the future, it appeared that Raina did also. Thanks to Raina seeing Lincoln and Daisy, both in this timeline and in Daisy’s original one, Kora knew that Raina was at least slightly aware of the original timeline’s past and the new timeline’s future. Blowing up Lincoln in the Quinjet in space with the cross necklace without Hive might prevent the ancient Inhuman’s demise. 

“Don’t do it, Kora,” Trip said, grabbing her arm. “It’s not just your life at stake, it’s the future.”

“I should be worth all four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents,” Kora called out, ignoring Trip. “Because I’m turning myself in to get swayed _and_ bringing the necklace with me.”

Katya tutted aloud. “No can do, little girlie,” she called. “We need some insurance to make sure that you don’t attack us.” 

“And you can’t do that yourself?” Kora called. “Or Hive? Weak, I call that.”

Katya’s smug smile dissolved into a mask of rage. “Hive is...indisposed at the moment. But that’s fine, if you want to play it that way. If you want to fight fire with fire. Literally.”

She turned to look at the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. “Pick one, Kora.”

“What?” 

Kora turned to look, keeping low so that she could duck in case an onslaught of bullets came their way. Trip and Ward did as well, glancing over at the maniacal Inhuman. Katya was studying Sousa, Hunter and Miles with a curious expression on her face. 

“Shouldn’t be the boyfriend,” she mused. “Which leaves...these two gentlemen. Or Kara.” She waved a hand at Hunter and Miles. “Pick one to die, Kora.”

“What? No!” Kora shouted.

“You tried to be greedy,” Katya said, an almost disappointed look on her face. “I would have taken you and three agents back to Hive, but, well, seeing as you tried to renegotiate my generous offer, one of them will die. After all, I only need one S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with me to make you comply.”

Kora cursed under her breath. Compliance would be rewarded. 

“You’re lying,” Kora accused. 

“I know you have knowledge of the future,” Katya said in a scoffing voice. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

Kora closed her eyes briefly, her mind racing. Trip and Ward stood protectively on either side of her, rifles raised. 

“Well?” Katya asked.

“You’re not lying,” Kora whispered, causing both men to look at her, shock and horror dawning on their faces. Trip at least, knew the extent of her timestream knowledge, even though Ward was more ignorant about her abilities. 

“Pick one,” Katya sang, her voice angelic despite her words being anything but. “Pick one to die or I’ll pick for you.”

“Don’t do it, Kora,” Trip whispered. “We don’t get to choose who lives and who dies!”

Trip didn’t understand. He still thought that they could change the future if they tried hard enough. But Kora knew that no matter what happened, she had to choose. They couldn’t fight their way out of this one. If she didn’t pick, Katya would choose. Sousa, Hunter, Miles, Kara. One word. She just had to say one word and sentence one agent to death.

“Kora, don’t,” Ward said urgently, seeing or perhaps sensing her resolve. “We’ll fight. We’ll get out of this.”

As much as Kora appreciated Ward’s willingness to fight, even though Kara was in danger, she knew that there was no way all of them would get out alive if they did. In most futures, they lost two agents, not just one. Some even ended up with three being dead. With Sousa, Hunter and Miles in such close proximity to Katya, Kora knew that at least one of them would die before she could kill Katya. In some futures, Sousa died, in others, Hunter or Miles, in some, it was two or more of them. Trip or Ward weren’t safe either. There were even some futures where she took a bullet. There was no future where everyone got out uninjured and unharmed. Someone was going to die. And now, Kora had the chance to dictate which future she wanted to play out by choosing the victim. 

Could she choose logically? She could choose the agent who would most likely result in them defeating Hive and not losing Daisy, the person Kora cared most about in the world. But at the same time, she couldn’t bear to lose Trip, knew that Daisy would never survive the loss of Lincoln and that losing Sousa would be almost as bad. Kora couldn’t think. Her head was spinning, her mind was whirling. Maybe this was what Lincoln had felt like when he’d first gotten his memories back. A war inside his head. 

“Cho-ose,” Katya sang, her voice separating the word into two syllables with her sing-song voice. “Or I’ll get Ward to put a gun to your head and pull the trigger. He’d do it...to keep his girlfriend alive. Trust me, you won’t like who I pick.”

“Kora, don’t,” Trip repeated urgently, but the reminder of Kara made Kora’s eyes fly open in shock. She knew which timeline they were headed down. She knew. She just needed to confirm it.

“Trip,” she whispered, grabbing his arm. 

He turned to look at her, surprised. “What? What do you need?”

“When you spoke to Daisy,” Kora said urgently. “What did she say? Did she mention her father and Radcliffe and Lincoln and the Transhumanists’ Club? Did Deke get Doctor Johnson to get an audience with Doctor Radcliffe? Is Daisy pretending to be her father’s daughter? Are she and Lincoln getting an audience with Radcliffe under the ruse of assistance with the Inhuman vaccine? Are they currently pretending to be engaged? Oh...you wouldn’t know that one. Is Anon still working for Radcliffe?”

“I...I don’t know,” Trip said. “Some of that, yes. She didn’t tell me all the details. Kora, what do you know?”

That was enough confirmation for Kora. She knew where the situation was headed. She turned to Ward.

“Ward, I am so sorry,” she said. “I am so sorry, I swear, I didn’t know until two seconds ago. The future...I didn’t know that this one was going to come into play. I swear. I’m so so sorry.”

While Kora was being cryptic, Ward knew from the look on her face that she knew something that the rest of them didn’t. And, judging by the ultimatum Katya had put on her head, Ward guessed what Kora was going to do and who she was going to tell Katya to kill.

“Kora, don’t!” Ward dropped his rifle to clamp a hand over Kora’s mouth, but Kora was already standing up and shouting to Katya.

“Kill Kara,” she called. “If you can even try to kill Hive. Because she’s not even here. She’s in Budapest...in the Transhumanists’ Club, using her nanomask to pretend to be Anon.”


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

“Lincoln, move!” Daisy shouted, diving in front of him just in time. 

She threw out a massive concussive blast in Hive/Anon’s general direction as she tackled Lincoln, sending them crashing to the floor. Perfect timing. The pulse smashed headlong into Hive/Anon; despite the force Daisy had put behind it, she only staggered back a few steps. Regardless, the parasites that she released recoiled from Daisy, which had been her whole purpose behind jumping in front of Lincoln. She was still immune; he was not. 

At the same moment, Lincoln grunted as Radcliffe swiped at him with a knife that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. In retaliation, he released a stream of electricity that instantly short-circuited the LMD. Radcliffe crumpled to the floor and didn’t move again.

Damn.

Daisy _really_ wished that he had been with them the first time she had been dealing with killer LMDs. It would have been so much easier with him. She could still remember stabbing one of them with an electronic device from the lab that had short-circuited him...and that was after she’d been fighting them for what felt like forever. But LMDs aside, that had been the worst time. His death had been incredibly fresh to her; her heart had shattered in the Framework when she’d thought that she might be able to see him again and had found Ward in her bed instead. 

“Get out of there!” Deke shouted in their ears, but neither Daisy nor Lincoln had time to answer him. “Go, go, go!” 

The only door that Daisy knew of was the one that Hive/Anon was currently blocking and the bookshelf/door that Radcliffe had entered from. While it would be great if they could take down Hive now, her top priority was getting Lincoln out of there. He was not immune to Hive’s sway and if he were swayed, it would be a disaster, especially since Lash was gone. Aside from Lash, the only cure that Daisy was aware of was killing Hive. 

“Daisy, watch out!” Lincoln shouted. 

They had bolted for the bookshelf/door, but as they reached it, the door flew open and Daisy was punched straight in the face by a red-headed ninja. At least it was just a punch and not something more lethal like a bullet or a knife. 

Alisha.

“Hey!” Lincoln shouted, blasting her in the stomach with a bolt of electricity; Daisy spun around to have his back, thrusting all her energy into another concussive blast at Hive/Anon, who had already gotten back to her feet. She was...surprisingly agile and athletic for Anon. She moved more like an agent or expert martial artist than a mere assistant for Radcliffe. 

In her ear, Deke suddenly swore.

“Guys, that’s not Anon,” he said. “I’m in the security cameras - to hell with going undetected now. She’s unconscious by the elevators. Oh my God. Guys, that’s _Kara_.”

“What?!” 

The moment of surprise caught them both off guard and they paid dearly for that. Three more Alishas appeared from the back room, followed by another familiar face that made Lincoln swear. 

“Joey?” Daisy gasped, backing away, Lincoln watching her flank as more Alishas starting spreading out. 

He didn’t reply, but then again, this timeline version of him didn’t know her. Another Yo-Yo situation. Great. 

It was when Giyera appeared behind Joey that Daisy knew they had to get out of there that very second. If it was just Alisha, fine. It would be easy. Lincoln had taken her down multiple times; Daisy had even managed to knock out two Alishas _without_ her powers and there were now three copies of her. If it was just Joey, also fine. She had taken down Joey before, admittedly though that had been before he had learned how to control his powers. Still, they could do it. Even Joey and Alisha combined, wouldn’t be too bad, since Daisy and Lincoln had the advantage of knowing their abilities and how best to take them down. Adding Giyera to the mix would make things more difficult, it was true, but his abilities didn’t work on any biological material, like her or Lincoln, although their powers would be more than effective against him.

But the combination of Joey _and_ Alisha _and_ Giyera _and_ Hive...they would be dead or swayed in seconds. Four, or seven, seeing as Alisha had created three clones now in addition to her original self, on two was not a fair fight.

“Hang tight, guys, I’m coming,” Deke called, but Daisy knew there was no time for that. They had very few options left and the longer they waited, the worse it would get. Waiting for Deke was not one of them. They would be taken or swayed before he got there. 

“Surrender and you will find peace,” Hive/Anon/Kara said, walking towards them. “Your Inhuman brothers and sisters can tell you that...you’ll finally be whole.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Daisy said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Been there, done that, it _sucks_.”

“Yeah, and I already found a connection,” Lincoln said. “Which is what I know you’re looking for. The emptiness inside me; that’s already been filled. So thanks, but no.”

While he didn’t look at her - he didn’t want to take his eyes off his approaching enemy - Daisy knew instantly that she was what he meant by the connection. Deke had spoken about it earlier...a warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with his electricity powers or their close proximity to one another. 

“Such a pity,” Hive/Anon/Kara said. “It would be a shame to destroy you before our plans come to fruition. Still-”

At that, Daisy and Lincoln let loose a simultaneous blast of concussive force and electricity simultaneously, striking Hive/Anon/Kara in the chest. He staggered back two steps but didn’t go any further; while their attention was caught up with Hive, the other Inhumans started forward.

Trusting that Lincoln had Hive for the moment, Daisy knelt, slamming all her energy into a concussive blast into the floor and walls, causing the ground to shake, quite literally. Walls cracked, the ground vibrated, and all the approaching Inhumans staggered or lost their balance at the sudden earthquake. Giyera, who had been lifting several bookshelves to throw at them, dropped them; one landed on Alisha, knocking her flat on the floor. Even better, the floor behind Hive cracked, creating a chasm out of nowhere, and another copy of Alisha fell into the hole. 

At the same time, Lincoln yelled, releasing electricity like an electrical storm. It reminded Daisy of the time in the containment module that he had been trying to bust the two of them and Kora out of; the lights in the building instantly died, plunging the room into darkness. 

Instantly and simultaneously, Daisy and Lincoln started building up a ball of vibrational force and electricity respectively. Their powers were extremely complementary; it was almost as though they were reading each others’ minds with how to best get out of the situation. First, they had treated Hive the same way they had battled Lash at the hospital, then they had treated the approaching Inhumans the same way they had tackled James and his landmines, and now they were using tactics they had individually used to fight Lash and LMDs Coulson and Mack. Lincoln released his ball of electricity with a yell, striking Hive in the chest, sending him crashing back into the hole that Daisy had created; Daisy separated hers, blasting Giyera, Joey and Alisha with two individual blasts.

“Go!” 

Lincoln grabbed Daisy’s arm and they bolted for the door, leaping over couches and small tables. They raced past the gaping hole in the floor, not looking to see Hive jump out of the crater, and tore into the corridor at top speed. Despite the cracked floor and the lack of lighting, they made it out in seconds, sprinting past the elevator that was not an option, seeing as there was no electricity in the building. 

“Deke, where are the stairs?” Daisy demanded, putting one hand to her ear, but there was no sound. Lincoln hadn’t just blacked out the whole building, but he had also fried their communications. Damn.

“There!” 

In the dim light from Lincoln’s sparking hand, he spotted the emergency stairs. They raced for the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time, hearing the clattering and clanging of patrons above them and swayed Inhumans behind them.

Fortunately, Anon hadn’t taken them too far down. After climbing up two flights of stairs, Daisy and Lincoln burst out onto the main floor, full of club patrons screaming and running for the exits; Daisy’s quakes had caused them to think that an earthquake had happened. That, coupled with some of their non-functioning limbs, thanks to Lincoln’s EMP-style outburst, had resulted in a lot of hysterical transhumanists.

“There’s the door,” Lincoln panted; he was clutching his arm and Daisy saw in the dim light, to her shock and horror, blood seeping into his jacket.

“Lincoln, Hive smells blood,” Daisy said, gasping for breath, as they shoved their way to the door.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lincoln said. “We just need to get into a private location and I can take care of it.”

The last time Daisy had seen Lincoln bleeding, it had been when he had just been blasted by James and he had been about to die. The fact that Lincoln was bleeding again was not reassuring Daisy in the slightest, especially since they had just encountered Hive. It made her all the more eager to get the hell out of there; they slammed through the front doors of the club, stumbling out into the street. 

Once outside, Daisy gasped out loud. 

Lincoln hadn’t just turned off the electricity in the Transhumanists’ Club. He had blacked out the whole street and then some. 

It reminded Daisy of when the Watchdogs had been using EMP devices to black out major cities. It was ironic that, at the time, no Inhuman had been capable of doing such a thing and now both Lincoln and Kora could easily do so. 

“We should get back to the hotel,” Lincoln said, glancing up and down the street that had half-a-dozen cars stalled in the middle of the road. “Deke will be worried sick about us.”

There was no way that they were getting back via car or train. Walking/running was looking like the most likely option. As they went, half-walking, half-jogging, going just slow enough so as not to attract any unwanted attention, Lincoln tried to restart his earpiece, to no avail. Daisy pulled hers out and tried to deconstruct it to see what was wrong, but although she was a skilled hacker, she was no engineer, resulting in a mess of tiny wires and electrical components.

Thankfully, the hotel that Deke had picked wasn’t too far from the Transhumanists’ Club, but also not too close either. It had escaped Lincoln’s EMP explosion; the street that it was on was still lit. Once they reached a lit street, both kept their heads down, avoiding any security cameras, Daisy walking slightly ahead of Lincoln to hide the fact that his jacket, shirt and arm were sliced open. They already looked like something bad had happened to them, thanks to their scuffed clothes, but there was no need to blatantly display that they had been in a fight. 

Without a word, they got into the elevator, took it up to the 12th floor and hurried down the corridor to the room that Deke had booked. Lincoln swiped his keycard at the door to let them both in; the room was empty and dark.

Daisy flipped the lights on; she didn’t want Lincoln anywhere near any light switches, just in case he lost control. She wasn’t sure how much pain he was in, thanks to his injury and another spontaneous blackout would immediately alert Hive to their location. However, when the room was lit, it didn’t make her feel any better, since the lights revealed that Deke wasn't just sitting in the dark for unknown reasons. 

“Damn,” Lincoln said, glancing around the empty room. “Deke’s gone.”

Deke’s absence wasn’t a good thing, especially with the revelation that Kara was Hive. They needed to figure out what was happening and what was next; without Deke, that clearly wasn’t about to happen.

“Where _is_ he?” Daisy asked anxiously. “You don’t think he’s been taken?”

If a trap had been set for them, it was reasonable to assume that a similar trap had been laid for Deke. However, before either of them could panic, Lincoln found a S.H.I.E.L.D. tablet on the table, left behind by Deke. After unlocking it with his fingerprint and retina scan, he pulled up a video message from Deke.

“Deke left us a message,” Lincoln said, tapping the play button; Daisy hurried over to look at the screen over his shoulder. 

Deke appeared, looking harried and stressed. “Hey guys, I hope you guys are seeing this message. I lost contact with both of you and I just saw the news about the blackout in half the city, so I’m presuming that that was Lincoln. I really hope you guys are safe. I trust both of you; if anyone can keep each other safe, it’s you two. Just don’t split up. Ah, what am I saying, you would never do that voluntarily. Anyway, I trust that you guys are keeping each other safe. I just got an emergency distress signal from the Quinjet from Zephyr One, which is the one that the guys took to the Badlands, so I’ve gone back to Zephyr Three to contact Ward, Kora and Trip. Don’t panic. Stay in the hotel. I’ll meet you guys back there in three hours min, five hours tops. The city is in such chaos with the blackout that getting to Zephyr Three is going to be an adventure, but I’ll be back soon. _Stay there_. Don’t go running around looking for me. I’ll be fine. Stay safe.”

The message had been recorded half-an-hour earlier, meaning that Deke was going to be gone for at least two and a half more hours. With the tablet, he’d left a medkit and some other S.H.I.E.L.D. technology, but neither Daisy nor Lincoln had the energy to open them up and look. 

Daisy exhaled in relief and slumped into a chair, kicking off her painfully high heels that she was seriously regretting wearing. “At least Deke’s safe.”

She wanted to go after him, but she was also exhausted. Since they had come back into this timeline, she hadn’t slept at all. A bruise was forming on her cheek from where Alisha had punched her and that wasn’t even counting the emotional chaos that was warring inside her with the whole Hive/Kara revelation. Or the worry that something had happened to Kora, Trip and Ward on their rescue mission in South Dakota. 

“You look beat,” Lincoln said, touching her cheek gently, just below the bruise. “You can shower first, if you want.” 

That was just like Lincoln. Self-sacrificing and kind...he had just gotten knifed by Holden Radcliffe of all LMDs and he was still concerned about her wellbeing over his. 

“I don’t want to leave you alone right now,” Daisy admitted, cupping her hand over his on her face to prevent him from walking away. “Hive...when he appeared tonight, I thought I was going to lose you. I thought he was going to sway you. It scared me, Lincoln. I...I can’t lose you.”

“Hey.” Lincoln’s voice was gentle; he pulled up a chair with his good arm to sit opposite her. “You didn’t lose me. We got out of there. Okay?”

“Not unscathed,” Daisy reminded him, nodding towards his injury. “How’s your arm?”

Lincoln winced. “Yeah, it’s not pretty,” he admitted. “More shallow and long than deep, though. The bleeding has stopped, thankfully, but I should probably patch it up.”

As he spoke, he reached for the medkit that Deke had left for their use. 

“Let me help,” Daisy said, standing, as he tried to open the lid one-handedly. 

Daisy opened the kit and then looked at Lincoln’s wound. He was right; it looked more shallow than anything, but with the fabric of his suit jacket and shirt in the way, she couldn’t really see the injury, much less help him treat it. 

“Uh, you’ll need to take that off,” Daisy said, gesturing at his jacket and shirt. 

The corners of Lincoln’s mouth twitched in slight amusement. 

“Are you asking me to take off my shirt, Daisy?” he asked.

Daisy smirked in response. “You’re the doctor,” she teased. “Tell me you can stitch or even clean your wound while still wearing your clothes.”

“Hmm, points go to Daisy Johnson,” Lincoln teased, trying to shrug off his jacket without moving his arm too much.

“Uh...I can help if you want,” Daisy offered. 

Lincoln glanced at her, their eyes locking. He nodded; Daisy stepped behind him to help take off his jacket, grateful that he couldn’t see her expression at the moment. 

It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen Lincoln shirtless before. Well, she hadn’t seen _this_ timeline version of Lincoln shirtless, that was for sure. And it wasn’t like they didn’t have very good reasons for him stripping off his clothes. But in the dim lighting of the hotel room, a bed not five feet away, no Deke to interrupt them for a few hours, it felt like more than just taking off clothes to dress a wound.

When Lincoln’s jacket was off, Daisy knelt in front of him and reached for the buttons of his shirt. Neither of them said anything as she undid the first few buttons, but as she reached for the fourth one, her fingertips accidentally brushed his bare skin, causing his breath to catch. 

“Sorry,” Daisy murmured, her mouth suddenly dry; a strand of hair fell in her eyes as she looked down. She glanced up and met his blue eyes, eyes that were dark and intense. 

“Don’t apologize,” Lincoln said, his voice slightly lower than usual. Slowly, gently, so that she had enough time to back away if she wanted, he reached up with his good arm and brushed his fingers against her cheek, gently sweeping her hair out of her face. 

It was Daisy’s turn to stop breathing momentarily.

“Do you want me to stop?” Lincoln asked quietly when her breath caught. “I will if you do. I meant what I said about understanding about Sousa and-”

Daisy froze, but not because he had mentioned Sousa. It was because she finally knew what she had to do. After her talk with Deke, things had become clearer, but after the fight with Hive/Anon/Kara, it had become abundantly clear to her. The whole night, she had been thinking about Lincoln and worrying about Lincoln and it wasn’t because Sousa was in South Dakota. Even when Deke had mentioned in the video recording that he had received an emergency signal from the Quinjet from Zephyr One she had not stopped worrying about Lincoln, although she _had_ been simultaneously concerned about the others. 

It wasn’t because he resembled her old Lincoln. She might have been confused about her feelings towards him initially, but now she understood how it really didn’t matter what timeline version of them they were. Deke was right. Every day, she chose who she liked and who she didn’t, who she cared about and who she didn’t. Fitz and Simmons were proof that it didn’t matter what timeline version of themselves they loved; they still loved each other. And it didn’t matter that this Lincoln wasn’t exactly her old one. She cared about him for him. She wanted him. Almost losing him again had put that all into perspective. It wasn’t even that it was because he was currently in danger. Sousa was currently swayed by Katya! Danger wasn’t the reason she started or stopped caring about someone. It _had_ helped her realize what she wanted, but regardless, she just knew that it was Lincoln whom she wanted to be with. 

“I don’t want to talk about Sousa,” Daisy said, equally quietly.

Lincoln stopped touching her face. “I understand,” he said, pulling away; ironically, he was completely _mis_ understanding as he said that.

“No!” Daisy said quickly, the words coming out in a rush. “I’m not saying I don’t want to talk about Sousa because I want to be with him. I’m saying...I’m saying I want to be with you. Only you.” 

Lincoln froze for a second, his expression incredulous. Then, slowly, as if he couldn’t believe what she was saying, he brushed his thumb against her cheek again, his touch gentle and lingering. “What changed?” he whispered. “A short while ago, you were still confused. If it’s because I almost died or got swayed-”

“It’s not that,” Daisy said. Then she amended her statement. “It did put things in perspective, but that’s not why I want to be with you. You were in danger, yes, but actually I realized what I wanted before that. Deke...he reminded me that it doesn’t matter what timeline version of ourselves we are. We still love people regardless of who they are. My mum died for me after knowing that I was her daughter for five seconds. Simmons loves Deke, her grandson from a dystopian future, unconditionally. And...I care about you. I can’t help it. Not that I want to help it...but anyway. I care about you. Not because you’re him. I care about _you_ you. Not just him you.”

Even though she knew that she cared about him and wanted to be with him, she wasn’t sure if she was in love with him. Yet. But the knowing look that Lincoln gave her was enough to show that he understood what she meant.

“Are you sure?” Lincoln asked quietly, his breath warm against her skin, their faces inches apart. 

For once, Daisy was. And it wasn’t only because this Lincoln reminded her of her old Lincoln. Either way, he was both different and the same person. And she was okay with that.

She recalled what Simmons had once told the team after Fitz’s death. 

_We don’t move on. We hold that place in our heart, we close it off, we lock the door, we visit from time to time, but we don’t move on. Even after we say goodbye._

Daisy hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to her Lincoln. And...she really hadn’t moved on. Not for years. Even when she’d been with Sousa, she hadn’t told him about Lincoln. It was because she _hadn’t_ moved on. Simmons had been right. If she’d really and truly done so, she would have told Sousa about Lincoln. 

If Simmons had never gotten Fitz back, maybe she would have eventually found another love, like she had that one time with Will on Maveth. But Simmons had gotten Fitz back. And now...Daisy had Lincoln back. He might be different, he might have changed, like Fitz had in the Framework, but either way, neither man had changed at their core. 

It was still Lincoln. 

She wanted him for him. And not just because he resembled and had the memories of her first love. She had started realizing that after their first kiss, but now...it was all crystal clear to her. 

“Yes,” Daisy whispered, confident in her answer at last. 

She shifted closer to him - she was still kneeling in front of his chair - and their lips met in a kiss, a soft gentle kiss that grew from there, until butterflies were fluttering in Daisy’s stomach and static - maybe literally - was dancing on her skin.

“What about you?” she asked, pulling away slightly, her lips a breath’s inch from his. “Do you want this? The memories….” 

He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers. “I’ve actually come to terms with it,” he said, his voice soft. “I’ll never be fully him and I’ll never be fully me again; I’m part him and part me. But I’m okay with that. I’ve accepted it. And as long as you’re okay with that, we’ll be okay.”

Daisy inhaled sharply. It was a better response than she could have hoped for. He cared about her for her and not for someone whom he thought he should be in love with. Just like she cared about him for him and not just because he reminded her of her old love. 

“I’m more than okay with that,” she whispered. “I was just worried about _you_.”

In response, Lincoln put one hand on the back of her neck and pulled her in again for another kiss, this time softer and more gentle. Daisy scooted closer, fingers already tugging open the last of the buttons on his shirt.

Lincoln pulled away again when she did so. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, eyes boring into hers, searching for any doubts.

“Absolutely,” Daisy whispered, meeting his gaze, nothing but certainty and desire shining in her eyes. 

Lincoln stared at her for a split second longer, waiting to see if she would change her mind, but Daisy was positive at last that this was what she wanted. Then Lincoln nodded, a small smile crossing his face, before his lips descended on hers again, both of them standing and walking slowly backwards towards the bed, still locked in their kiss. 




At Kora’s words, Ward froze. His face was so distraught that Kora couldn’t look at him; she already knew what emotional turmoil he was going through and seeing it would not make anything any better. After all, she had already experienced it when she had seen the timestream and she had no desire to feel it again.

Next to her, Trip swore, but Kora’s attention was taken up by Katya. 

“Clever girl,” Katya mused, brushing her fingers in a possessive manner along Sousa’s arm; Kora gritted her teeth to refrain herself from blasting the living daylights out of the mentally unstable Inhuman. “What gave it away?”

The confirmation that Kora was right caused Ward to let out a low groan. He bent down, scooping up his rifle, but neither Kora nor Trip could comfort him at the moment. It wasn’t just that Katya and the enemy aircraft were right there. Even if they weren’t, there was nothing that either Kora or Trip could say that would make the situation any better. Losing a loved one was not something that anyone could fix. Except maybe through time-travel...or alternate timelines...or Centipede serum...or an emergency healing pod…or GH.325…. But the point was, there was no solution for Kara’s death. Not at the moment and not with Hive inhabiting her body - for how long was anyone’s guess. Kora didn’t have time to think about which timeline they were in. At least Ward still had the presence of mind to pick up his rifle...and at least Kora knew that he wasn’t going to shoot her for throwing Kara to the wolves. After all, Katya had just confirmed that Kara was, in fact, Hive. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Kora retorted, focusing her attention on Katya and not Ward so she didn’t have to see or feel his heartbreak. “You asked me to choose and I have.”

Katya laughed. “Trickery, trickery...fine. I’ll negate that deal…. Pick _one_ agent in exchange for you, or I’ll kill one of them. And just one mind, or I’ll make _you_ pick another to die. Again. And trust me...this time Kara won’t be part of the deal.”

Oh God. 

At least picking one agent to live was better than picking one to die. Whoever remained under Katya’s control with Kora still had a chance of survival. It might not end with someone dying. Still...how could Kora choose? While it wasn’t an immediate death sentence to those who remained Katya’s captives, it was still going to be an excruciating experience. A torturous one. And Kora knew, the longer they were under Katya’s control, the worse the emotional repercussions would be.

Kora knew who she had to pick. She had promised Daisy she would do whatever it took to save Sousa and even though she knew which guy Daisy was going to choose, or who had chosen, at this point, she knew that Daisy still cared about Sousa. She did too. She had to pick him. 

But that would mean leaving Hunter, Hunter who had an unborn child and pregnant wife in another timeline - she still had no idea what had happened to Bobbi - and Miles, who admittedly was a git, but still a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, to Katya’s insanity. 

Next to her, Trip shifted uncomfortably, still keeping his gun aimed at Katya. While he didn’t want her to give herself up, he knew who she was going to pick if she did. He might be close to both Hunter and Miles, but he knew it was her decision and he knew the promise that she had made to Daisy. Their eyes locked and he saw the steely resolve on her face, the resolve that she was going to give herself up to Katya to spare all three of her captive agents’ lives.

“Don’t do it, Kora,” he urged. “There has to be another way.”

If only. If only there was another way. The knowledge of the future was a terrible burden. Although she did have to admit, sometimes knowledge of the past was just as bad, if not worse. The past really could never leave them alone. 

Kora shook her head. “I have to.”

Their eyes met briefly and then Kora reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. 

“You win,” she said, pushing the note into his hand. 

“Kora -” Trip began, trying to give the money back to her. It was more than winning a bet. Although to Kora it was the last moment she would have before she was swayed, to him it was like she was leaving no debts unpaid before her death. That she was leaving nothing hanging or in limbo behind. While Kora knew at least for now she wouldn’t die, he didn’t know that. 

Kora knew that her life wasn’t going to be the same after the sway. Even though he might take it the wrong way, she needed one last moment with him before she was swayed and she lost her sense of self. Hive’s sway was like a drug and she knew that it had taken months for Daisy to recover from it. If she was swayed, it would probably be no better. 

“Trust me,” Kora said, closing his fingers over the note. 

He nodded slowly; impulsively, Kora leaned in and kissed him quickly on the cheek, ducking out of the side of the Quinjet before she could see his reaction or Ward’s face. She didn’t want to rub it in for Ward, Ward who had just lost Kara. But if these were her last few moments before she was swayed, then she was doing what she wanted to do. She wasn’t using Trip to get the future that she wanted; she wasn’t _that_ manipulative. It wasn’t fair if she used her knowledge of the timestream that way.

“I’m coming out,” she called. “Don’t shoot me. Send Sousa over.”

There. She’d said it. She’d chosen. Deke could kill her afterwards, but in all honesty, if he still wanted to kill her after she’d been swayed...well, then he was probably heartless. Not that she was going to take advantage of her to-be post-sway withdrawal state, but still. Anyway, she had chosen one person to save, not one person to die, so Deke couldn’t fault her for choosing Sousa. He too knew the promise that she’d made Daisy. 

As Kora stepped out from behind the Quinjet, all of a sudden, something appeared out of thin air, knocking everyone backwards. Kora, Katya and the guys all went flying; both the Quinjet and the enemy aircraft were thrown off-kilter; and even Trip and Ward, sheltering behind the Quinjet, stumbled. 

It was a white containment module that had appeared out of nowhere. 

Even as Kora was scrambling dazedly back to her feet, the door to the module opened up and Kora caught sight of the one person she hadn’t been expecting to see back in this timeline...at least not for a while.

“Bobbi?” she spluttered.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Bobbi stepped out of the containment module and hurled her batons at Katya, striking her to the ground as she attempted to rise, groping for one the arms of one of her victims. The batons boomeranged back to Bobbi after they hit their target and Kora took advantage of Katya’s distraction, sprinting towards her and the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, eyes already glowing as she started to summon her power.

Bullets rang out behind her as Trip and Ward opened fire on Katya and her ‘swayed’ victims. 

“Don’t!” Kora screamed; she knew what would happen if someone shot at Katya. It happened in every single version of the future, a different victim in different futures, but the outcome was the same regardless.

Someone else got shot. 

Katya’s eyes flew open and then Hunter was in front of her, taking a bullet between the straps of his bulletproof vest. Kora had no idea where it had hit, but she knew it was somewhere bad. Maybe it was where Daisy - or Skye, at the time - had shot Ward in the original timeline. Or maybe, worse still, it had hit a lung, where Bobbi had taken a bullet for him in the original timeline. Either way, Kora knew that the bullet had hit him somewhere potentially lethal. He stumbled forward and Kora caught him just before he face-planted into the dirt.

“Hunter!” Bobbi shouted, already running forward, but by now, Katya had dragged Sousa to his feet, gripping his collar, her hand above his throat. 

“Come any closer and I’ll kill him!” she shouted. “I’ll do it, I swear to God I will! Kora, convince your friend not to come any closer. You know what I can do!”

How could Kora convince someone who didn’t know her - or Katya, for that matter - that if she came any closer, Sousa would die? Bobbi didn’t know Sousa. Nor did Bobbi know Kora. Bobbi only knew that her husband was bleeding out on the ground. 

“Bobbi, don’t!” Trip shouted - thank God for Trip. Thank goodness there was someone there whom Bobbi knew and trusted. Otherwise, Sousa might be dead. 

Bobbi froze, but Kora knew she wouldn’t stay still for long. No one would, not with someone they loved bleeding out in front of them. 

“Don’t hurt him!” Kora gasped. “I’ll come with you, I promise. Just let Hunter go.”

Kora couldn’t just let Hunter die. Even though she’d made a promise to Daisy, that she would do whatever it took to save Sousa, she knew that Daisy wouldn’t want her to just let Hunter die. And she couldn’t bargain for Sousa, not when Hunter was bleeding out in the dirt, especially not with Bobbi right there.

Katya raised an eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to trade yourself for Sousa.”

“Hunter’s been shot,” Kora said breathlessly. “He’s hurt! Let the others take him back. Please. You already have me. You’ll have Sousa and Miles too. Just let them take him. I swear they won’t follow wherever we go. They won’t be able to. You already blew up our Quinjet. Please.”

Kora was resorting to begging. She hadn’t predicted this turn of events; her brain was scrambling to try and find the timeline that they were now headed down. She just hoped that this turn of events had been so unprecedented that Raina was clueless about it as well. Because she had just lied to Katya; the Quinjet of Zephyr One was busted, but Zephyr Two was still operational and functioning, just a further distance away.

Fortunately, Katya seemed game with her new plan. Kora was physically much closer to her than she had previously been and it would take just a split second of distraction for Kora to be able to kill Katya. Although Hive was willing to sacrifice his Inhuman slaves, he clearly did not want to if there was another option. And Katya’s powers were incredibly valuable.

Her gifts were the closest to Hive’s that Kora knew about. 

“Fine,” she said, glaring at Kora. “Show me the necklace first.”

Kora reached into her pocket and pulled it out, sunlight glinting off it. Katya nodded, satisfied.

“Open the ramp!” she called up to the enemy aircraft.

Still hovering in midair, the ramp opened up, just enough for Kora to see James inside. Although Kara being inside the aircraft with him was false, his presence hadn’t been. Which made sense; Katya would have needed some form of Inhuman backup and Kora _had_ been battling someone with very similar powers to hers. If there was a fourth Inhuman with some sort of electricity/energy/explosive power around...well, the equilibrium of the species was screwed. 

James whipped out his metal chain and it looped itself around Kora’s wrists. The chain burned and she couldn’t help but wince in pain as the red-hot metal dug into her skin. She was going to have some nice burn scars there when this all was over.

If she survived.

James tugged the chain like a leash; Kora glowered at him, but obediently moved forward. Katya followed her, her hand still clamped around Sousa’s collar. Miles walked half-a-step behind her, shielding her from Bobbi, Trip and Ward, all of whom were aiming weapons at them, but unable to do anything because of the many hostages that Katya and James had. 

Once they were in the aircraft, Katya turned around, pivoting Sousa so that he was slightly in front of her again.

“You can take him,” she barked at Bobbi, nodding towards where Hunter was still lying on the ground. Bobbi ran forward, as did Trip. Together, they hauled him up, pulling him behind the Quinjet where Ward was covering them, even though it was probably dangerous to move him when he was bleeding so badly. It was a better option than leaving him in the line of fire. 

“Close the ramp,” Katya barked at James; he snorted in disgust at her orders, but hit the button, starting the cycle for the ramp to close.

Katya backed away from the edge, pulling Sousa with her, Miles still shielding her from Ward, who was the last S.H.I.E.L.D. agent aiming a weapon at them, seeing as Bobbi and Trip were preoccupied with Hunter.

 _Wait for it…_.

The second before the ramp could fully close, Kora lashed out with her leg. Her hands were still pinned by James’ chain, but her legs were functioning. She roundhouse-kicked Miles in the side, sending him stumbling through the gap in the ramp, falling out of the plane that was still very close to the ground.

“No!” Katya screamed, but it was too late; Miles was gone. In the split second before the ramp closed, Kora saw Ward sprinting towards Miles, and then dragging him towards the others with Trip covering him. 

Kora didn’t even have half-a-second to feel satisfied that she had gotten two of the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents away from Katya. James yanked on the chain, causing Kora to slam into the floor. Her chin hit the ground hard and she tasted blood inside her mouth. She had bitten her cheek open upon landing.

Ouch.

“You bitch!” Katya slapped Kora hard across the face and then kicked her hard in the side. 

Okay, that hurt a lot more than hitting the ground. Kora groaned, rolling over, spitting blood onto the floor. She was going to have some nice bruises and possibly some broken bones before this was over. 

“Madam, do you want to turn around?” the pilot - an unknown human agent - asked her. 

Katya studied Kora and Sousa for a long minute, her gaze cold and scrutinizing, her hand still on Sousa’s neck to ensure that Kora did not try to hurt her. Kora stared her down, but Sousa remained docile and calm, his eyes glazed over and hazy, still under Katya’s control. 

“No,” Katya said at last, making Kora exhale on the inside with relief. “We still have the boyfriend.”

She gestured towards Sousa with her free hand. Then she turned to James.

“Give her a taste of her own medicine,” Katya told him, nodding at Kora.

“I don’t follow your orders.” James scowled at her in response; she raised an eyebrow at him. 

“You know Hive put me in charge while we were here,” she snapped.

“And you revealed his identity!” James retorted. “You’re doing real good, let me tell you that.”

As long as they were arguing, Kora wasn’t getting hurt and neither was Sousa. Although Hive’s victims were all technically on the same side, that didn’t mean that they didn’t harbour their own individual feelings. Daisy had tried not to hurt Fitz and Mack - she had warned them to stay away before she had actually fought them - and she had refused James’ advances because she’d been in love with Lincoln. If Kora could increase the animosity between Katya and James, then maybe she stood a chance at getting herself and Sousa out of there. 

Katya glared at him and then all of a sudden, she smiled again. It was an insane smile; Kora recoiled as Katya turned towards her.

“I know what’s better,” she said. 

Oh no. So much for coming up with a plan for getting out of there. 

Katya gently ran her fingers across Sousa’s neck.

“Hit her,” she told Sousa. “Defend me from her.”

Oh God.

Kora shrank back as Sousa started towards her. She tried to get to her feet, despite her aching ribs, but James yanked on the chain again, sending her crashing back to the floor. If she hurt Sousa, she could stop him, but her burns were a painful power to use against someone else. It wasn’t like Daisy’s gift or even Lincoln’s. Daisy could knock people out with her concussive blasts and Lincoln could use electricity to knock people out of the way without really hurting them; he had done so with Daisy when he had blasted her out of the Quinjet to save her life. Kora’s powers, on the other hand...she didn’t know how to blast someone out of her way without burning them severely. 

“Lie still, little doggie,” James crooned at her; Kora turned her head and spat blood in his face.

Probably not the wisest move. James’ eyes darkened with rage. He stepped forward and slapped Kora so hard across the face, she saw stars. She groaned, coughing up more blood, but she was glad that she had provoked James to hit her. The more she could spare Sousa the agonies of his actions under Katya’s control, the better. Even if that meant she now had matching bruises on both cheeks.

“Don’t do that again,” James warned her. “Or I’ll give you a bigger burn than you’ve ever given anyone.”

Kora stretched out her jaw, feeling the muscles tense and relax. The slap burned, literally, but at least half her face wasn’t about to explode. She knew that James could turn her into an explosive if he so chose. Her face ached; she wanted to touch the area, but at the same time, she didn’t want to give James the satisfaction of seeing her in more pain. 

James kicked her in the side and Kora grunted, curling into a ball to both nurse the injury and present a smaller target for him. At least her showing weakness made him think that she wasn’t going to fight him any longer. He scoffed, spitting at her in retaliation; Kora refused to flinch and give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to her. 

A loud snap of a lid closing reminded Kora that James was not the only enemy. Sousa was now approaching her with a syringe, containing what, Kora had no idea, but she knew it couldn’t be good. 

“How ironic,” Katya mused, staring at Kora. “Nathaniel Malick used this drug on your sister when she and Sousa were held captive...and now Sousa’s going to use it on you. I’m sure you know what it does. It inhibits your powers.”

Right now, Kora really hated precognitive powers. It wasn’t even Raina’s fault that she was telling Hive all that she knew. But yeah, this sucked. If she wasn’t going to be swayed, she would wager a bet that someone was going to experiment on her and cut her open. It had happened to her mother, her sister _and_ Lincoln; it made perfect sense that she would be the next victim. 

Only she didn’t have a significant other to rescue her from said experimentation. 

Or maybe she did. She wasn’t sure what Trip was feeling right now, but either way...he at least sorta knew how she felt. She wasn’t Daisy. Daisy would have kissed him properly regardless of knowing his feelings, but she...nah. A peck on the check was as much as she could do. She wasn’t as brave as her sister. 

“Sousa, don’t do this,” Kora said, grimacing against the pain, even though she knew her arguing was futile. “Sousa, it’s me. Kora. Snap out of it!”

Sousa approached her, his eyes glassy and unseeing. He didn’t know it was her, he just knew that she was his target. No matter how much she shouted, she wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise. 

Each breath was painful; Kora thought that either Katya or James had cracked at least one of her ribs. Grimacing, she tried to pull herself upright, but to no avail. Sousa slammed his fist into her throat, jerking her off the ground and effectively cutting off her oxygen. Kora clawed at his hand, trying to get him to let her go. 

“Sousa -” she gasped, struggling for breath.

Katya looked at them, bored. 

“Don’t kill her,” she said dismissively. 

Sousa kept Kora suspended above the ground for a few seconds longer, then stabbed her arm with the needle. He released his hold on her; Kora crumpled to the ground, already starting to feel the effects of the drug. That drug had been invented way back in the 1950s and it was now 2016. There was no way that the drug wouldn’t have been updated since to be even more effective than it had previously been. 

Kora tried to summon her powers, but she could already tell that it wasn’t going to work. Whatever the scientists had done to the drug had increased the strength and speed of its effects and she was weaker than even a normal human being at the moment, what with her injuries. 

“Nice try,” Katya told her, stepping on her hand as Kora lifted her hand in a feeble attempt to summon her power. “We’ll give the drug a few more minutes to take complete effect, so let’s do this instead….”

She brushed her fingers against Sousa’s neck again and he stumbled forward. When he turned to look at Kora, his eyes were no longer glazed over and hazy; it was clear that he was himself again. That might seem like a good thing, but Kora suspected that it really wasn’t. A second later, she was proven right.

“Oh my God,” Sousa said, stumbling forward towards her where she was lying on the floor of the aircraft. “I...I’m so sorry, Kora. I never meant to hurt you.”

He knew what he had done. Damn. So when Katya’s powers were removed, her victims remembered all of their actions. At that moment, Kora hated Katya more than she had ever hated anyone in her life. Katya was actually enjoying torturing Sousa with the knowledge that he had involuntarily hurt Kora. Of course Kora wouldn’t hold it against him and neither would Daisy, for that matter - out of everyone, she knew what it was like to be brainwashed and made to do things against her will - but the emotional abuse that he would put himself through was going to be hell. He would blame himself, if he didn’t already. If Daisy had felt wretched after almost killing Fitz and Mack after being under Hive’s sway, Sousa was going to feel just as sickened at having hurt Kora. 

“It’s not your fault,” Kora muttered. “You weren’t yourself.” 

Even as she spoke, she was well aware of the irony of the words. It was exactly what Lincoln had told Daisy after Daisy had apologized for hurting him while under Hive’s sway. She wasn’t even sure if it was better that they were in a Quinjet instead of in the Zephyr, seeing as a Quinjet was where someone on the team died. At least Hive wasn’t there and there was no nuke or pathogen yet. This wasn’t the end. 

Sousa reached for her, but withdrew his hands at the last second, as though he thought she might not want him to touch her. Kora honestly didn’t blame him for what he’d done. It really wasn’t his fault. It had been Katya’s powers that had made him do what he had done. She coughed, splattering more blood on the ground; Sousa winced at the sight.

“Kora -” Sousa cut himself off. 

At the sight of the blood, Sousa reached for her again anyway, despite knowing that she might shove him away. After all, he _had_ just injected her with a drug that cut off all their hopes of escape. He supported Kora’s shoulders to help her sit up, attempting to clear her lungs of blood. Kora coughed again and then her breathing eased. At least she wasn’t dying, like she suspected Hunter might be. Cracked ribs were nothing in comparison to where he had taken a bullet. 

“Touching,” Katya laughed, watching them both on the floor. 

James came back over, carrying handcuffs and more chains. He slapped the cuffs on both Sousa and Kora, winding the chains into the seats and also into the heavy industrial one that he carried, not only chaining them to the wall, but also to him. 

“Just put us under your control already,” Kora whispered, hands shaking as she tried futilely to summon her powers again.

Katya smiled. “Now why would I do that? To take away your pain, even momentarily? I like to feel all your pain. I want to feel more of it. It’s...beautiful. You both can stay the way you are until we get to Hive. You’re not going anywhere.”

Of course. They really were _not_ going anywhere. Kora could barely breathe and her powers were gone. Not only was Sousa dealing with the emotional repercussions of his actions, but she also suspected that he was injured in some way; he had limped when he had gone over to help her. 

“You really think you’re something,” Sousa growled, but his bravery had its limits. Kora could sense the fear that was emanating off him in waves. If she could sense it, Katya definitely could, what with her ability to manipulate the senses. Katya forcing them to do her bidding was terrifying. Losing free will was way worse than any form of torture they could be put under. 

“Darling, I _know_ I’m something,” Katya simpered, before holding her hand out to Kora. “Give me the cross necklace.”

Kora coughed again, slumping forward, dropping her head against the ground. It hurt to breathe, her ribs were throbbing, her wrists were burning and she had been strangled. Unconsciousness might be preferable at this point.

“Hey, hey, Kora?” Sousa felt for a pulse at her neck and found it, faint, but there. “Stay with me, Kora.” 

Yep, the timeline was screwed. They had jumped from apologies for actions while being brainwashed, all the way back to Hydra experimentation. If Kora ever discovered who was responsible for the timeline being as screwed as it was, she was going to give them a good, swift kick in the cajones. 

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Katya said cruelly and struck Sousa across the face with another vicious slap. “Kora, give me the cross necklace now or I’ll keep hitting him.”

“You really think she’s going to give you whatever necklace it is you want while she’s unconscious?” Sousa demanded, refusing to show that her blow had hurt him. “You’re crazier than I thought.”

Ah. Sousa hadn't been around when they'd discussed Charles Hinton's death vision of an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Quinjet with the cross necklace. But at least ignorance would help him in this case...Katya and James couldn't torture him for information when he knew nothing. 

“And you’re a fool in love,” Katya said in a scoffing voice. “You wait. We’ll get back to the base and Raina will show you just how much of an idiot you are.”

“ _I’m_ the idiot?” Sousa demanded. “You’re the one who’s, I don’t know, controlling us by messing with our emotions or something. You’re the idiot! Because you can’t feel anything on your own, you parasite!” 

That wasn’t quite accurate and it definitely wasn’t nice. After having spent a year with her and Daisy, Sousa’s mannerisms from the past had definitely faded somewhat, although his heroic tendencies and gentlemanly actions certainly hadn’t. But even without Hive, Katya was quite insane. So Kora was very happy for him to jump on the ‘let’s-insult-Katya’ train.

Suddenly the chain that was binding Kora’s wrists glowed white-hot and she screamed involuntarily as it burned her. It was much more painful than the previous time; Kora glanced at her wrists and saw the skin blistering beneath the chain. 

James.

Quite literally, Kora was getting a taste of her own medicine. Payback, as she had previously thought, was definitely a biatch. 

“Stop it!” Sousa shouted as she gasped for breath, blinking back tears at the pain. She refused to let them see her cry. “Leave her alone!”

“Give me the necklace,” Katya spat at Kora. “Give it to me. You know I’ll get it sooner or later anyway. Or James will burn Sousa. What will your sister say if we kill him?”

Kora gritted her teeth. Time to try for another ruse. Bluffing hadn’t worked out very well against Katya before, but she had to try. The best lies were wrapped in a core of the truth; Kora knew perfectly well the best way of deluding Katya, even if it meant hurting Sousa with her words.

“Daisy doesn’t need us,” Kora said breathlessly, wincing against the pain in her wrists. “She has Lincoln. If Raina’s told you the future, then you’ll know what I’m saying is true. The bribery that Aida tried to give her in the Framework; all of that can become a reality in this timeline.” 

It was perfectly true. Kora _had_ seen that possibility in the timestream. Whether or not it would actually come to pass was the question, but regardless, the possibility was there. Kora kept her gaze locked on Katya’s face, unable to look at Sousa. She didn’t want to hurt him, but if hurting him with her words would prevent him from getting hurt physically, then she would go down that road. 

Katya’s face smoothed over, but Kora knew that that was because she was confused. Raina hadn’t seen everything; Raina didn’t know all the different futures the way that Kora did. And even if Raina had seen the future of Daisy and Lincoln together, with children, growing old together, living a peaceful life, she clearly hadn’t told Katya about it. That was good. The more gaps in Katya’s knowledge, the better for Kora. She just needed to find the lack of knowledge and exploit them. At last, she had the advantage. 

“So there’s no point in using Daisy against us,” Kora continued. “If Raina told you which future we’re in, you’ll know that she’s made her choice. Even without knowledge of the future, I know Daisy. I know her a whole hell of a lot better than you do. And I know who she’s chosen to be with.” 

Kora couldn’t look at Sousa as she spoke. It wasn’t her place to tell him that Daisy had chosen Lincoln, but if it would get them out of this mess, then she would do it. She had to. It was the only way. To use the future to fight. She didn’t have her powers anymore, but she still knew the future. That was one thing that no drug could take away from her. 

Katya’s face took on a thoughtful expression. “Regardless,” she said slowly, “I don’t think you could live with yourself if you let Sousa die. You just bargained for Hunter’s life and you risked everything to get Miles out of here. So the choice is now yours, Kora. Are you going to let him die or give me the cross necklace? I’m going to get it anyway, so you might as well make things easy for yourself.”

Damn. Of course Katya had called her bluff. Kora needed an Enoch poker face. Because lying, apparently, was not one of her better skills.

Something in Kora’s expression must have alerted Katya to the fact that she was stalling. All of a sudden, she swooped in, grabbing Kora’s face. 

“Give it to me!” she shrieked. “Now!”

She must have used her powers at last because Kora felt an odd sense of calm settle over her, a necessity to obey Katya’s words. Obediently, Kora reached into her pocket and pulled out something, handing it to the Katya.

Katya looked down at it and screeched, “What is this? Is this some form of trickery? Tell me what it is and where the cross necklace is!”

Kora smiled vaguely, a tiny part of her that wasn’t completely under Katya’s control yet feeling a wave of triumph at Katya’s panic and her own success. 

“I don’t have it,” Kora said. 

In Katya’s palm, lay the traditional Chinese gift to ward off evil spirits that Jiaying had given Kora upon her birth, identical to the one that she had given Daisy back in Afterlife. 




“Hunter, Hunter, stay with me, stay with me,” Bobbi gasped, putting both hands over his wound, trying to prevent him from bleeding out. “Jemma!”

Jemma and Flint, who had remained hidden inside the containment module up until the enemy Quinjet had disappeared from sight, came running out at Bobbi’s scream. Trip and Ward both did a double-take at the appearance of two completely unknown people, but Hunter’s condition was so pressing that neither of them questioned their reasons for being there. Miles, on the other hand, was in a slightly dazed state, trying to recover from the effects of Katya’s sway; he wasn’t paying any attention to them. Since she hadn’t removed it from him before Kora had kicked him out of the aircraft, he was still trying to regain his bearings. 

“Where’s Daisy?” Jemma asked frantically, even as she took over for Bobbi, Bobbi, who had a biology degree, but not enough medical knowledge to hold her own against Fitz, Simmons or Lincoln. 

“She’s in Bucharest,” Trip said; Bobbi trusting Jemma was enough of an indication to him that he should probably trust her too. “With Lincoln and Deke. Why? And who are you? Why do you look - oh! You’re the woman on Deke’s desk! In the photo with that other guy. But-”

“She’s a doctor,” Bobbi said breathlessly. “And a friend.” 

“Why are they in Bucharest?” Jemma demanded at the same time as Bobbi spoke, but her attention was diverted by Hunter coughing up blood. “Oh no. The bullet must have hit a lung. Where’s the plane? We need to get him to a healing pod. Do you have another plane aside from this Quinjet?”

“Zephyr Two,” Trip said. “It’s not far; we can make it. There’s a healing pod there. Ward and I can carry Hunter.” 

“Would it be faster if you took him back to your timeline?” Flint interrupted. “Jemma, you and Bobbi were at your house when you left. You could treat him there.”

“I’m not leaving Daisy!” Jemma said. “I don’t even understand why she wasn’t here; we were supposed to go to her and Kora and Sousa-” She cut herself off. “Oh no. Of course. We came here because there were two of them here. We went to where the majority were! We didn’t even think that they might have split up by now.”

“Worry about that later!” Bobbi pressed urgently. “We need to treat Hunter now, whether it’s in your timeline or on the Zephyr!”

Bobbi had a really good point. Jemma knew how crucial time was at moments like this. She would have time to worry about Daisy later. Because as far as she knew, if Daisy and Lincoln were in Bucharest, they were or already had encountered Hive and as an Inhuman, Lincoln was likely to get swayed. 

“Get him to the containment module,” Jemma ordered. “It can go back to the Zephyr faster than we can carry him. Move!”

Trip and Ward scrambled to lift Hunter between them. They moved as fast as they dared over to the module, Hunter coughing up blood as they went. He was barely conscious; his condition was much worse than Kora’s, although none of the remaining agents knew what was going on with Kora and Sousa in captivity.

Bobbi ran beside the guys; Jemma raced ahead to prep the module as best she could. Taking up the rear were Flint and Miles, Flint pulling a slightly dazed and confused Miles along. 

“We’re not all going in the module,” Jemma said as Trip and Ward heaved Hunter’s limp body onto the floor of the containment module. “It’ll move faster with less people. Trip, you and Ward take Flint and Miles back to Zephyr Two and we’ll meet you there. If you beat us there, prep the healing pod. I hope you know how to use it.”

“I’m a field medic,” Trip warned her. “I know the basics, so does Bobbi, but Lincoln’s the one to go to at times like this.”

“Well, Lincoln’s not here!” Jemma snapped. “So we have to try!” She paused. “At least you won’t be trying to take a bullet out of someone’s shoulder when you haven’t yet learned about anaesthesia!" 

Learning how to use a futuristic healing pod couldn’t be any harder than Piper trying to operate on Deke when she was still learning how to be a physician. And in all honesty, Jemma knew that the healing pod was Hunter’s best bet. Especially since she had a nasty feeling that she was going to have to operate anyway and the result would be that he would end up missing half a lung. While Bobbi hadn’t told her an awful lot about this timeline, she knew that a lot of things had come to pass and others hadn’t; she suspected that this was the moment that Bobbi had taken a bullet for Hunter. 

“Jemma, he’s coughing up more blood, I don’t think he can breathe,” Bobbi said in a panicky voice; Jemma spun around.

“Go!” she shouted at the guys, slamming the button to close the containment module doors.

Trip, Ward, Miles and Flint backed away as the containment module rose into the air.

“Who the hell is she?” Ward asked. “And who the hell are you?” He addressed this to Flint, who turned to look at them.

“It’s a long story,” he said. “But we need to get back to Zephyr Two first and save Hunter’s life. Then we can explain everything.”

“Yeah, we do need to leave now,” Trip said. “Before Katya comes back.”

“Why would she come back?” Ward asked. 

Trip shook his head. “Let’s just say I have something she wants.”

With that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the twenty-dollar bill that Kora had given him. Wrapped in the money, was the cross necklace of death.


	28. Episode 8: Trust No One - Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, I promised some fanart while you guys wait for Trailer 3 to come out (it can't come out earlier because of spoilers, I'm sorry), but here's the first of the new fanart, based on the Fallen Agent arc!!! I hope you like it!!! 😊 Happy reading! 
> 
> Link to fanart: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHCUaCSFpSO/

**Episode 8: Trust No One**

**Chapter 28**

The second the guys got on to Zephyr Two, it was absolute chaos. Jemma and Bobbi had already unloaded Hunter into the medbay and Jemma was doing everything she could to keep him in stable condition.

“Trip, I need your help,” she said, pulling on plastic gloves. “Bobbi, you too, but only if you can hold it together. Yes?”

Bobbi nodded, her eyes locked on Hunter’s face; his were closed and his breathing was shallow.

“Bobbi!” Jemma said urgently. “Please try to focus! I know this is hard, but you need to either help me or contact Deke or fly the plane or something! Please! There aren’t enough of us here!”

Bobbi pulled herself together. “I’ll help you,” she said, although her face was as white as a ghost. She had a good reason to look so pale, but Jemma needed all the medical hands she could get when it came to saving Hunter’s life. 

“Fine,” Jemma said. “Ward, get us off the ground!”

Jemma really was not pulling any punches with her orders. Ward had just lost Kara, and Bobbi was losing Hunter, but there was really no time for either of them to grieve. The longer they remained there, the higher the chance that Hunter would die. And, to be fair, Jemma didn’t know about Hive/Kara.

“I -” Ward began, looking torn. He didn’t know her and taking orders from her was clearly not something he was comfortable with.

“Ward, please do it,” Bobbi pleaded, her eyes distraught; Ward took one look at her and ran for the cockpit. He might not know Simmons, but he did know and trust Bobbi. 

“Flint, can you contact Deke?” Jemma asked, pulling on a facemask; Bobbi and Trip were also putting on protective gloves and masks, ready to help her in whatever way they could.

“On it. I’ll take this guy with me,” Flint said, pulling Miles to the door. “Hopefully he can help me figure out what the communications are. Or at the very least, I’ll get him out of your hair.”

Miles was not doing too good. One look at him and any of them could tell that he was still recovering from Katya’s influence. He had barely said a word since Kora had knocked him out of the enemy Quinjet and at the moment, the only way they knew to help him was to wait until her influence wore off. There weren’t even enough of them to figure out if there was anything they could do to help him recover faster. Miles’ condition was not nearly as life-threatening as Hunter’s...or at least it did not appear to be so. 




The emergency distress signal from the Quinjet from Zephyr One had been automatically sent; all the Quinjets were primed to send a signal to Deke if they were severely damaged or if someone pushed the button to alert him that hostile takeover had occurred. In this case, it had been the former, so Deke had now sent out a message to Zephyr Two and was waiting impatiently for a response. 

At the three-hour mark that had supposedly been his minimum time for returning to the hotel, he had sent a message to the tablet that he’d left for Daisy and Lincoln, telling them that he would be back within five to seven hours instead. He hadn’t immediately gotten a response, but before he could seriously start worrying, they had called him; he told them to spend the night at the hotel and rest and that he would contact them after he got through to the others in the Quinjet. They had put up a suspicious lack of a fight, making Deke wonder what was really up with them, but decided that, unless one of them was swayed or seriously injured, he really didn’t want to know. It was bad enough when he was guessing or insinuating things about their relationship without really knowing what was going on.

It wasn’t like they could really do anything closer to the Playground anyway. Deke was still trying to contact the team in South Dakota, the Playground was still being patched up by the S.H.I.E.L.D. teams from the Hub and Triskelion, and he knew for a fact that none of them had gotten any rest since Daisy, Sousa and Kora had returned to this timeline. He’d rather have Daisy and Lincoln well-rested than jump on yet another plane flight to who knew where at this point. And all of them knew, spending a night in a hotel was a rare luxury over sleeping in an airplane.

Deke took the opportunity of the semi-empty plane - he called it semi-empty because Yo-Yo was still in containment - to get access to Lincoln’s medical computer. While Lincoln had given it to him earlier, he hadn’t had a chance to look up the files he had wanted to because Doctor Johnson had contacted him almost immediately to say that he had gotten Daisy and Lincoln a private audience with Radcliffe. Deke had had to send over some necessary files - including another single photo of her and the one with Lincoln and some falsified records of her (Daisy had done that part) - so that Doctor Johnson could send that information to Doctor Radcliffe. 

Deke had pulled up the files on Hunter’s blood that Lincoln had noted earlier when, for what felt like the millionth time, he got interrupted by a loud beeping from the communications centre upstairs. Deke hurried up there and switched on the screen, only to be completely taken aback when he was greeted by Flint of all people.

“Flint?” Deke spluttered. “What are you doing here?”

This _had_ to be the other timeline version of Flint. In this timeline, both Deke and Flint had yet to be born for decades. And if Flint was there...what in the world did that mean? Deke was still trying to figure out the time-travel/communication device, although admittedly, he hadn’t had all that long to work on it. He had kept getting interrupted. By said loud beeping from computer alerts, communications from Doctor Johnson, and/or Daisy and Lincoln with some startling revelation about missing cross necklaces or them needing relationship advice. 

“Deke!” Flint said. “My man, you look old!”

Well. Flint hadn’t changed.

“It’s been thirty-three years, Flint!” Deke said. “What are you doing here? What’s going on? Who came with you?”

“Yeah, it was an adventure for sure!” Flint said. “Fitzsimmons got me to come! Well, they didn’t make me, but I figured, it’s a small trade-off cuz we’re friends and yaknow, you’re the director now and-”

“Whoa, hold on, Flint,” Deke said. His head was in a tailspin. Not for the first time that day, but still. Flint needed to explain better. “Did you come alone?”

“Nope!” Flint said cheerfully. “Simmons and Bobbi came with me!”

Deke sat down hard in a chair. Simmons. Jemma. Nana. After all this time. 

“Simmons?” he repeated, his voice coming out in a croak. 

“Yeah!” Flint said. “She’s caring for Hunter now; he took a bullet.”

“He took a _bullet_?!” Deke demanded, horrified. 

“Yeah, it was a standoff with Katya,” Flint said, his cheerful demeanour dropping slightly. “That wasn’t the worst part, though.”

Not the worst part? How could anything be any worse than that?

“Katya has Kora and Sousa,” Flint continued. 

Okay. Things could be a _lot_ worse than getting shot. Daisy was going to completely freak out. To lose both her sister and her ex-boyfriend whom she still cared about on the same day? That would be a nightmare.

“Christ,” Deke muttered. 

“We’re heading back to the Playground, I think Ward said,” Flint said. “Will you meet us there? Simmons is doing the best she can but-”

“But she’s not an MD,” Deke finished. “You guys need the doctors at the Playground or Lincoln.”

“Yeah,” Flint said. 

“I’m on it,” Deke said, already getting to his feet. “Ward’s right to bring you guys back to the Playground; it is the closest S.H.I.E.L.D. base to South Dakota, but I don’t know how many doctors and what working medical equipment are there right now. They’re still repairing it after the attack...I’ll find out. Have Ward take the route that’ll keep him on a close trajectory to both the Playground and the Academy so he can make a detour there if necessary. I’ll get Lincoln and Daisy and we’ll meet you guys at the Playground or the Academy. Lincoln can do the surgery on Hunter.”

“Cool,” Flint said. “See you soon then!”

“Bye.”

Deke hung up and shook his head in an attempt to gather his thoughts. Those were some serious bombshells that Flint had just dropped in his lap. But he didn’t have time to worry about them. He had to help his team first. He glanced around the plane and then ran for the Quinjet. He could cloak the aircraft and fly it to the hotel; part of the reason they had booked such a fancy location was because it had a big enough roof for the Quinjet to land on if necessary. The faster he got to Daisy and Lincoln, the faster he could get them back to the base. The time for stealth was seriously over. 




Daisy awoke to the sensation of the lightest of kisses brushing her bare shoulder. It took a second for her to realize what it was and then she smiled, opening her eyes to meet Lincoln’s.

“Hey you,” she said, smiling softly at him. 

There was nothing better than waking up next to him. It had been way too long since she’d had that luxury. She could get used to this. 

“Hey,” he said, his voice slightly rough from sleep. “Sleep well?”

Daisy smiled. “The best.”

She ran her fingers down his bare arm and tilted her head up to kiss him. Their lips met and for a moment, Daisy allowed herself to get lost in the sensation. Unfortunately, reality hit all too soon; she knew that Lincoln wouldn’t be waking her without a logical reason. Cursing her sense of responsibility, she reluctantly pulled away before things could get too heated. 

“Is it time for Deke to be back?” she asked; if it was something more serious than that, they wouldn’t be lazing in bed kissing. They would be jumping up and into their clothes to run and save some agents’ lives.

Lincoln nodded reluctantly, although he still looked much more relaxed than she had seen him in a long while. To be honest, the last time she had seen him this relaxed in either timeline was probably also the last time they’d had sex. And before that, it had been at Afterlife, when they had first become friends. 

“Yeah, almost,” Lincoln said. “I didn’t want to wake you, but we’re almost at the five hour mark and I figured you wouldn’t want Deke walking in on us.” He paused. “He teases us enough already.”

Daisy laughed, shifting closer to him. “He’s _your_ father figure,” she teased. “I know I wouldn’t want Coulson walking in on me with my boyfriend.”

Boyfriend. She’d used that word. Ah well. They _had_ chosen each other, but they hadn’t exactly stuck labels on what they were yet. Well, it didn’t really matter. They knew they had a future together if they both survived this whole Hive disaster. In fact, she was rather under the impression that he was something more than just her boyfriend. 

“Says the girl who had May greet you at the door once with your shirt,” he countered, but there was a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he spoke. 

“Exactly my point,” Daisy smirked, her face inches from his, lips close enough to tease him, but not close enough that they were touching. “So Deke making an appearance should be the last thing you want.”

She pulled away before he could kiss her again, tugging one of the sheets off the bed with her as she hunted for her clothes. She had no idea where they had ended up last night.

“Hey, maybe this is that moment from your timeline,” Lincoln pointed out, still sprawled under the remaining covers. “Seeing as in this timeline May did not ever have that experience with Miles.”

“You don’t have to sound so excited,” Daisy teased, but she knew they were both joking. She liked this side of both of them, when they could be happy and together and not have to worry about Hive or Katya or Hydra. They really didn’t get enough of it.

She pulled on her jeans, found Lincoln’s and threw them at him. 

“As much as I like you like this, I like being able to look at Deke in the eye,” she said. “So get dressed, Sparky.”

Lincoln laughed. “Make me,” he joked.

“Hmm,” Daisy said, going back over to the bed, now wearing her bra and jeans; she had yet to find her shirt. “How about I don’t kiss you again until you do?”

Her tone was teasing and she straddled him on the bed, over the covers, hands on his shoulders. His eyes darkened at her words and actions. 

“Daisy -”

At that very moment, the door beeped as a keycard was used against the opposite side. Then the door jerked on its hinges as the chain that one of them had luckily had the sense to attach the night before prevented the door from opening all the way. 

“Lincoln! Daisy!” Deke’s shout was frantic. “Are you guys in there?”

For spies, Daisy and Lincoln’s reactions really weren’t good at that moment. Both froze for a split second and then Daisy hopped off Lincoln, already scanning the room again for her shirt. How could they possibly make the room look like they hadn’t had sex a few hours ago? She didn’t think it was possible. Their powers were oriented towards vibrations and electricity, not super human speed. Yo-Yo’s powers would be very useful right about now. 

“We’re here, Deke,” Lincoln called. 

“Yeah, we’ll be there in a sec,” Daisy said, frantically scraping her hair out of her face. Where was her shirt? 

“Guys, I don’t care what’s going on in there, open the damn door!”

Deke sounded so stressed that they both realized that something had gone horribly wrong. Something must have happened that would cause him to sound so panicked. He sounded borderline angry. Concerned, Daisy ran to the door and lifted the chain off its hook so that she could let him in, thinking that if there were enemy Inhumans on his tail, she could at least quake them to shreds before they could register that they were seeing her in a bra. 

“What’s wrong?” Daisy yanked the door open. “What has you so-”

“Kora,” Deke said, stumbling into the room. 

There was no one in the hallway chasing him, but his words were enough of a shock.

“What?” Lincoln asked.

“They have Kora,” Daisy whispered. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it? Katya? Hive?”

Her brain rebelled at the possibility, hoping against hope that Deke would tell her that she was wrong, that Kora was fine, but just needed their help with something. 

Deke opened his mouth to speak and then realized, all at once, what he had walked into. “Oh...oh. _Crap_. I’ll...I’ll be on the roof. In the Quinjet. We need to get back to the Playground ASAP. Hunter’s been shot. Simmons is trying to treat him, but you need to do the surgery, Lincoln.”

He was backing away as he spoke, as if he couldn’t get out of the room faster than he had gotten in. 

“What?!” Lincoln repeated, scrambling into his jeans; among the things that Deke had left behind had been changes of clothes for both of them. “Hunter’s been shot?”

“Simmons is here?” Daisy gasped, struggling to comprehend the vast multitude of bombshells that Deke had thrown at them in the last few sentences.

Deke seemed to realize that they had so many questions for him, it would be easier if he stayed and talked to them while they got dressed. Even if it did pose a very awkward situation for him. He walked back over to the table and began quickly packing up their S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment, talking as he worked.

“The mission in South Dakota went badly,” Deke said matter-of-factly, but both Daisy and Lincoln could tell that he was suppressing some very strong emotions beneath his deliberately calm exterior. “I don’t know the details, but the long and short of it is, Kora got Hunter and Miles away, but Hunter got shot; Simmons, Bobbi and Flint are now in this timeline; and Kora and Sousa have been taken.”

Daisy sat down hard in a chair; Deke realized too late that he should have broken the news to her better. While he had mentioned Kora earlier, he hadn’t mentioned the context. Additionally, while it was pretty obvious that she had chosen Lincoln and she had just had sex with him, it didn’t mean that she didn’t care about Sousa. She might not like him romantically anymore, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still care about him, at least as a friend. And Kora...Kora was her sister. Daisy cared about Kora more than almost anyone. 

“Kora?” Daisy said faintly. “And Sousa? By whom? Katya? Hive?”

Deke raised his hands above his head. “I don’t know, Daisy. I really don’t. I would assume Katya because Hive was with you two last night and as powerful as he is, I don’t think he can teleport to South Dakota. Speaking of, what happened last night? With Hive, I mean,” he added hastily. “Not...in here.”

Daisy’s stomach turned upside down. This was her fault. Hers and Lincoln’s. If they’d been with Kora, maybe they could have stopped them from being taken. Their mission here had been a complete bust; Radcliffe had been an LMD and Hive had gotten away. Only two good things had come out of the whole mess, the first being that they had figured out Hive’s identity, and the second was Daisy figuring out her feelings towards both Lincoln and Sousa.

But even that was her fault in a way. Daisy had chosen to save Lincoln and now Kora and Sousa were paying the price. Hell, they’d been having sex while her sister had been fighting for her life! Daisy knew that Kora would not surrender without a fight. Her stomach churned at the thought of Kora being tortured and eventually swayed and she felt like she was going to throw up. 

Lincoln saw her face and sprang into action, thrusting a trash can under her chin. Perfect timing. 

God bless the doctor who knew what it looked like when someone was about to puke.

Lincoln held her hair out of her face while she threw up in the trash can, running his hand lightly over her back in a soothing manner. His touch relaxed her; she closed her eyes, regaining control of her stomach. 

Deke, on the other hand, completely freaked out. 

“Holy crap, you’re going to take the morning after pill the second we get back to the Zephyr,” Deke said. “Or does that not work if you’re already pregnant? Jesus, guys, I already have Bobbi’s pregnancy to deal with, I don’t need another one on my hands-”

“Deke!” Daisy protested vehemently, or at least as vehemently as she could while still clutching a trash can of vomit and being shirtless. Lincoln, too, had yet to put on a shirt. There wasn’t much she could say in their defense.

For someone who was a genius when it came to technology and engineering, Deke apparently hadn’t caught up on the intricacies of the human body. In the dystopian future that Deke had come from, he had been one of the last naturally born babies; human babies had been artificially grown by the Kree in an attempt to produce more Inhumans. Apparently, 35 years after escaping that apocalyptic hellhole, he still didn’t really know how the whole pregnancy process worked. 

Lincoln shook his head. “Morning sickness doesn’t present itself until at least four weeks after contraception.” 

“And I had my period two weeks ago,” Daisy added. “Definitely not pregnant.”

“That’s the rule about humans, Lincoln!” Deke retorted, answering Lincoln’s statement about morning sickness. “I don’t know anything about Inhuman biology! You’re the doctor who understands Inhuman biology. You tell me! When does morning sickness happen for Inhumans? Do birth control pills or morning after pills even work with you guys?”

Ah. So that was what Deke was on about. The intricacies of the _Inhuman_ body, not the human one.

“And, Daisy, the fact that you had your period two weeks ago, does not reassure me in the slightest,” Deke added. “Because that means that right now is the perfect time for you to get knocked up.”

Daisy groaned inwardly at Deke’s lack of a filter. 

Lincoln held up his hands in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. “Deke, calm down. You’re not about to be a grandfather, okay? Daisy isn’t pregnant. We used a condom. Relax! Besides, don’t we have more worrisome things to talk about?”

It was almost funny that, after everything, with Hunter shot; and Kora and Sousa kidnapped; and Bobbi and Simmons and Flint back, Deke’s biggest worry was if Daisy was pregnant. If Daisy wasn’t worried sick - literally - about all of them, she might have laughed.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Deke said anxiously, clearly overwhelmed by everything. He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. “Let’s get out of here.”

He had already packed up the last of the S.H.I.E.L.D. technology and now found both their shirts, back over at the sofa area. 

“I think you’ll need these,” he said grimly, tossing them both to them. “Let’s go.”

Deke hurried out the door and Daisy and Lincoln turned to look at each other. 

“That was….” Lincoln began.

“Unexpected,” Daisy finished, tugging on her shirt. She paused. “You know what? You’re right.”

“About what?” Lincoln asked, pulling his shirt over his head.

“This _was_ the May moment,” Daisy said, as they made their way to the door.

Even though Daisy was going through emotional hell, Lincoln was glad that, at the very least, her sense of humour was still intact. 




Deke was piloting Zephyr Three back to the base, keeping a watchful, but not too watchful eye on Daisy and Lincoln, who were working on the antitoxin in Lincoln’s lab when he got a communication call from Zephyr Two. Worried that something had seriously gone wrong with Hunter, he picked up immediately.

“Hi, Flint?” he asked, thinking it would be the same Inhuman as earlier.

“It’s not Flint,” said the voice on the other end of the line. A voice that sounded rough and strained from stress. 

It was Ward.

“Ward,” Deke said. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with Hunter? Did he take a turn for the worse?”

“We’re still on the trajectory to both the Academy and the Playground, but that’s not it,” Ward said. “Simmons is keeping him hanging in there, but I think we should go to the Academy, not the Playground, and have the doctors there operate on him, not Lincoln.”

“Why?” Deke asked, confused. “Lincoln’s perfectly capable of operating-”

“Deke, I know how fond of him you are,” Ward interrupted. “I know how much he matters to you. But I’ve been thinking about it for the last few hours flying back to the Playground and I realized that Kara had to have been Hive all the way back when I rescued her from Maveth. How in the world did she fool all the tests that our S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors performed on her when she returned? There’s no way she could have. Bobbi ran the tests on her, yes, and Bobbi’s human. Then I remembered what you guys said about the sway that Hive can do on Inhumans. There are two Inhuman doctors at the base who could have changed Kara’s medical results: Raina and Lincoln. They even have higher authority in the lab than Bobbi does. While we know Raina has been swayed, it’s been months since Kara’s been back. I doubt Lincoln could have avoided Kara for that long, even if he didn’t know what she was. I think she - he, Hive, whatever - turned him months ago.”

“That’s crazy,” Deke said, his mind spinning in a thousand different directions at the same time. Lincoln swayed way back when Ward had rescued Kara from the alien planet? How could that be? But at the same time, it made a crazy sort of sense. According to Daisy, Lincoln and Kora, only Daisy was immune to Hive’s sway. And if so, there was no way that Lincoln could have avoided being swayed by Kara, especially if he hadn’t known what she was. 

“It’s not possible, Ward,” Deke said, trying to make sense of it all. “When we went back to the Playground yesterday, Trip ran tests on Daisy, Lincoln and Kora. None of them were swayed.”

“And if it’s been months since he’s been swayed, he would have had contingency plans to cover it up,” Ward said. “He’s the doctor, Deke, Trip’s just a field medic. I don’t like it either, and I’d much rather think that Raina is the one behind all the falsification of Kara’s medical reports, but do you really think that Lincoln could have lived in the same compound as Hive for months and not been swayed?”

“Oh God,” Deke said, staring at Lincoln through the feed from the cameras that were installed in the lab. In spite of the worrisome situation they were in, he was looking happy, happy and smiling. As Deke watched, Lincoln said something to Daisy that made her laugh and tilt her head back, hip-bumping him as she went to fetch something from one of the cupboards for him. 

Deke could not bear to think about it any longer. It would _crush_ Daisy, absolutely crush her if Ward’s theory was correct and that Lincoln had been swayed this entire time. He could not imagine how shattered she would feel to discover that her entirely new relationship with Lincoln was built on the foundations of Hive’s sway. While he had figured out from their conversations that Hive’s sway did not take away genuine feelings that either of them had from each other, he also knew that it would destroy her emotionally to learn that Lincoln was a double agent after everything that they’d been through. Not to mention everything that had happened the previous night...if Daisy had thrown up over discovering that Kora was captured and soon-to-be swayed, he could only try to imagine how horrified she would be if Lincoln was swayed too. The pain that she would be in...to lose Lincoln _and_ Kora _and_ Sousa in the same day…. 

“That’s not it,” Ward said. 

“Not it?” Deke asked weakly. “What else?”

“If Lincoln was swayed from the beginning and could have faked the test results on the Inhumans, then it’s highly possible that Daisy is swayed as well,” Ward said. “Even if she’s still supposedly immune to Hive’s sway, what told you guys that? The results that Lincoln found. Daisy, Lincoln and Kora themselves told us that one of them was likely swayed back when they were rescuing us from Hive’s base. It’s obviously not Kora seeing as she risked everything to save Hunter and Miles. Has Daisy given you any indication whatsoever that she might be on the same side as Lincoln and knows that he’s been swayed?”

Deke’s mind immediately flashed to the night before when he had seen them battling Hive. They had escaped almost unscathed from Hive. Had Hive let them go? Was that why they had had sex the night before? Because the sway had made them understand each other? Had it helped them connect? Why would they still be with his team if both of them were swayed? What did he have that they needed?

“If they were both swayed, what is it that you think they want?” Deke demanded. “Why are they still with our team? Why haven’t they already run off to Hive?”

“They would need the cross necklace,” another voice said; it was Trip. Deke hadn’t realized he was there as well, listening to their interactions and letting Ward talk. “Kora gave it to me. Which is another reason why we don’t think Kora has been swayed...or at least wasn’t swayed earlier when she was at Hive’s base. By now, Katya is sure to know that she tricked her. They could be staying with the team to get the necklace. Of all people, Deke, you trust both of them implicitly.”

“Lincoln blacked out half of Bucharest last night,” Ward said. “They were alone for a while, weren’t they? And when you tried to contact them, they didn’t respond. Not immediately. Did they?”

“No….” Deke thought that that had been because they were having sex, not because they were making plans with Hive! But it was starting to make horrifying sense...and when he had asked them how the night before had gone with Hive, Daisy had thrown up and he had been completely distracted with the possibility of her potential pregnancy. Why else wouldn’t they have told him about the mission the night before if not to delay and get their stories straight? 

“How did you know that?” he asked, his mind racing. 

“Miles got us some camera footage from last night,” Trip said. “His brain is still scrambled from Katya’s thrall, but accessing old camera footage is a piece of cake to him. He found the footage from last night’s mission at the Transhumanists’ Club.”

“They could have been in contact with Katya or Hive when they weren’t responding to you,” Ward said. “Deke, you need to come up with some excuse to get them both in containment. If you’ve got three swayed Inhumans on Zephyr Three, those two plus Yo-Yo - that’s what Trip told me her name is - then you’ve got some serious problems.”


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys, the promised Trailer 3 is here!!! My advice: read the chapter first and watch the trailer second, but of course, you can ignore what I'm typing HAHA. Trailer 4 will come out in a while...as soon as spoilers permit me to post it!!! 😍 Feel free to comment on the trailer and/or share it with anyone you think might enjoy it! This trailer has some serious spoilers for the last 28 chapters AND the first two trailers, so if you haven't read or watched those yet, I would seriously advise you to do so first. 😂
> 
> Hope you enjoy!!! 😊
> 
> Link to trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXFb-K4XRcs

**Chapter 29**

“Okay,” Deke said grimly. “You guys go to the Academy. Ward, drop Hunter, Miles, Bobbi and Trip there so that Hunter and Miles can get the treatment they need. Bring Doctor Johnson, Simmons and Flint back to meet us at the Playground. Doctor Johnson can run whatever tests he needs on Lincoln and Daisy to see if they’ve been swayed. It’ll be better if we do the tests at the Playground; it’s isolated there.”

Even as Deke spoke, he knew what the result would be of asking Doctor Johnson to run tests on Daisy. He would find out that she was his daughter. There was no way around it. Doctor Johnson and Raina were the world’s experts on Inhumans and if anyone could prove or disprove that Daisy and Lincoln were swayed, it would be them. Deke didn’t want any more doubts after this if they were or weren’t under Hive’s influence. 

But that would mean letting Doctor Johnson know that he somehow had an Inhuman daughter. 

And that would be complicated, to say the least. 

Doctor Johnson didn’t hate Inhumans, nor was he their biggest fan. He was willing enough to work with them - he had taught Lincoln for a while after the latter had undergone Terrigenesis - but Deke suspected that part of the reason that Doctor Johnson had been willing to teach Lincoln was because he still looked normal. Neither Doctor Johnson nor Raina had ever specifically said so, but Deke theorized that part of the reason why Raina had requested to be moved to the Playground after her Terrigenesis was because she no longer looked human.

Deke didn’t know if meeting Daisy might change that. It could go one of two ways. Either Doctor Johnson would be thrilled to have a daughter and would overcome his slight prejudice towards Inhumans, or he would be horrified and would want nothing to do with her. Deke wasn’t sure what would happen, but regardless, contacting Doctor Johnson was still the best way that he could help Daisy and Lincoln at the moment. As great a doctor as Jemma was, she wasn’t an expert on Inhuman biology; Lincoln knew more about Inhumans than she did. And if Deke wanted to make absolutely sure that neither Lincoln nor Daisy could cheat any of the tests, he had to get an expert in to confirm or deny their swayed statuses. 

Deke also knew that Daisy’s reunion with Jiaying hadn’t been...the best. It had definitely been complicated. And now he was instigating yet another reunion with another biological parent in a timeline where she hadn’t even been born. While Deke didn’t know the details, he was aware that Daisy’s relationship with her father in the original timeline had been better than hers with Jiaying. It would be bad if the reverse happened in this timeline, which was, of course, highly possible. 

But if Deke had to choose between Doctor Johnson finding out that Daisy was his daughter from another timeline and hating her because she was Inhuman, and not finding out if Lincoln and Daisy were swayed, Deke would choose the former any day. Even if it hurt Daisy. He might have to hurt her to help her and while that sucked, he had to do it. 

Even if Daisy wasn’t swayed and Lincoln was, Deke knew that Daisy would choose getting hurt by her father over losing Lincoln again. She had made it abundantly clear that she could not lose Lincoln; she had chosen to save him over helping Kora and Sousa when she had decided to go to Bucharest. 

“I’ll call Doctor Johnson after I get Daisy and Lincoln into containment,” Deke said. “I’ll make sure that he knows you guys will be there to pick him up from the Academy. Okay?”

“Copy that,” Ward agreed. “And Deke, be careful. Those two are extremely powerful individuals and highly dangerous.”

“They might not hurt each other if one of them has been swayed, but I don’t know if that might extend to you,” Trip added. “I don’t know if they’ve been swayed and I _have_ spent more time around them than Ward has, but then again, we don’t really know what an undercover swayed Inhuman looks like. Better to be safe than sorry, I think.”

Deke nodded. Trip was right. Ward’s theory was so plausible that he couldn’t not do something about it. It was highly frustrating that he didn’t know what an undercover swayed Inhuman, as Trip put it, looked like. They had seen Raina and Katya swayed, but that was when they were openly on Hive’s side. Neither of them knew how convincing a swayed Inhuman could be. They still didn’t know if Raina had been swayed the entire time since Hive/Kara had returned from Maveth. 

In fact, the only people in this timeline who knew what one of Hive’s inside men looked like were Daisy, Lincoln, Kora and now Simmons. Daisy and Lincoln were high suspects, Kora had been taken and might now be swayed, and Simmons was in the throes of trying to save Hunter’s life. Not to mention that while Simmons knew that Daisy had been swayed, she hadn’t experienced it the same way that Lincoln, Fitz and Mack had. It was not reassuring in the slightest that the two people in the timeline who knew first hand what Hive’s sway looked like were the two current highest candidates for being under Hive’s control. 




Deke’s head was swimming after his conversation with Ward and Trip. He didn’t like it, in fact, he hated the possibility that Lincoln and Daisy were under Hive’s control. But he had to do _something_. And by something, that meant he had to get them into containment. 

His only idea at the moment was to remind them that they had been in close contact with Hive the previous night and to ask them to go into containment as a precaution until they got back to the Playground. The last time there had been a possibility of them being swayed, they had voluntarily gone into containment, so it probably wasn’t too big of a leap to hope that they would willingly do so again.

The only problem was, Yo-Yo, who was definitely swayed, was in the module.

There was no way that they would willingly go into the module with her nor would Deke ever suggest that if there was an alternative. It would be asking for the Zephyr to come crashing out of the sky. 

Of course, Deke could always knock them out. There was sleeping gas that would put even Inhumans to sleep, there were ICERs (which honestly, they would probably see coming) and there were drugs. After the whole Nathaniel Malick debacle had concluded, Deke’s S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists had found the drugs that he had used on Daisy and Sousa. If Deke could get them to consume Daisy and Lincoln to consume the drugs in the form of food, it would take away their powers momentarily.

He also knew that if Daisy wasn’t swayed, she might never forgive him for it. She might even view it as big a betrayal as Fitz operating on her as the Doctor to remove the inhibitor for her powers to save the team from the Fear Dimension. He didn’t know what he’d do if she chose not to forgive him. Lincoln too, would be furious at him for making Daisy go through that. While this timeline version of Lincoln hadn’t experienced the same torture that the other timeline version had, he still knew how badly Nathaniel Malick had hurt Daisy. If both of them turned on him...well, Deke would be right up there with Daisy having the worst day ever. 

But if either or both of them was swayed...he would be saving them. 

Could he do it? Hurt them to help them? 

Deke went into the kitchen and, on autopilot, made three sandwiches and three mugs of coffee. He put them all on a tray and then, as if his hands were working independently of his mind, poured two little vials of power-removal drugs into two of the mugs, followed by two pills that knocked Inhumans out immediately. His hands were shaking as he shoved the vials into his pocket. They had to understand. They _had_ to. 

Carrying the tray, Deke walked down the staircase very slowly. The longer he put it off, the better. 

He paused outside the door to the lab and looked in. They were inside, both looking very serious; Daisy’s lips were pressed together in a thin line and she looked sad and worried. Deke knew instantly that it was because of Kora and Sousa, but even as he watched, Lincoln took her hands in his, pressing his forehead against hers. It didn’t look like they were about to kiss, it was just an irrefutable connection that they had.

As Deke watched, his stomach churned. Were both of them under Hive’s influence? Was one? Were neither? He knew that Lash had spared Lincoln’s life before. It _was_ possible that Lash had given Lincoln immunity at the Playground without Lincoln realizing it. Andrew and Kara had both been undercover there; Andrew had had ample opportunity to make Lincoln immune, almost as much of an opportunity as Kara had had to sway him. If Lincoln hadn’t been looking for immunity in himself when he’d been running tests back at the Playground, would he have found it? Deke didn’t know. He didn’t know enough about Inhuman biology to be able to tell and he couldn’t trust what Lincoln would say. 

Could he do this? Could he drug two of the people he loved the most? 

As Deke stood there, fraught with indecision, Daisy opened her eyes and spotted him. She let go of Lincoln’s hands, stepping back, blinking back what Deke thought might be tears. He wasn’t sure.

“Hey, Deke,” she said, doing her best to sound normal, like she wasn’t incredibly emotional. “What’s up?”

Daisy was obviously a wreck about Kora and Sousa’s kidnapping. Was it an act? Deke knew she could act, but if she was in on Lincoln’s ruse (if there was even one to begin with), why would she be acting around him? Or had they known that Deke was coming before he had come? Now Deke was just overthinking everything. 

“Hey,” Deke said, stepping into the room. “How’s the antitoxin research going?”

“It’s going,” Lincoln admitted. “I’m trying, but it’s hard. I was wondering...would it be possible for Doctor Johnson to chip in on this? Aside from Raina, he really is the most knowledgeable about Inhumans. He would probably be able to see some things that I’m missing.” 

Now Deke was confused about _Lincoln_. If Lincoln was swayed, why would he be suggesting that they go to one of the few people in the world who could figure out that they had been swayed? It made Deke all the more concerned that Ward might be wrong and that neither of them had been swayed.

“That’s a good idea,” Deke said. “I’ll contact him after this and see if he can make a trip to the Playground. I’m probably going to end up owing him a lot more than two rounds of drinks after this.” He was attempting to sound normal and he guessed it worked because both Lincoln and Daisy smiled.

“I guess that means I’ll have to see him then,” Daisy said, raking a hand through her hair and wincing when she came in contact with the cut that Lincoln had stitched up what felt like days ago, not just hours. “Gotta love family reunions.”

She sounded grim and Deke winced. Although Daisy didn’t yet know it, there was no possibility of him not finding out the truth. She was thinking that she might have a ‘Jiaying’ reunion with him, with Lincoln there instead of Sousa, but in reality, if he agreed to run tests on them, Deke would likely have to tell him first. 

“I’ll be there if you want me to be,” Lincoln offered and Daisy gave him a wan smile. If Deke was thinking about the Daisy-Jiaying-Sousa reunion, then he knew perfectly well that both Lincoln and Daisy were thinking about it also, but at least, even though the timeline was throwing them in a loop - quite literally - both of them knew whom Daisy had chosen. They both had that reassurance. Besides, Lincoln had been the one with Daisy when she’d first found out about Jiaying being her mother. Although...it _had_ been Ward who had originally introduced Daisy to her father. Circles upon circles upon circles of boyfriends. Wonderful.

“I brought breakfast,” Deke interrupted, making up his mind. Now that they had seen him, there really wasn’t anything he could do but follow along with the plan. “I figured you guys hadn’t eaten since...I don’t know when. Anyway.” 

“Thanks, Deke,” Daisy said, taking a spiked mug of coffee. 

“Yeah, thanks,” Lincoln said, picking up a sandwich half and the other spiked mug. “You’re right, I think the last time we ate was….”

“In the air on the way to Bucharest,” Daisy reminded him, taking a swig of coffee. “We, uh...forgot dinner last night.”

Deke grimaced at the insinuation but he knew, seeing as Daisy had already drunk the coffee, that he had to get Lincoln to drink too and quickly. The drugs that he had chosen were the highly potent ones and worked almost instantaneously. If Lincoln didn’t consume the drugs soon, Daisy would react to them and Lincoln would know that Deke had done something to her. Then Deke would be facing the wrath of a potentially swayed Inhuman whose girlfriend had just been drugged. Not that Deke knew that Lincoln had threatened to kill Coulson if Coulson ever shot Daisy. If he knew that...maybe he would have come up with another plan for keeping the Inhumans locked up. 

“Yeah, sounds like there was really something else on your minds last night,” Deke said dryly. “So eat up, because you two went powerhouse ka-boom against Hive and I know that that can be exhausting.”

Lincoln rolled his eyes. “Yes, _Dad_ ,” he said, teasingly, biting into his sandwich and then washing it down with some coffee; Deke felt tension leaving his shoulders as Lincoln swallowed the drugs. 

There were so many ways that Deke could have made the conversation more awkward after Lincoln’s statement, but for once, he held his tongue. However, that appeared to be a mistake, because Daisy and Lincoln traded concerned looks over their food. They knew that something was wrong because he wasn’t teasing them about having walked in on them that morning. Or asking if Daisy had actually taken the morning after pills like he’d insisted she do. 

“Deke, did something happen?” Daisy asked, stepping towards him. “Is Hunter okay? Did you get news about Kora and Sousa?”

“Hunter’s hanging in there,” Deke said, jumping on the first topic of conversation that she brought up. “Simmons is keeping him alive...he just needs to get into surgery as soon as possible.”

“Poor Bobbi,” Daisy muttered. “She must be going through hell. It’s not easy when someone you love is hurt.” 

She glanced at Lincoln as she spoke and then she froze. Deke briefly wondered what the slipup was and then realized all of a sudden. Daisy had used the L-word. 

Deke didn’t know if either Daisy or Lincoln had ever told each other they loved each other. Most likely not in this timeline. But in the other one...Deke wasn’t sure about that either. He _did_ have a pretty good feeling that they did love each other...even if they didn’t know it yet themselves. But clearly, it was something that they hadn’t yet addressed.

Before Lincoln could speak, however, Daisy stumbled, dropping the mug of coffee, which shattered on the floor.

“Linc...I don’t feel too good,” Daisy mumbled. 

The drugs were taking effect. And very quickly too; Deke didn’t know if that was good or bad. Part of him wanted to disappear and let them finish their conversation about their feelings, but another part of him was grateful that the drugs were taking effect and he didn’t have to worry if either of them might turn on him or each other any second. 

Lincoln caught Daisy as she fell, lowering them both to the ground, propping her shoulders up.

“Daisy! Daisy, what’s wrong? Talk to me!” Lincoln felt for her pulse and then rounded on Deke. 

The look in his eyes was enough to make Deke feel like the worst person in the world. 

He knew.

“What did you do?!” Lincoln spat, but the drugs were starting to take effect on him too. He started gagging, trying to make himself throw up, but the drugs were already in his system. The same dizziness that had affected Daisy caused Lincoln to start swaying in his kneeling position on the ground. Within seconds, he was slumped down next to her, his eyes closing involuntarily. 

Deke tried to look away, but he couldn’t quite manage it. The look on Lincoln’s face shattered him on the inside though. Even as Lincoln slipped into unconsciousness, his arm thrown protectively over Daisy, the look on his face was of sheer, utter betrayal. 




When Kora came around, her head was spinning. Her brain felt like it was a fog machine. She hadn’t felt this dazed and confused ever before, but she had a pretty good feeling that this drug-induced haze was what Daisy, Lincoln and Jiaying had gone through when they had been captured by Nathaniel Malick, Doctors von Strucker and List, and Daniel Whitehall respectively. Well, all she could say was being captured by Inhumans was a step up from being captured by high-ranking Hydra people obsessed with powers...and not a step in the right direction.

“Welcome back,” a voice said and Kora looked up to see Sousa sitting next to her, chained up against a wall. Again. “Feels like I’ve done this already.”

At least his sense of humour was still intact. 

Kora groaned. “I really truly hate time,” she mumbled, although her mouth felt like she had a dozen cotton balls stuffed inside it and breathing hurt. She futilely attempted to use her powers against the manacles that were chaining her feet together. “Where are we?”

The room that they were in was windowless, tiny and was essentially a solid tin box that was maybe 20 by 20 feet. Not very big at all. 

“No idea,” Sousa said. “They knocked me out after Katya used her power on you. I woke up a short while ago in this room. You’ve been out a lot longer. Katya was seriously pissed at you for that stunt you pulled with the cross necklace. Why does she want it anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” Kora mumbled, trying to push herself up along the wall to sit up. Then a thought struck her that brushed aside all of her worries about time and concerns about her injuries. “Wait, hang on a second, why haven’t I been swayed yet?”

Sousa frowned at her. “You haven’t been swayed? Or have you? I...I probably wouldn’t know the difference.” He paused, realized how his sentence could have been perceived and then added, “Not in a bad way! I just genuinely don’t know if I’d be able to tell. Katya and James...well, I don’t know much about them, but they seemed...well, they seemed kind of crazy, but something tells me that they were always that way.”

“Trust me, Katya _has_ always been that crazy,” Kora muttered. “And James has also been equally explosive. They’re two of the Inhumans from Afterlife that my mum _didn’t_ want to let go through Terrigenesis. That plan obviously failed.”

“Huh,” Sousa said. “Sounds like she was right about that.”

“She was,” Kora said wearily. “Bear in mind, that this was _after_ the whole Whitehall debacle. My mum might have been a lot of things, but not trusting Katya and James with powers was really smart.” She winced in pain as her cracked ribs shifted and then she spoke again. “But in regards to me being swayed...I think if I were swayed, I wouldn’t be chained to this wall with you. I’d be off doing Hive’s bidding somewhere. Maybe playing pool and drinking beer and hitting on guys.”

Sousa looked at her, confused. “Did Daisy tell you about that?” he asked. “Oh, wait, I forgot, you know everything, thanks to the timeline.”

It was Kora’s turn to be confused. “I was talking about James,” she said. “After he got swayed, when he, Daisy and Alisha were in Union City, he played pool, drank beer and hit on Daisy. To which, she refused because of Lincoln, plus James is a complete asshole, but what were you-” She cut herself off. “Oh. Right. The conversation you had with Daisy before you two went up in the Quinjet into space.” She paused. “Okay. Now I really sound like a time-addled person. Stupid time.” She slumped back against the wall. 

There were enough parallels with everything everyone had gone through. Kora really didn’t need to create another one, even by accident. 

Sousa glanced at her. “Did James ever leave his post?” he asked curiously. 

“Yes,” Kora grumbled under her breath. “He did...and that allowed Lash to save Daisy. Although that still resulted in Lash dying...but, anyway. Beside the point. Daisy and James never were anything, so don’t go down that road. Aside from Lincoln, she didn’t keep anything from you. As far as I know.” 

As far as Kora knew was a pretty solid statement for saying that Daisy hadn’t kept anything else a secret from Sousa. After all, Kora was the one who knew the future. Although she _had_ said, multiple times, that her knowledge of the timeline was not set in stone and what she thought might happen could quite possibly never come to pass. There _were_ other limitations with Kora’s timestream knowledge though. Although she had led Deke to believe that she knew everything about his past, she actually didn’t. She knew the majority of what had led up to the moments where her life overlapped with his because there were only so many possible futures that led them there, but she didn’t know every single little detail. She had just let Deke believe that she knew everything to get him to open up to her. 

Sousa hesitated for a second and then said, “Kora, how much do you know about Daisy’s relationship with Lincoln?”

Kora immediately knew where he was headed with this question; even without her knowledge of the timestream, she knew. That was a can of worms if there ever was one. 

“We are not going there,” she said, trying to look as stern as she possibly could despite being in a severe amount of pain and a head full of clouds. “That’s for Daisy to tell you, not me.”

“You showed Lincoln everything that happened to the team since he died,” Sousa reminded her. “How is this any different?”

“It _is_ different,” Kora countered. “Lincoln knowing the past is very important because guess where I am now? Captured by Hive! Soon-to-be-swayed! The team needs that knowledge to fight Hive. Daisy and Lincoln lived the two opposite sides of that war. Literally. She knows stuff that he doesn’t and vice versa. They need that information.”

Sousa stared at her. “You knew that this was going to happen?” he asked incredulously. “You knew that you were going to be kidnapped by Hive and you still allowed it to happen?”

“I didn’t _know_ it was going to happen,” Kora replied, wincing as she attempted to take a particularly deep breath and her cracked ribs shifted. “It was a possibility. A high one, yes, but a possibility nonetheless. And before you can say anything, it was a highly _un_ likely possibility that you ended up here. In almost all the futures, when I traded myself for someone, it was you. So don’t go blaming me for ending up here. I did my best.”

“I’m not blaming you,” Sousa assured her. “While I wasn’t completely myself, I know that Hunter got shot and you tried to bargain for all of our lives in exchange for yours. You were - are - incredibly brave. You did your best. I am nothing but grateful to you for trying to save all of us.”

Sousa’s praise for her bravery meant a lot, especially considering he had worked with heroes like Daisy, Simmons, Fitz, Coulson, May, Mack, Yo-Yo, Deke…. Real heroes. Not like her. She, who had almost chosen a human life over another. She, who _had_ chosen who remained under Katya’s influence. She, who had betrayed her sister and her mother to Nathaniel freaking Malick. 

Kora tried to breathe again and grimaced in pain. “Well, you probably aren’t going to like what I’m predicting is going to happen next.”

“What _is_ going to happen next?” Sousa asked.

“They’re going to take away your leg,” Kora said. “And that’s not the worst part.”

Sousa raised an eyebrow. That hadn’t been what he’d been expecting her to say. At least the removal of his leg would be painless. “Uh...what’s the worst part?” he asked. 

“This has happened before,” Kora muttered under her breath, almost to herself. “Wretched Mike.”

“Mike Stephens?” Sousa asked, beyond confused as to why Kora was bringing up the story that he had told Daisy while they had been captured by Nathaniel Malick. 

“Mike Peterson,” Kora corrected. “I’m Lincoln.”

“Are you feeling alright?” Sousa asked, starting to get seriously concerned for her sanity. “Oh, wait, I know you’re not, but are you...is the pain causing you to mix up timelines and the past and the present?”

“ _No_ ,” Kora grumbled. “And that’s the worst part. I _hate_ time.”

“What _are_ you talking about?” Sousa asked. Kora was speaking in riddles. The only thing he had grasped from their most recent conversation was that she had a love-hate relationship with knowing the future. 

“Hydra experimentation,” Kora said grimly. “Alisha, James and Giyera are going to come in here in a few minutes and take me to Hive, so I need to tell you this before Raina tells you because it’ll be a lot better coming from me, I promise.”

“That...doesn’t sound good,” Sousa said, his forehead a mess of wrinkles. 

“I’m talking about when Lincoln got captured by Doctors von Strucker and List - Hydra doctors,” Kora said wearily. “They captured him and Mike Peterson, a super soldier with a missing leg, when he was protecting Daisy. Result: Lincoln got cut open, he died, Daisy saved him, begged him to wake up, sat by his bedside in recovery every single day and said she wanted to take him home to Afterlife.” She paused. “You and Daisy were captured by Nathaniel Malick, another wretched Hydra guy. Result: Daisy got cut open, she _almost_ died, you saved her, tried to get her to wake up, sat by her bedside in recovery every single day and told her that you guys were going home. Sound familiar?”

Sousa was silent for a moment, putting the pieces together. 

Kora winced, knowing what he was thinking. It was exactly what Deke had thought a while earlier when Lincoln had told him about the similarities between Daisy’s relationship with Lincoln and hers with Sousa. Earlier in the Quinjet with Katya and James, Kora had essentially told Sousa that Daisy had chosen Lincoln and, as a result, Sousa was likely thinking that the reason Daisy had been with him was because he reminded her of Lincoln. 

“I’m not telling you this because I’m trying to hurt you,” Kora said. “I’m telling you because in a short while, Raina is going to tell you the exact same thing and it’ll be a whole hell of a lot worse hearing it from her, trust me.” 

Sousa shook his head. “I get it, Kora. You’re saying that when Daisy and I got captured by Nathaniel Malick...she’d already lived it once. Just at the other side of it, with Lincoln.” 

Well, that was the...less painful way of thinking about it. Kora didn’t blame Sousa for wanting to think that that was the reason she was telling him all that information. But she knew that Raina wouldn’t be as gentle with her knowledge of the past and the future. 

Kora nodded. “That’s not it,” she warned. “There are a lot of similarities in your relationships; don’t even get me started on the whole Steve/Peggy and Lincoln/Daisy goodbyes with the guys dying in a plane with a bomb to save the world stuff - although that one is really more on you than on Daisy or Lincoln. You have a _type_. But anyway, that’s beside the point.”

“What _is_ the point?” Sousa asked. “If you’re trying to tell me that Daisy-”

The door was yanked open and before Kora could say another word or Sousa could finish his sentence, the two of them were staring at five Alishas, James and Giyera. Kora sighed heavily. They were a sight for sore eyes...not. But honestly, the three of them (or seven, if Alisha counted as five individual people) were a much better combination than Katya, Raina or Hive. 

“Gotta love the future,” she said. “Hi guys. You’re early.”

“I told you she’s a piece of work,” James growled at Giyera. “You sure you two can handle her?”

Alisha rolled her eyes at James, which actually couldn’t be seen very well because her eyes were cloudy white, thanks to her having created her clones. “She’s got the drug in her system. We’ll be fine.”

One Alisha popped open the locks that were chaining Kora to the wall. Two more dragged her upright and started carrying her across the room; she wasn’t making any effort to move on her own. Sousa yanked on his restraints, to no avail. 

“Hey!” he shouted. “Leave her alone! She’s already been hurt enough by that sadistic witch, Katya-”

James punched him hard in the face and Sousa groaned, spitting out a mouthful of blood. It hurt a whole lot more when James punched him instead of just slapping him. But to be fair, the beating that he had endured and was enduring was in no way half as painful as what Kora had experienced, thanks to Katya, James and Sousa himself while he had been under Katya’s control. 

“Play nice, boys,” another voice, a coy one, said. A hooded figure stepped into the room, the owner of the charming and hypnotic female voice. Despite not being able to see the face of the figure, Sousa had a sinking feeling in his gut. He was getting some seriously bad vibes from her. “I had a feeling I might see you.” 

“Who the hell are you?” Sousa demanded, brave regardless of whatever she had in store for him. 

“We have so much to talk about,” the voice said, not answering his question. 

The figure walked closer and lowered her hood, revealing a faceful of spikes and glowing golden eyes. A face that Sousa had seen once before on the video feed that Daisy and Miles had found of the containment cells in the Playground. 

“Raina,” Sousa said, doing his best not to recoil from her frightening face.

“Agent Daniel Sousa,” she said. “It’s about time.”




Alisha dragged Kora out of the room and Giyera slammed the door behind her. When they were sufficiently far enough away from the room where Raina, James and Sousa now were that the occupants of the room couldn’t hear them, the two copies of Alisha let Kora go. Kora stumbled and then slowly stood up, wincing and clutching her ribs.

Another female figure stepped into view from the shadows. 

“Is it done?” Hive/Kara asked Kora.

Kora nodded, straightening up despite the pain that she was in. Showing weakness was not something that Hive appreciated. 

“Yes,” she said. “He’ll believe whatever Raina says now. Because he knows that it’s true. Everything I told him was true. ”

“My child,” Hive/Kara said, touching Kora’s hair lightly. “You’ve done well.”

Kora smiled back. “Thank you.”


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Deke didn’t want to leave Lincoln and Daisy lying in the lab and he knew that if they woke up, especially alone, they would absolutely freak out. He also knew, from the previous time they had discussed the two of them and Kora going into containment, that Daisy could hack her way out of practically any room that had electronic locks, not to mention that if the power-suppressing drug wore off, Lincoln could “Fire-starter” his way out of any room. Neither option sounded good.

So, he carefully closed their eyes - Daisy’s were confused, Lincoln’s accusatory - so that he didn’t have to look at them and feel even more guilty than he already did, and reluctantly injected both of them with another dose of both the power-suppressant drugs and the ones that would keep them unconscious. He would have looked away if he could, but knew that his own sense of comfort wasn’t worth accidentally hurting them with a flawed injection. 

When Deke was done, he carefully lifted Daisy off the floor and carried her upstairs, instead of leaving her chained up on the ramp like they had done with both Pax and Gideon Malick. He brought her into Lincoln’s room and laid her on the bed. If they woke up and/or the drugs wore off, chains wouldn’t hold them, so they might as well be comfortable. Lincoln was harder to carry, but Deke made it, putting him down next to Daisy. He had a pretty good feeling that neither of them would wake, but if they did, there was no room on the Zephyr that would contain them and he was _not_ going to go down the road of murder vests, not that he even had any. 

After straightening out their limbs so that they were resting comfortably, Deke put their uneaten sandwiches on the table next to the bed, along with two wrapped granola bars and two sealed bottles of water. He knew that the drugs would leave them feeling weak and queasy at the very least and even though they probably wouldn’t trust the food and drinks that he was leaving for them, they might eat the sealed ones because those were harder to tamper with.

With those tasks completed, he lingered for a moment, brushing a lock of hair out of Daisy’s eyes and giving Lincoln a light squeeze on the shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, guys,” he muttered, even though they couldn’t hear him. He hesitated and then added, “Please don’t kill me when you wake up.”

Unable to stay in the room any longer, he left, closing and locking the door behind him. With any luck, they would remain asleep until they reached the Playground, where he and the others could transport them into containment. Although he was now doubtful whether the containment rooms could hold them. He had seen them break out of Zephyr One’s containment module, admittedly with Kora’s help. 

Deke was halfway back downstairs to give Yo-Yo some food - Daisy and Lincoln weren’t the only ones who had to eat - when he heard the unmistakable sound of the beeping of his devices back in the communication centre. Frustrated at the seemingly never-ending interruptions, he hurried back to the communications centre, only to find that he had a call from Zephyr Two. 

“Really, Ward?” Deke muttered under his breath as he switched on the communications. 

Jemma and Bobbi appeared on the screen. 

Okay. That was unexpected. He should really stop predicting who was calling him. First Flint, then Ward and Trip, now Jemma and Bobbi. At this rate, his next call from Zephyr Two would be from Hunter and Miles, which admittedly made zero sense because neither was in any condition to call him. 

“Nana!” The words burst out of Deke. Jemma was the last person he had been expecting to see; he knew that she was treating Hunter. He _definitely_ hadn’t had time to register that she was back in his life. If Daisy had felt half as shell-shocked at the reintroduction of Lincoln into her life...well, Deke figured her emotions must be in serious turmoil. Although Jemma hadn’t been dead, Deke hadn’t been expecting to see her again because travelling across the timelines wasn’t something that happened often. But it was _so_ good to see her. Motherhood suited her; she looked just as beautiful and effervescent as ever.

“Deke!” Jemma stared at him like she was trying to memorize his face. “You’ve grown up so much; you look _incredible_!”

Deke snorted. “Thanks, Nana, I know I look old,” he said, but Jemma was smiling, although there were tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Bobbi told me all about what you’ve done here and all the lives you’ve saved and how you looked after all of us…. I’m so proud of you, Deke,” she said, reaching one hand towards the screen as if she wanted to touch him. “So so proud of you.”

A lump grew in Deke’s throat. A small part of him, no matter how much he tried to push it down, had always been longing for her and Fitz’s approval. When he had yelled at them after Fitz had accused him of copying S.H.I.E.L.D. patents, he had _still_ been pursuing their respect and admiration. To hear it from Jemma, after all this time….

“Aw, shucks, Nana, don’t make me cry,” Deke tried for a joke, but that made Jemma tear up even more. 

“We’ve missed you so much,” Jemma said. “ _I’ve_ missed you so much. I wish I had been myself before we left, Deke, I wish you hadn’t had to stay, I wish-”

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Deke said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture, wishing that he could hug her through the screen. “You’re here now. Right? Even if you can’t stay for long. It’s okay. It really is. This is more than any of us could hope for.”

Jemma bit her lip. “Right,” she whispered, but her face said otherwise. No matter what, he was still her grandson, even though he was now basically twice her age. 

Next to her, Bobbi cleared her throat. She had remained silent up till now, but Deke knew that there had to be some serious reason as to why both Jemma and Bobbi were calling him, especially since both of them should be looking after Hunter. Hunter, who had been shot and was lying on the bed behind them in the medlab, looking like death. 

“Is Hunter okay?” Deke asked, squinting at the man on the bed. “I mean...is he hanging in there?”

Bobbi didn’t look too good. There wasn’t much colour in her face; she winced as he spoke. “He’s...alive,” she said finally. “And stable. For now. He’s lost a lot of blood...and we, uh...Deke, we kinda need a favour.”

“Uh, okay?” Deke asked, a little confused why she was so hesitant to ask. “Sure. What do you need? A phone call to the Academy? A specific blood type for a transfusion or something? Trip and Ward could call ahead-”

“We do need a blood transfusion,” Bobbi admitted, looking even paler than before. “But, uh, Deke...you might want to sit down for this.”

Deke frowned at her. “You look like _you_ should sit down,” he said. “Aren’t you still pregnant?”

Deke still didn’t know much about pregnancies, but he had a pretty good feeling that women gave birth nine months after getting pregnant. At this rate, with his agents getting knocked up by accident right and left, he should probably invest in a crash course with Lincoln. Or maybe not, because even if Lincoln forgave him, he could only imagine how awkward it would be, learning about the pregnancy process with his surrogate son. 

Bobbi winced. “I kinda gave birth already,” she said. 

“How long were you in the other timeline?” Deke asked, startled. “How long have Daisy and Kora and Sousa been missing? Nana, you don’t look like you’ve changed much.”

“Around a year,” Jemma admitted, making Deke’s jaw drop. “And that’s not why Bobbi gave birth already.”

“Oh no,” Deke said, realization dawning. “I messed up the time-travel somewhere, didn’t I?”

That was the only reason why Bobbi could have given birth prematurely...or at least prematurely from his point of view. A horrible wave of guilt washed over him. This was all on him. The screwed up time for Bobbi…. Lincoln and Bobbi had followed his instructions when time-travelling. This was seriously all on him. 

Jemma and Bobbi traded concerned looks on the other side of the camera.

“Deke...when Lincoln went across, Bobbi became his tether,” Jemma explained. “But when he brought Daisy, Kora and Sousa back with him...well, they didn’t have one. Which was why time for Bobbi started getting screwed up, because the mechanisms involving time-travel and the quantum realm started assuming that _she_ was their anchor. Which she obviously couldn’t be, because she isn’t from our original timeline.”

“Oh God,” Deke said. “Oh God. Of course. That’s why Sousa’s idiotic attempt at staying really wouldn’t have worked…. Although I’m apparently not much better because I screwed up as well. Even though I know how a lightbulb works.” 

Christ. How badly had he messed up? Two days in this timeline and around a year in the original one…. Was that an effect from his bad attempt at time-travel? Or would it have happened that way anyway? 33 years had passed for him and only one for Daisy by the time their lives had overlapped again.

“Wait, so how are you guys here?” Deke asked, frowning as his brain tried to wrap itself around even more confusing notions about time-travel. “How did you even get across?”

“Bobbi,” Jemma explained. “The devices that you paired for her and Lincoln were still connected and Fitz and I were able to figure out a way to use that connection to bring people from our timeline across to yours as long as she was with us...but there was a catch. We still needed a tether. Someone from your timeline.”

Her voice sounded ominous as she spoke about the catch and all of a sudden, Deke realized what she meant. He gaped at her, his stomach dropping all the way through the floor and down to the ocean below. He hadn’t felt this horrified in ages. And by ages, since he’d learned that Daisy and Lincoln might be swayed. 

“Oh my God,” Deke said, taking a step backwards as he realized what they meant. “How could you - You didn’t. You didn’t. You absolutely couldn’t have. How could you - the _baby’s_ the freaking tether?”

The looks on their faces were enough of an answer. Deke took another step backwards, then two and then fell into a chair. Bobbi had been right about him needing to sit down to deal with this news.

“Holy Kree,” Deke said, twisting his hands together. “Holy holy holy Kree. How...how could you leave the baby behind, Bobbi? How _could_ you? That baby is going to permanently be the anchor! He - or she - can’t ever leave that timeline! I know because I can’t!”

How could Bobbi leave her child? Deke knew all too well how Jemma hadn’t been able to leave Alya…. Kora had told him all about how she had had the memory implant to hide and protect Alya. To hear that Bobbi was willing to leave her baby behind and be an _anchor_ in the timeline….

“I know!” Bobbi cried and for the first time, Deke saw her crack. He backtracked quickly, but Bobbi wasn’t done talking. “I...I made Jemma come with me,” she admitted guiltily. “We have one fixed way of definitely getting back to the original timeline and that’s through the anchor. I told Jemma and Fitz that I would come to bring Daisy, Kora and Sousa back on the condition that Jemma came with me and that Hunter could return with me to their timeline so that we could raise our child together there. Jemma would have come anyway, to see you, but I needed her with me because she would also do anything in the world to get back to Alya. The same way that I would do anything to get back to my son.” 

Deke’s ears were ringing. He felt like someone had thrown him into a blender and whisked his world upside down. The only fixed way of them coming here had been through a baby. A baby. A freaking _baby_ . An innocent child who was now stuck in the wrong timeline with a father in critical condition in a completely different timeline. Holy lemons. Holy Kree. Holy _everything_. 

But even as Deke was trying to grasp an understanding of what was going on, he realized what had to happen for them to get back. They needed another tether...someone to remain in this timeline. Someone who was willing to stay. Like Deke had been willing to stay. 

“That’s why Flint’s here,” he said softly. “You said there’s one fixed way of definitely getting back. Flint’s going to stay here to make sure that you guys can get home.”

Their silence was enough of another answer. 

“Jesus Christ,” Deke said, completely horrified by everything that had happened in the last few minutes. “How many people are going to have to stay permanently in the different timelines before this is over? Because let me remind you, as you’re aware, Kora and Sousa have been kidnapped, so good luck getting them back, and I don’t even know if Daisy _wants_ to go back!”

While Daisy hadn’t mentioned staying to him, he knew perfectly well that if she wanted to return to her original timeline, she would not be going alone. Lincoln would be going with her. It was _not_ a hard stretch to make. In fact, it wasn’t a stretch at all. Sousa had stayed with the original team for Daisy and Deke knew perfectly well that Lincoln cared for Daisy as much or even more than Sousa did. If Daisy wanted to go, Lincoln would go with her, but if Daisy wanted to stay…. Deke knew that that was a high possibility as well. 

“What?” Jemma looked like she couldn’t believe her ears. “Daisy wants to _stay_? Why? What is here that she couldn’t possibly leave-” She cut herself off.

“Lincoln,” she said, realization dawning. “That’s it, isn’t it? She finally...has him back. She didn’t get him back in the Framework, or with time-travel the first time, or with the Monoliths like Flint, or even with the team’s final mission with alternate timelines, but now….” 

Deke didn’t need to say anything. Jemma knew. 

“Oh God,” Jemma said, but surprisingly, she didn’t sound as shell-shocked as Deke thought she might. Maybe she really did know how much Daisy had and still cared about Lincoln. “Did she...Sousa...has she….” Jemma couldn’t quite get the words out.

“She chose Lincoln,” Deke said, cutting her off. “Last night. In Bucharest. They went undercover to get an audience with Holden Radcliffe and-”

“Oh my God,” Jemma repeated, now sounding shocked, which in turn, surprised Deke. “The singularity. Of course. I should have guessed….”

It was Deke’s turn to be confused. First Kora, now Jemma. What in the world was this singularity? “You know what the singularity means?” he asked. “What does it mean? I mean...I know it’s the defining moment, ladida, but what is it code for?”

Jemma blushed, startling Deke. He hadn’t realized that it was something embarrassing. “Uh...I don’t know if you want to know,” she said.

“It can’t be anything more embarrassing than what I’ve gone through the last two days,” Deke said. “I’ve interrupted Daisy and Lincoln not once, not twice, but three times and-” He cut himself off. “Holy Kree. That’s what it is. _Holy crap_!”

Deke needed to go through the Tahiti program. It was bad enough walking in on Daisy and Lincoln’s “morning after”, much less learning when his _grandparents_ had first had sex. He seriously needed some sort of filter for _too much information_. 

Jemma averted her gaze. “Uh, Deke,” she began.

“Yeah, no, it’s fine,” Deke said, raking his hands through his hair. “It’s totally fine. I’m fine. I’m absolutely fine. I did not just have an aneurysm because apparently Kora knows what the freaking singularity is and knew who Daisy was going to choose way back when. _Christ_.”

Kora had known. How much did Kora know? Deke was struck with the startling realization that she had probably known that she might get taken by Hive. Had she done that deliberately to spare Daisy from being taken? Or Lincoln? Deke didn’t know, but he wouldn’t put it past her. Kora was a master manipulator of the timestream and not in a bad way. He was now suspecting that sometimes she did or said things to push the timeline in a specific direction. 

“Uh...then this news is going to come as an even bigger shock, Deke,” Jemma said, glancing at Bobbi. 

Deke was pretty sure that nothing could faze him at this point. 

“What now?” he asked. “Have you met up with a man from an apocalyptic hellscape who claims to be Daisy and Lincoln’s grandson? Or wait, no, I’ve got it, is _Flint_ their grandson? Because he’s Inhuman and they both clearly are. Because I’m not putting anything past these wretched timelines any more. You could say that Coulson’s alive again and not as an LMD and it wouldn’t phase me at this point.”

Jemma and Bobbi looked at each other. 

“Well, I guess you’re prepared then,” Bobbi said. “Or at least...as prepared as you’ll ever be. Deke...well...there’s no good way to put this. My son...he’s your father.”

Deke was wrong. He could still be surprised by some things. He grabbed a trash can from next to the communications table and promptly threw up in it. 

Bobbi looked at Jemma. “Told you he wouldn’t take it well.”

“Well, to be fair, that was my reaction when I first found out that he was my grandson,” Jemma replied. 

“Guess he gets that from you then,” Bobbi said and Jemma grinned wryly.

“Wait, hold up,” Deke said, still holding the trash can to his chin and also holding up a hand to the screen, his mind in a crazy whirl of confusion. “You’re saying...how...but...my dad’s surname is - was, whatever - Shaw!”

As messed up as the timelines were, he knew perfectly well that Bobbi’s surname was Morse and that Hunter’s was, well, Hunter. No matter how screwed up the timeline was, he had a pretty good feeling names didn’t change. 

“In the original timeline, Bobbi and Hunter were disavowed from S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Jemma explained. “Daisy wiped their records from the system. They had many undercover identities and after the whole Destroyer of Worlds thing began, well...they used the surname ‘Shaw’ to remain hidden from the remaining Hydra operatives.”

Deke swore. He couldn’t think of anything else to do. Jemma and Bobbi watched him in silence, knowing that they couldn’t say or do anything to help him register that information. If his mind had been a mess from time-travel intricacies...well, now it was officially blown. If there was something more shocking than this out there...well, it would have to be an absolutely _insane_ revelation. At long last, Deke put the trash can down and faced the screen. 

“So...my dad is now stuck in the original timeline,” Deke said. “And my mum has been born. Did I...is my dad from this timeline or is he the one from the original timeline? Am I...who’s my father? I mean, my real father? Or well, it doesn’t matter what timeline version of ourselves we are, but-”

“I don’t know,” Jemma admitted. “None of us do. But it’s okay...Fitz is looking after the kids right now.”

At least that explained where Fitz was. 

“Okay,” Deke said, staring blankly at Hunter on the screen, Hunter, his _other_ grandfather, whose chest was rising and falling just barely. “Okay, okay, okay. So basically, my paternal grandparents are best friends with my maternal grandparents who are best friends with my freaking daughter-in-law. And all of you guys are basically the same age. And I’m like 33 years older than all of you. What the actual _hell_.”

“What?!” Jemma and Bobbi said at the same time. 

“Lincoln and Daisy are married?” Bobbi and Jemma demanded at the same time.

Apparently Bobbi had told Jemma how close Deke was to Lincoln. Not that that was a secret, or anything. At least his grandmothers from different timelines had bonded. 

Deke had to admit that if Daisy and Lincoln decided to get married soon, he wouldn’t be surprised. Jemma had basically just confirmed that they were this timeline’s version of his inseparable grandparents, who had gotten married after everyone had returned from the dystopian future that Deke had come from. At the rate things were going, he really wasn’t going to be surprised if they spontaneously decided to get married in Afterlife and/or decided that they were never separating again. It would just be another twist in the timeline. Come to think of it, when Jemma had found out about him being her grandson, she had puked everywhere...which reminded him very much of the adventure that he had walked into that morning.

Dear God. 

In retrospect, exaggerating the truth hadn’t been the best foot to start off on. Now he had just confused both of them. Whoops.

“Uh...they didn’t get married,” Deke said sheepishly. “But they might as well be. They’re worse than you and Bobo!” 

The looks on Jemma and Bobbi’s faces were to die for. It was almost as if _Deke_ had dropped the most mind-altering bombshell on them, not the other way round. 

“Yeah, well, okay, well, she better not hurt him,” Bobbi said finally. “Lincoln’s been hurt more than most-”

“Excuse me?” Jemma demanded. “ _Daisy_ ’s been hurt more than most! Lincoln died for her and she completely fell apart! She was in love with him for years after he was dead; she still sends his sister grief money for crying out loud!” She paused. “If he dies on her again….”

Deke knew what Jemma meant. If Daisy lost Lincoln again, she would probably never recover from his death. It had taken her over three years to even consider getting involved with someone else and when she finally had decided to take the plunge, of course the person she had settled with was someone who reminded her in every single possible way of Lincoln. 

“Yeah, he’s not going to die,” Bobbi said adamantly. “It’s not going to be him.”

Bobbi and Lincoln were friends; they worked in the lab together and were also sparring partners when Lincoln wanted to use his powers against someone else for practise since Bobbi had her magnetized and electrified batons. On the other hand, Daisy and Jemma were sisters in every single way but blood. This was...an extremely screwed up family tree. 

“That’ll be a fun wedding,” Deke muttered. “‘Whose side are you on? Bride or groom?’ ‘ _Both_ ’. Without it being incest, of course, because a lot of these relationships are ‘sisters in every way but blood’ or ‘the closest thing she/he has to a father’.”

Both Bobbi and Jemma glared at Deke out of the camera and Deke held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“It’s not my fault!” he protested. “I didn’t say or do anything!” 

How ironic that Deke was 33 years older than both of them and he was still getting a scolding from his grandmothers. 

God. 

Grandmothers. Even the plural form of it now sounded weird. 

“Where’s Lincoln?” Bobbi asked, changing the subject. “Deke, the favour that we needed to ask...Hunter’s stable for now, but he needs a blood transfusion and your blood is definitely a match. We ran the tests back in Jemma’s timeline and if you’re willing, it would be great if you could donate some blood. No one on this plan is a match-”

“Of course,” Deke interrupted. “Of course I’ll do it. But, uh, well, Lincoln….”

“Where’s Lincoln?” Bobbi and Jemma said simultaneously, frowning at him. 

Well, that was just great. Now Deke had to tell his grandmothers that he had drugged both Lincoln _and_ Daisy and there was no way that he knew how to perform a blood transfusion on himself. 

“He’s, uh...a little preoccupied,” Deke said evasively, not wanting to face their wrath; he could tell that neither Ward nor Trip had run by the fact that Daisy and Lincoln were potentially swayed with Jemma or Bobbi.

“What?!” Both Bobbi and Jemma spluttered at the same moment, making Deke realize exactly how wrongly his sentence could have been perceived. Especially since he had incorrectly implied that Daisy and Lincoln were married. 

“Not like that!” Deke protested. Dear cripes. He had a penchant for making every single situation _incredibly_ awkward. “Although...it was...like that, yesterday. I walked in on the aftermath.”

At this rate, Daisy and Lincoln were going to _kill_ him. And not because he’d drugged them. Maybe everyone needed to go through the Tahiti program after this. 

“Oh my God,” Jemma said. “You’re worse than I am. I walked in on them once sparring in the gym in search of Lincoln….” 

Her words reminded Deke of something Kora had said back at the lab and he finally put the pieces together.

“That would explain a lot,” Deke said, realizing at long last all the innuendoes and inside jokes that Kora had teased Daisy and Lincoln with back at the Playground. “I’m guessing it was at the Playground and you needed a doctor who understood Inhuman biology and they said something along the lines of ‘Go do your thing’ and ‘picking it up where they left off’. And then they probably had an argument about Terrigenesis in the lab. And something about losing control.”

“The timeline is screwed,” Jemma said, shaking her head.

“Yeah,” Deke said. “And apparently your French is pardoned.”

“Sorry?” Jemma asked.

“Yeah, I think that’s a Sousa joke,” Deke said. “Kora gave Lincoln back all his memories of the original timeline and also memories of what happened to the team after he died so that he and Daisy wouldn’t have to go into a Cerebral Fusion Machine or something like that….”

“Okay, I see why you would think they’re going to get married now,” Jemma said. “That is...something.”

“Anyway!” Bobbi interrupted. “Where’s Lincoln? And Daisy?”

“Uh...well, I kinda...knocked them both out,” Deke said a little sheepishly.

“What?!” Bobbi and Jemma repeated, staring at him. 

“It was Ward and Trip’s idea!” Deke protested. Grandmothers trumped directors every time. Even though Ward and Trip hadn’t specifically told him to drug them...well, he was throwing them under the bus. Anything to avoid a scolding from his grandmothers. 

“I’m going to kill those men,” Bobbi muttered. 

“It was the sway!” Deke objected. “We thought they were both swayed, so I drugged them and knocked them out and I’m planning on getting Doctor Johnson to run tests on them to make sure that they are or aren’t swayed. Lincoln’s a doctor; he might be able to fool your tests, Nana….”

All the humour from the last few minutes of incredibly awkward conversation vanished at the mention of the sway. Jemma’s face fell. 

“Oh no, not again,” she said. “Where are they, Deke? In containment?”

“In Lincoln’s room,” Deke said. “Unconscious. I could...I could wake them if you want Lincoln to do the blood draw on me….”

Jemma glanced at Hunter’s still figure on the bed. Deke knew from her anxious glance that there wasn’t much time. 

“I’ll wake them,” he said. “I can do it; they might be mad, but if they aren’t swayed, they’ll definitely do it to save Hunter-”

“No, don’t,” Jemma said, pressing her hands together anxiously. “You haven’t seen what the sway looks like, Deke...actually, I haven’t either, not personally, but if either Lincoln or Daisy has been swayed and their cover has been blown...they’ll take the plane out of the sky. Daisy can fly-”

“So can Lincoln,” Bobbi interrupted. “If this sway is as bad as you’re saying...they could crash the plane and kill everyone in it and still survive.”

Apparently Bobbi knew more about Hive and the timeline that he had when first learning about the sway. Well, given how Bobbi had been in the original timeline for at least a few months, well, it made sense that Jemma and Fitz had told her about the sway and Hive and that whole shebang. 

“I’ve seen Lincoln and Daisy fly with each other,” Deke said, shaking his head. “They’ve been adamant about the fact that even if they were swayed, they wouldn’t hurt each other…. They could crash the plane and save each other even if the other isn’t currently swayed right now.”

“That’s right,” Jemma said in a worried voice. “They’ll just try to get the other person swayed as well. They would do anything for each other. And I do mean anything. Torture, betrayal, deadly antitoxins, sacrifices, death, the works.” 

“So what then?” Bobbi asked anxiously. “Hunter needs that transfusion and if Deke isn’t capable of performing the blood donation on his own-”

Deke interrupted. “I was originally planning on having Daisy and Lincoln tested at the Playground,” he said. “We’ll do it at the Academy instead. I’ll call ahead and warn them...the second we touch down, I’ll go to donate blood and Ward and Trip can transport those two and Yo-Yo into the containment rooms at the Academy. You wouldn’t get blood from me instantaneously, even if Lincoln weren’t unconscious because we’re in different aircrafts…. Doctor Johnson can just run his tests there instead.” 

“Wait, Yo-Yo’s been swayed?” Jemma gasped; Deke nodded. 

“I’m sorry, Nana,” he said.

Jemma pressed a hand to her face, trying to rub away the tension. There had been more bombshells in the last half-an-hour of conversation than any of them had ever experienced before. 

Deke paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “I really hope neither Daisy nor Lincoln has been swayed. The Academy….”

“They’re all cadets,” Bobbi supplied. “They’re not specialists.”

“Oh no,” Jemma said, realization dawning. “Another thing to worry about. They’re even greener than Fitz and I were when we first joined Coulson’s team. If a swayed Inhuman breaks free there...all hell is going to break loose.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, so a good friend of mine called my chapters "Episodes" when we were talking about my fic and I realized that I could actually break my story into "episodes". Some of them happily coincide with the division that I made for my trailers, but anyway, I thought it was a really cool inclusion that I could do. All four episode titles that are out so far are based on the actual Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode titles/canon quotes etc. I would LOVE for you to guess what they are in the comments! Also, just letting you know, the next chapter will be the start of a new episode. 😍 Let me know in the comments if you want me to release the title of it early! 😊😊😊
> 
> As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊 
> 
> P.S. There are going to be at least five trailers. I know I keep thinking that each one I post is the last one...but yeah. I just keep finding good footage!!! I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them!!! ❤️🍋
> 
> Edit:  
> Hi guys, so while initially I had considered doing longer "episodes", I realized that that was ridiculous because they were too long to be episodes. 😂 So what I ended up doing was breaking them down even further and kinda accepting that everything would end on a cliffhanger. 😂 So the new breakdown of the episodes are: 
> 
> Episode 1: Before, After [Chaps 1-3]  
> Episode 2: Take Two [Chaps 4-7]  
> Episode 3: Brave New World [Chaps 8-11]  
> Episode 4: After-Waves [Chaps 12-15]  
> Episode 5: Pardon My French [Chaps 16-19]  
> Episode 6: Hot Cross Soup [Chaps 20-24]  
> Episode 7: Definitely Still Am [Chaps 25-27]  
> Episode 8: Trust No One [Chaps 28-31] 
> 
> The episodes aren't broken down by number of chapters, but more of what happens within the episodes. So for anyone who is wondering:  
> Episode 1: Before, After is all about the meeting of Daisy, Sousa and Kora with Lincoln and ends with the possibility of Lincoln getting his memories back.  
> Episode 2: Take Two is about Lincoln having his memories returned all the way through the cameo of Jemma and Fitz.  
> Episode 3: Brave New World is about Deke's new timeline and meeting the team.  
> Episode 4: After-Waves is the start of the big deviation from the original timeline until the cameo of Jemma and Fitz.  
> Episode 5: Pardon My French is about the reintroduction of the cross necklace until the guys' mission in South Dakota.  
> Episode 6: Hot Cross Soup is the start of the "pass the hot potato of death".  
> Episode 7: Definitely Still Am is about Daisy's choice, her and Lincoln's mission in Bucharest and Kora and Trip's mission in South Dakota.  
> Episode 8: Trust No One is all the mind-boggling return of the team from the original timeline and about the swayed (or not) Inhumans. 
> 
> Episode 9 will start with the next chapter (unless I'm very much mistaken), but that is how the break-down works. It's thematic, not by number of chapters.
> 
> Hope that helped! As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 31**

Sousa stared at the spiky Inhuman. He hadn’t encountered one quite like her before. Well, that sounded stupid because no one was ever the same, but really, all of those whom he had met had seemed normal. Daisy, Lincoln, Kora, Yo-Yo, Jiaying...they could all pass off as human. Even Hive’s swayed minions whom he had seen - Alisha, James, Katya, Giyera and there might be others whom he didn’t know about - looked human. Prior to Raina, Gordon had been the notable exception. Well, he had seen Lash, but that had been via very bad quality video feed…. But really, having no eyes was minor in comparison to having spikes all over and glowing golden eyes. He wondered briefly how Inhumans like Raina managed to have a family or any sort of normal life. He wasn’t sure how accepting this timeline was of Inhumans, but he knew perfectly well that the vast majority of the world were either human or looked it. Raina must struggle a lot with acceptance and her appearance.

“You can go,” Raina said dismissively to James. “I can handle him on my own.”

James snorted. “You girls and your power complexes. First Katya, now you…. I’m going to go get a beer.”

James turned on his heel and stomped out, leaving Sousa with the future-predicting Inhuman. While he didn’t know exactly what her gifts were or how dangerous she was, he did know that she was the one who had first shown Lincoln visions of Daisy. That, coupled with the fact that she was swayed and had killed May’s husband, did not rank her very highly on his friendly list.

“What do you want with me?” Sousa demanded. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not Inhuman, so bringing me here to be swayed is a big mistake and if you’re here to use me as leverage for Kora...well, that’s ridiculous. Because Hive can sway her easily with or without me present as I’m sure you well know.” 

Raina smiled, making Sousa cringe inwardly. From his experience, the crazy ones were usually the more dangerous ones. Everyone from Dottie Underwood to Whitney Frost to Nathaniel Malick. Even Kora, when she’d been under Nathaniel Malick’s influence, had been more than a little creepy.

“That’s funny,” Raina said. “Because really, you should be thanking me for bringing you here.”

“What?” Sousa was lost. Stupid villians and their airs of mystery. Could no one give a straight answer these days? 

“I can give you what you want,” Raina said. “Your biggest regret. I can take it away and make it like never existed.”

“Okay, now you’re really crazy,” Sousa said darkly. “I’ve heard all about the Framework and I know that was a disaster-”

Raina laughed. “Lies.”

“Excuse me?” Sousa said.

“You didn’t hear everything about the Framework,” Raina said dismissively. “Daisy told you about it, yes, but did she tell you that her biggest regret was Lincoln? Or that when she got a text about her ‘boyfriend’, she assumed it was him? The first person she looked up on a computer in the Framework was him, even though she should have been looking up Simmons so that she could find her and bring the rest of the team home. Or did she tell you that Aida offered to take away her biggest regret and that was Lincoln’s death? She promised her that they could live a peaceful life, have kids, grow old together…. And to this day, she still wonders what if.”

Raina’s details, coupled with what Kora had mentioned in the Quinjet on the way to this unknown prison location, finally made sense to Sousa. And not in a good way. In fact, it was the complete opposite of a good way, but regardless...it did not make him happy. 

“Kora mentioned that,” Sousa said, the words spilling out of him; he needed that confirmation. “She said what Aida offered Daisy in the Framework could become a reality now.” 

That hurt to say. It stung a _lot_. But Sousa was not one to shirk from the truth. He had told Simmons and Deke once that he was a big boy and could handle the truth; he still could even when it was about his own heartbreak. 

“Kora’s knowledge of the future isn’t fixed,” Raina said. “Mine is. All the visions that I’ve seen have become a reality.”

That...wasn’t an answer. If Raina only had visions of the future that were fixed, had she foreseen Daisy and Lincoln’s future? Sousa wanted - no needed - to know, but these future-predicting Inhumans were incredibly vague. For people who supposedly knew what was going to happen before it actually did. 

“So what’s that supposed to mean?” Sousa asked, clenching his hands into fists at his sides, but hiding his agitated gesture from Raina. The last thing he wanted to do was show her that she was getting to him. 

“Don’t you want your biggest regret taken away too?” Raina asked.

Sousa snorted. “Somehow I don’t think that taking away my biggest regret overlaps with Daisy’s.” He tossed the words out casually, but inside, he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on. Still, military tactics 101. Don’t let your enemy see you sweat. Or know that they were getting to you. 

It was Raina’s turn to smile. “I didn’t say that losing Daisy was your biggest regret,” she said. “You aren’t the only one who has fallen in love before.”

Sousa froze, his breathing uneven and ragged. “Are you talking about Peggy? Or Violet?” he asked, hoping his voice didn’t sound as hoarse as he thought it did.

“Now you’re listening,” Raina said, stepping closer to him. In hindsight, she really didn’t look any more normal up-close; in fact, she looked even more monstrous, as much as Sousa hated to use that word. It wasn’t her fault she looked so terrifying.

“Peggy’s in the past,” Sousa said, his voice tight. “She’s likely already dead-”

“Not yet,” Raina said. “In a few days, yes. She’ll die at the age of 95, in her sleep, in a retirement home in Washington, D.C.. I even know the headline of the newspaper article: “Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter, Founding Member of S.H.I.E.L.D., Trailblazer for Women, Dead at Age of 95”.”

Sousa had no words. Absolutely none. If he said anything, he would just be giving Raina more leverage. But Raina took another step closer.

“‘I got a list of people long gone by now, I’d...I’d do anything to have one last stolen moment with. Regardless of what spacetime has to say about it.’,” Raina said and Sousa jerked his head up to look at her.

“How did you know that?” he asked. This spiky Inhuman was as bad, if not worse than Kora. Instead of Sibyl predicting the future...Raina was the clairvoyant this time. It made his brain hurt. That was what he had told Daisy, way back during the team’s final mission and while he hadn’t mentioned Peggy by name, she had been one of the people to whom he was referring. 

“Can you see the past as well as the future?” he asked. “You likely weren’t even born in 1983!”

“The past and the future are intertwined,” Raina said cryptically. “Always have been and always will be.”

What was that supposed to mean? 

“Just...just stop with the metaphors,” Sousa said.

“That’s what she said,” Raina said, her lip curling. “In the other timeline.”

And Sousa was officially done. These future-predicting Inhumans and their endless riddles were a nightmare, honestly. Kora had been bad enough. Raina spoke in even more twisted riddles than Kora did. 

“Okay,” Sousa said, gritting his teeth. “I’ll bite. What do you want?”

Raina laughed. “What do _I_ want? It’s more like what _you_ want. Did you know that in different timelines, different people live and different people die? Our lives aren’t the same in whichever timeline we’re in. You and Daisy’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team aren’t the only ones who created alternate timelines. The Avengers did as well. Captain America returned to Peggy and created an entirely new timeline where they got married, had children and lived happily ever after. But that’s one timeline. In another one, she married _you_. I can do that for you. Let you go back to a timeline where you get your happily ever after.”

“You can?” The words sprang out of Sousa’s mouth before he could stop them.

“I can,” Raina confirmed. “In the same newspaper article that I foresaw, it says that Peggy has two children. In another timeline, they can be _your_ children. It’s your destiny to go home.”

Home. Sousa could remember all too well of the time that he had told Daisy that they were going home. Home wasn’t a place, it was people. Where the people he loved were. And while he loved Daisy...would it be home if she didn’t love him back? If he went back into the past, he could be with his friends and family. He was closer with them than he was with either Mack’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team or Deke’s. Peggy, Jarvis, even Howard Stark and Jack Thompson...that was also home. 

“You want to create another timeline?” Sousa demanded, even as his brain was lost in the past. “That could be disastrous-”

“It’s not the first time the team has dealt with alternate timelines,” Raina said. “Nor will it be the last time. Where did Deke come from? An apocalyptic hellscape in 2091 that no longer exists in Daisy’s original timeline.”

Dear Lord. Sousa’s head was now even more confused than it had previously been. If Lincoln had been dealing with even a smidgen of said confusion when he’d gotten his memories of the other timeline back, well, Sousa had a newfound sympathy for him. All this time-travel stuff was making his head hurt. Any of the others would be faring better. Daisy and Deke had lived through not one, but two messes of time-travel and alternate timelines, Fitz and Simmons had invented time-travel, Kora had seen the timestream…. He was, to quote Deke’s inaccurate and not nice statement, impressed by lightbulbs. 

“The Chronicoms are gone,” Sousa said. “There’s no way to get back to the past-”

“Not true,” Raina said. “There is one Inhuman who can bring you back to the past. He’s done it before. By creating Monoliths. And he’s just returned to this timeline.”

Sousa’s heart stopped. He knew who Raina was talking about. He hadn’t spent much time with him, but still…. He knew who she was talking about. And while he had been under Katya’s influence, he had seen the blonde woman called Bobbi return to this timeline. She would not have come without reinforcements. Raina had to be telling the truth. 

“You’re talking about Flint,” Sousa said, horrified. “He’s just a boy. A child.”

“And S.H.I.E.L.D. is not above using children to get what they want,” Raina said. “Deke’s father, a baby, is currently the tether in the timeline for Jemma and Bobbi. Daisy went to Robin Hinton for help when she was seven years old when she knew that Robin was in danger, just so that she could try to find a way to save Coulson. Flint is a teenager.”

Sousa felt nauseous. A baby as the tether in the timeline? It was one thing for Deke to be a tether, but a baby? And Daisy going to a seven-year-old for help when she was in danger…. What was the world coming to? What had S.H.I.E.L.D. come to? Taking hostages had been one thing and now putting innocent lives on the line….

“Why do you want this to happen?” Sousa asked. “What do you get out of it?”

“Nothing out of _this_ ,” Raina assured him. “I’m telling you this so that you’ll trust me. So that you’ll believe what I’m about to tell you next.”

Ah. There was always a catch. 

But Sousa knew that at least part of what Raina was telling him was true. He knew all about Deke’s origins and the whole ‘Destroyed Earth’ fiasco...Raina wasn’t lying to him. She might be withholding some parts of the truth and she could be manipulating him, but the worst part was that, so far, it certainly appeared that everything she’d said was true.

“Why does Hive want me to go to the past?” Sousa demanded. As much as he was confused by Raina, he didn’t see how this agenda fit with Hive’s plan, whatever that was. Daisy, Lincoln and Kora hadn’t explained Hive’s end goal to him, but he had a pretty good feeling that it did not involve time-travel.

Raina’s lip curled like he was finally asking intelligent questions.

“That’s because he doesn’t,” Raina said. “I’m not swayed.”

And that was a complete bombshell in and of itself. Sousa was already struggling to deal with the fact that Flint was back and that he could travel back into the past and now he was faced with the suggestion that Raina wasn’t swayed. Daisy, Lincoln and Kora had been adamant about the fact that all Inhumans were vulnerable to Hive, with Daisy being the possible sole exception. It didn’t make sense. Raina _had_ to be lying. 

“And I’m the Queen of England,” Sousa retorted.

Raina laughed. “Ward told you that I’m one of the world’s experts on Inhumans. I can predict the future. If anyone could create an antitoxin to withstand Hive’s sway, it would be me.”

And...there went the logic again. It sounded logical, it sounded plausible, but Sousa had no idea if she was telling him the truth. There was no way that he could tell for sure.

“Why would you kill Lash then?” he demanded. “He was May’s husband! Why would you hurt her like that? Her and their daughter?”

“It was necessary,” Raina said dismissively. “Lash would have killed so many of our Inhuman brothers and sisters if he had lived. He took so many lives that his death simply...balanced the scales.” 

While that might be true, Sousa was struck by something else in her statement. 

“Our?” Sousa demanded. “I hate to break it to you, lady, but I’m not Inhuman. Although this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been mistaken for one.”

What was with it with people thinking he was Inhuman? He was completely and 100% totally human. Simmons had run tests; it had been confirmed that he was as human as they came. 

Raina sniffed. “I know you’re not Inhuman. But wouldn’t you want to be one?”

At this rate, the next thing she was going to do was say that all she wanted was anarchy. 

“If you’re going to transfer some Inhuman’s powers into me like good old Nathaniel Malick-” Sousa began.

“Of course not,” Raina said dismissively. “That doesn’t make you Inhuman. That just makes you a...an individual with stolen gifts. No, I’m talking about the Absolution virus.”

“The what virus?” Sousa asked.

“You really don’t know anything, do you?” Raina said. “Very well, _Danny Boy_ , listen closely.” She bent towards him, closer than he would have liked. “The Absolution virus turns humans into Inhumans. It’s a recreation of the original Kree experiment that transformed us. I know you’ve wondered what it’s like to be an Inhuman. To be able to understand Daisy on a level which only another Inhuman has. To understand her the way Lincoln can.”

Sousa felt a pang in his chest, but he ignored it. He had more pressing things to worry about than his feelings. 

“So first bribery with Peggy, now with Daisy?” he demanded. “Lady, you’re pulling out all the stops.”

Raina leaned back, a disappointed look on her face. “I thought you would understand,” she said. “Even if your choice is to go back into the past without Inhuman powers, that’s completely fine. But I thought you would understand what it’s like to be... _different_. This timeline, while many things, does not have equality for Inhumans. We are treated like alien trash compared to humans. You haven’t seen it; Deke does not treat his Inhumans badly. In fact, you’ve hardly seen any Inhumans who do not look human. But for those like Lash and I...we are shunned for our appearances. We are cast aside. On the surface, everything looks perfect and happy, but underneath the surface...there is a lot of animosity and fear and hatred brewing. Hive’s Absolution virus would be the answer to all that. It would create a world where we are all Inhuman and all equal.”

Well, didn’t that sound peachy. 

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Sousa asked. “There’s a reason that someone on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team died in the Quinjet in space and I’m guessing that that is because they were blowing up your lovely virus there. Am I right?”

It was a guess. Daisy, Lincoln and Kora hadn’t told him all that much about the future in his timeline, so he had to take a gander at this one. But it made sense, a pathogen being released in space would be safely dispersed, not affecting any of the humans on Earth. 

“Hmm...not so stupid after all,” Raina said. She paused. “You’re right, Agent Sousa. That is what happened in the original timeline. But who created the Absolution virus in that timeline? Doctor Holden Radcliffe. I was not alive then. Together, we can and will create a perfect Absolution virus. With no flaws. A perfect recreation of the original Inhuman experiment. You of all people should understand the benefits of such a creation.”

Sousa would be lying if he said he wasn’t sorely tempted. Raina was offering him everything he could possibly want. A possibility of going back to the past to be with Peggy...a possibility of understanding Daisy…. Everything Raina was saying sounded legitimate and real. She was one of the world’s experts on Inhumans and a scientist. Ward had even told him so and Ward did not strike him as a man who exaggerated the truth. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Sousa asked. “What do you need from me?”

“It’s simple really,” Raina said, pleased that she was getting through to him at last. “The S.H.I.E.L.D. team is going to destroy Hive in space by sacrificing the life of one of their own. In the original timeline, it was Lincoln. In this timeline, well, Daisy can save Lincoln. You’re the only one who can save _Daisy_.”

Now Sousa was supremely and utterly confused. Why would Raina even care if Daisy lived or died? As far as he knew, they had never even met in this timeline. Why did she care about her? 

“Why would you want Daisy to live?” Sousa demanded. “You barely know her. You’ve seen her in what, one vision? Two, at most? Three?”

Raina turned aside slightly, looking at the wall. There was a peculiar expression on her face, something real. Not false, not fabricated for show. Something that made him realize that whatever she was about to tell him was going to be the whole truth, not any kind of manipulation on her part. 

“She makes Lincoln happy,” Raina said. “And I want him to be happy.”

Sousa was struck with another wave of confused emotions. “Are you in love with him?” he asked. Weirder things had happened. 

“No,” Raina said harshly, her lip curling in disgust at the thought. “I’m not. Really. But he _is_ one of the few who has accepted me as I am. I originally worked at the Academy with Doctor Johnson, Daisy’s father from another timeline. After I underwent Terrigenesis, it was a terrifying experience. Doctor Johnson shunned me. Not openly and never in public. But it was obvious to me; he never treated me the same way he had before Terrigenesis. And don’t get me started on the public’s reaction to one of the world’s experts on Inhumans having the face of a demon. So I applied for a transfer, to be hidden away in the Playground, where Deke is the director. Deke is much more welcoming of Inhumans than most. I was Lincoln’s transitioner. Even though he hadn’t encountered Inhumans before me, he treated me like I was normal. Everyone else who treated me normally had known me before my Terrigenesis. Lincoln was the first person to accept me for who I am as this spiky creature without knowing me first. After Terrigenesis when he looked normal and human, he still treated me the same as he always had. Like an equal. Like I wasn’t anything different or scary or hideous. Like I wasn’t a monster. He was the first to do so and he still does. He’s not only the closest thing Deke has to a son, he’s also the closest thing _I_ have to family.” She paused for breath. “Why do you think I told him about Daisy? I know that she’s the one for him. I know that she’s the one he loves and the one who loves him in turn.” 

Sousa was struck with the realization that Raina really did care about Lincoln. The entire time they had been talking, she had been speaking in riddles and metaphors, but now...this was the closest she had come to showing him true emotion. Her telling him all about her past history with Lincoln...she really did love Lincoln like family. Sousa knew what it was like to finally be accepted by people. After the war and his leg injury, not many people had treated him as an equal. In the office, he had related to Peggy initially because they had both been belittled and looked down upon by the S.S.R. agents; hers was because she was a woman and his was because of his disability. It made sense that Raina felt protective of Lincoln. She really didn’t want him to die in space. She just wanted him to be happy and she knew that Daisy was the one who could make him happy.

This was...a quandary for Sousa. He loved Daisy. He really did. He, like Deke, wanted her to be happy. It hurt that that might mean stepping aside. But if Deke of all people could do it...Sousa most definitely could. 

“That’s why I made him immune as well,” Raina continued. 

Sousa’s jaw dropped. “You made Lincoln immune to Hive’s sway?” he gasped. “All this time, we thought someone on the team could be swayed and _Lincoln_ ’s immune?”

“He and Daisy both are,” Raina confirmed. “I made the antitoxin with a little help of Lash’s blood. Daisy’s still immune from when Lash saved her all those years ago. Neither have or can ever be swayed.”

“But…,” Sousa began, his voice trailing off at the craziness of it all.

“Lincoln wouldn’t have found it,” Raina said, predicting what he was going to say. “GH.325 is notoriously hard to find in the blood; in the other timeline, it took Jemma Simmons months to locate it in Daisy’s blood. I did the same with the antitoxin. Concealed it from sight unless you knew what to look for.”

“He’s a doctor!” Sousa said. 

“And I’m one of the world’s experts on Inhumans,” Raina countered. “Lincoln is talented in many ways, yes, and trained under both me and Doctor Johnson, yes, but he has much to learn still. He wouldn’t have known what he was looking for.” 

That was...really something. Sousa knew that Lincoln was a doctor, but it sounded like he was more than _just_ a doctor. He knew from Violet’s nursing experiences that to train under two world experts on anything was extremely rare. 

“How did Kora not know this?” Sousa asked, almost to himself. “If this was a possibility in the timeline-”

“There are so many possibilities in the future,” Raina said. “When Kora first encountered Lincoln, she wasn’t sure if he remembered Daisy and the original timeline. She had to ask him. That’s because there were possibilities where I gained enough knowledge about the past and showed him more than I did. There were other versions where Deke told him about Daisy and they rebuilt a Time Stream machine to show him the past. Even after he encountered you three, there was a possibility that Kora did not give him back his memories and he and Daisy went in a Cerebral Fusion machine like Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons did in the original timeline. Kora does not know everything, much as she would like to pretend.”

That was...pretty much what Kora had admitted. She didn’t know everything. She knew a lot, but she didn’t know everything. These future-predicting Inhumans liked to appear so mysterious, but in reality, sometimes they were guessing just as much as those who didn’t know the future. 

“Did she know she was going to get swayed?” Sousa asked, testing something that Kora had already told him against Raina. A small test to see if she was telling him the truth. “I mean...did she try to manipulate it so that she would be kidnapped and not Daisy or Lincoln?”

“Yes,” Raina confirmed. “It was always going to happen. If Kora had gone with Lincoln to Bucharest, she would still have been taken. She’s not immune. I would have gotten Lincoln that night; she would have seen it as Hive getting Lincoln that night, but either way, he would be here now.”

And that was another bombshell because Sousa thought that Raina wanted Lincoln to be happy with _Daisy_. 

“Wait, why do you still need Lincoln?” Sousa demanded. “Haven’t you already made him immune? Didn’t you say that Daisy can save him?”

Raina bristled, quite literally. 

“ _Yes_ ,” Raina said testily. “I need him because he’s the only one who can access Kora’s knowledge of the timestream. I want to know more about the future.”

Aha! Another hidden agenda. There always was one. 

Sousa shook his head. “Okay, now I know you’ve lost it. Lincoln would never willingly help you. You must know this. There’s a reason why you haven’t yet told him that you’re not swayed and that he’s immune. You know he would never stand for your crazy plan.”

Raina rolled her eyes like Sousa was a child. “I told you,” Raina said. “You’re the only one who can save Daisy. Lincoln would do anything to save Daisy. He would do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Including making a deal with the devil.” 

Realization dawned on Sousa. “So I’m your hostage? What makes you think that Lincoln would even believe you? Lincoln wouldn’t trade himself for me. Daisy wouldn’t let him.”

The words hurt even as Sousa said them, but he knew they were true. Daisy _wouldn’t_ pick him over Lincoln. Raina had confirmed it; Kora’s presence in South Dakota had also been proof. Daisy had chosen to save Lincoln over him and had gone to Bucharest to keep Lincoln safe from Hive. And Raina, too apparently.

“It doesn’t matter,” Raina said. “Either way, I’ll get what I want. If Lincoln joins me to keep Daisy safe, that’s fine. And if he joins me because he believes in the same mission that I do, it’s also fine. And if he doesn’t join me at all...well, then that’s a complication, but as long as he leaves me alone, I’ll still look out for him. I won’t hurt him. I would never hurt him. You’re just a contingency plan.” 

“So, what, all that stuff about returning me to the past was bogus?” Sousa demanded. “Just another ploy to get me to believe you? Did you want _me_ to be the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who ends up in the Quinjet in space with Hive?”

At this point, Sousa would not put anything past Raina. She had so many hidden agendas and plans within plans that she made Sibyl look like an amateur. 

Raina snorted. “Save doesn’t mean die, Agent Sousa.”

“Then tell me how to save Daisy,” Sousa snapped. “You keep saying that that is what you want me to do and I would do it anyway, regardless of what you’re saying, but how am I supposed to save her?”

Raina’s next words took a large amount of fight out of Sousa. Not all of it, but it certainly winded him. 

“By letting her go,” Raina said. “By telling her that you want her to be happy, that you understand that she wants to be with Lincoln, by telling her that she won’t be hurting you by choosing him. Although she already has chosen him-”

“I already broke up with her to give her space,” Sousa interrupted. “I already told her that I only want her to be happy-”

“That was before she chose.” Raina spoke over him. “She’s afraid of hurting you. She wants to be with Lincoln, yes, and she _is_ with him right now, but she doesn’t want to hurt you in the process. If she knows that you’re happy for her and Lincoln and that you’ll move on or that you’ve already moved on, neither she nor Lincoln will be half as inclined to die for each other. They’ll want to live because they know that it’s their destiny to be together and to be happy. Neither of them will end up in the Quinjet with the warhead.”

Once again, Sousa had no words. Absolutely no words to describe how he was feeling.

Raina looked at him. “I’m offering you a way back to your first love,” she said. “I can help you get back to the past. All you have to do is let Daisy go and tell her so. And all three of you will live and get your happily ever afters.” 

“How...how do I know that you’re telling me the truth?” Sousa demanded. “How do I know that you haven’t been swayed? What proof do I have that you’re not lying to me?”

This would be the clincher. Could he trust what Raina was saying? He didn’t know. Raina _could_ be swayed. This could all be a crazy convoluted concoction of Hive’s to distract him from the bigger picture. There was no way to tell through actions. Even her offer of sending him back to the past could be lies. He had no way of knowing. 

“I knew you would say that,” Raina said. She paused. “In a short while, Hive is going to order Alisha, Joey, Giyera and Kora to go to the Academy to bring him Daisy and Lincoln while Katya and James go to get another potential Inhuman. They - the Academy-bound four - are going to bring you as a hostage. I’m supposed to be preparing you for that right now, actually. In addition to breaking your spirit. Anyway. When you get there, they will have just run tests on Daisy and Lincoln to see if they’ve been swayed. They’ll be in containment when the attack begins. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team will rescue you from Hive’s swayed Inhuman army. Obviously if you want to get everything you’ve ever wanted, you can’t tell the S.H.I.E.L.D. team about me, but that’s not important. Lincoln’s immunity can pass off as the same as Daisy’s; Doctor Johnson will just assume that Lincoln was made immune by Lash. And most importantly, you’ll know that I’ve been telling you nothing but the truth this entire time.”


	32. Episode 9: The Inside (Inhu)man - Chapter 32

**Episode 9: The Inside (Inhu)man**

**Chapter 32**

Daisy opened her eyes, her throat dry, her head aching. She had been plagued with horrifying nightmares about Kora and Sousa being kidnapped and tortured, Lincoln dying in space and herself fruitlessly trying to save him and begging him not to die for her. They hadn’t just been nightmares, really, but a combination of bad dreams and memories. She groaned, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. Her head ached, like someone had used it as a battering ram against a door. The overly white walls of the containment room made her eyes hurt and her stomach felt like it was going round and round in a washing machine. 

“Drink some water,” a voice advised her from the protection of the containment module. “You’ll feel better after that.” 

Daisy had never felt more like throwing up in her life, given that she knew that voice, but hadn’t heard it in years. A sense of fear ran through her and she wished that Lincoln was there with her. Or Jemma. Or Kora. Just _someone_ whom she trusted. This was _not_ how she had expected to meet her father in this timeline for the first time.

“Daisy, this is Doctor Johnson,” another familiar voice said from the containment module. “He’s one of the world’s experts on Inhumans and he’s the one running tests on you today.”

And that was the clincher. Daisy rolled over, grabbed a trash can next to the bed and threw up all the remaining coffee and bile in her stomach into it. Of all people who had to reintroduce her to her father. Grant Douglas Freaking Ward. He might not be the twisted psychopath that he had been in her timeline, but regardless...the very fact that he was introducing her to her father _again_ was enough to make her hurl.

These _stupid_ timelines!

“It’s the drugs that are making you feel so ill,” Doctor Johnson said. “Drink.”

Daisy looked up, glanced at the sealed bottle of water on her bedside table and ignored it, pushing her hair out of her face so it didn’t fall in the vomit. “Where am I? Where’s Lincoln? And Deke? And why are you two holding me prisoner?”

“Drink water,” Doctor Johnson insisted, as Ward opened his mouth to speak. “And Ward will tell you.”

Daisy glared at him. “Bribery?”

This was just great. Somehow, her father had ended up becoming some high-ranking doctor in S.H.I.E.L.D. _and_ he seemed to be sort of similar to Daniel Flipping Whitehall; running tests sounded awfully similar to the whole “discovery requires experimentation” debacle. Daniel Whitehall, the man who had cut up her mother, destroyed her childhood and ruined her father’s life in the original timeline. 

_This isn’t the Framework. This is hell._

Not for the first time was Daisy reminded that Deke’s new timeline was reminiscent of the Framework. Up until now, she had been pretty happy with the way the timeline had played out - she had Lincoln back, Mack’s daughter Hope was alive, Bahrain had never happened for May - but now, it was a cruel twist of fate that her father had somehow ended up becoming similar to the man he had hated more than absolutely anyone in her original timeline.

At that moment, the external containment module door opened and Trip walked in. Daisy relaxed fractionally when she saw his face. Trip, at least, in no timeline, had ever betrayed her. Or let her down. His presence, at least, was reassuring.

“Hey, Ward, Sparks woke up and insisted that we switch,” Trip said, causing both Ward and Doctor Johnson to look at him as well. “He said that Daisy would be more comfortable with me than you because I’ve spent more time with her than you have.”

God bless Lincoln. He hadn’t wanted to alert Ward to the fact that in Daisy’s timeline, he was a psychopathic murderer whom Daisy didn’t trust any further than she could throw without her powers. Even though Daisy had agreed to trust the people on Deke’s team, that was _before_ he had drugged her. She hadn’t spent more than ten minutes in Ward’s presence thanks to him piloting Zephyr One and then the division of the team when the Inhumans had been suspected of being swayed. Lincoln knew that, so he’d asked Trip to be with her instead and had concocted a plausible reason for Ward and Trip to switch places: the suggestion that Daisy was more familiar with Trip than Ward. 

And God bless Trip for following along with Lincoln’s suggestion; not only was he liberating Daisy from Ward’s presence, but he was also subtly letting her know that Lincoln was okay. 

Ward frowned at Trip. “You left him alone while you came to get me?” he asked.

“Miles is with him,” Trip replied. 

Ward shook his head. “Miles? That man is still recovering from Katya’s influence!” 

“He wanted to be back in action,” Trip reminded him. “Besides, he claimed that if he was well enough to hack the video feed in Bucharest for you, then he was well enough to watch Lincoln from a containment module.”

Ward shook his head. “I’m going over there. If Lincoln persuaded you to come and switch duty with me, then who knows what he’s capable of convincing Miles to do?”

Ward hurried out of the room and Daisy frowned at Trip and Doctor Johnson. 

“Mind telling me what I’m doing in containment?” she demanded. “And where are Lincoln and Deke?”

“Lincoln’s next door,” Trip said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “Also in containment. Deke’s doing a blood donation for Hunter, who’s still on the way here with Bobbi, Simmons and Flint; Trip, Miles and I took the Quinjet to get here faster.”

Daisy’s anxiety and stress sky-rocketed despite Trip reassuring her that Lincoln was alright. Hunter still wasn’t there yet. His condition was too critical for him to be transferred from Zephyr Two to the Quinjet, even when it would get him there faster…. 

Poor Bobbi. Bobbi must be going through her own personal hell. Daisy was all too aware of what it was like to lose a loved one. If Bobbi lost Hunter...she knew exactly how painful that could be. But even worse, Bobbi was pregnant…. That poor child could grow up without a father. While she knew perfectly well that Bobbi would love that baby, with a husband or not, Daisy also knew what it was like to grow up without parents. It _sucked_. 

“How’s Hunter?” Daisy asked, concerned for him despite everything that she was going through. “Will he be here soon?” 

“Yes,” Trip said, speaking over Doctor Johnson, who opened his mouth again to speak. “They’ll be here within twenty minutes.”

Daisy relaxed marginally, but only a little. “Why are Lincoln and I in containment?” she asked, worry gnawing at her insides as she spoke. “Deke clearly isn’t.”

And Trip promptly dropped a bombshell on her. 

“We think you’ve been swayed by Hive,” Trip said. 

Circles. Serious flipping circles. This was almost as bad as the time loops that she had gone through. She knew the future; she was repeating time since she had technically already lived it once; Simmons was back and Yo-Yo was in containment so she could basically say “Sparks, Yo-Yo, Simmons, Deke,” and even that would make sense, what with ‘Sparks’ being Lincoln’s nickname…. What was _wrong_ with the world? Hadn’t they just proven that she, Lincoln and Kora _hadn’t_ been swayed? 

Daisy’s jaw dropped. “Are you kidding? You’re kidding, right? I’m immune! Lincoln ran tests yesterday; you were there, Trip! You confirmed that Lincoln and Kora and I were all clean!”

“That was before Ward found out that Kara had been Hive ever since Maveth,” Trip said. “If Kara was at the base the whole time, then chances are extremely likely that she swayed Lincoln and Raina very early on.”

Daisy’s stomach turned upside down and if there had been anything left in her stomach at all, she would have hurled everywhere. Lincoln swayed this entire time? It wasn’t possible. It _couldn’t_ be possible. Everything that they had been through...a fabrication this entire time? It wasn’t the same as Ward being Hydra in her original timeline because she knew better than anyone that Hive’s sway was beyond an Inhuman’s control, but if Lincoln had been swayed this entire time…. Every kiss, every touch, every moment they had shared….

“He hasn’t been turned,” she whispered, her voice as fragile as glass. “He hasn’t been. He...he can’t have been.”

Daisy had no idea what her face looked like, but the sympathetic expression on Trip’s was enough for her to recognize that it must look pretty darn devastated. She put a hand to her mouth, biting the skin, trying her best to contain her waterfall of emotions. 

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Doctor Johnson said, taking advantage of her emotional state to get a word in edgeways. “And why you’re both in containment. He could have been lying about the tests - he’s a qualified Inhuman doctor - not to mention that you both encountered Hive again yesterday.” He paused. “Speaking of the tests, I need to go and check on some of them. Excuse me.” He headed towards the door, adding, “Make sure she eats and drinks something, Trip.” 

The door sealed shut behind him, leaving Daisy with Trip, who moved closer to the glass, which was both brave and kind of him, despite there being containment module walls separating them. 

Among all the members of Deke’s team whom Daisy had encountered, excluding Deke, Trip alone knew how much Lincoln meant to Daisy. Not only had he been around them much longer than anyone else, but he had also spent a lot of time with Kora; Kora, who knew everything about Daisy and Lincoln’s history. And if Kora had told him about her and Sousa’s breakup, then Trip definitely knew about her and Lincoln’s relationship. 

“Why was Doctor Johnson in here?” Daisy asked. “If he’s a world expert on Inhumans, doesn’t he have more pressing matters to do? Like, I dunno, looking at our tests to see if we’ve been swayed?”

It was a fair question. While she obviously knew that he and Deke knew each other and Deke was likely the one who had ordered the tests on her and Lincoln, well, it had also been obvious that Deke had been chipping in favours with Doctor Johnson to get him to help set up her cover in Bucharest. Doctor Johnson’s presence was a mystery.

“I think he was curious about you,” Trip said. “He knows Lincoln, but, well...you’re a mystery.” He paused. “I don’t think he knows about all the time-travel stuff yet…but he’s a smart man. He’s going to figure it out sooner or later.”

That was not reassuring in the slightest. Daisy had been resigned to the fact that Deke’s team would figure it out sooner or later - Lincoln and Bobbi’s disappearance and then reappearance with mysterious people whom they knew nothing about was a pretty big hint that they had gone _somewhere_ \- but her father from another timeline figuring it out as well was not exactly something she had bargained for. Yes, he might learn the truth from the tests that she was his daughter and yes, the timeline was screwed, but still...she wasn’t entirely sure how to tell him that. Nathaniel Malick had broken the news to Jiaying and her mother had died essentially five seconds after finding out the truth. She had mourned Jiaying’s death and hadn’t wanted her to die technically what was a second time in Daisy’s life. Now, she definitely wasn’t prepared for dealing with a reunion with a father who, this time round, was the bigger of the two evils of her parents. Which was extremely paradoxical, considering that in her timeline, she had originally _thought_ that Jiaying was the better of her two parents, only to be slapped in the face with the fact that she wasn’t. This timeline was really a mess of her original one, better in some ways, worse in others. She was _really_ not prepared for this. And definitely not on top of the revelation that Lincoln might be swayed. 

“When do the results come back? For the sway, I mean,” Daisy asked, doing her best to keep her voice sounding reasonable and not succeeding very well; it shook more than her powers could currently make it vibrate. Unsurprising, considering the shocks - literal ones - that had been dropped in her lap in the last two minutes or so. 

“Not for another hour or so,” Trip said. “Daisy, I’m sorry, I know how much Lincoln means to you-”

A flash of white-hot anger flared through her and she snapped before she could remember that it wasn’t Trip’s fault that she was dealing with way too much baggage right now. Trip didn’t know half of it. Literally. He didn’t know that Doctor Johnson was her father in another timeline. 

“Do you?” she demanded. “You have no idea what the sway is like. I’ve lived through it. It’s torture of the worst kind. It -”

Trip spoke over her. “I don’t know how it feels like to be swayed, but I _do_ know what it’s like to have someone you care about hurt. Your sister gave herself up willingly to Katya in exchange for saving Hunter’s life. She had initially wanted Sousa, for _you_ , but after Hunter got shot, she chose Hunter to save his life. She knew what she was walking into. She knew that she would be swayed. And she chose to do it anyway. And with her knowledge of the future, she knows exactly how painful it is.” He paused. “And she did it anyway.”

Daisy picked up a pillow and hugged it to her chest. There were no words. Trip was right. He might not care for Kora as strongly as she did for Lincoln - yet - but he did understand. His reaction was a clear indicator that he had some sort of romantic feelings for Kora. Aside from Lincoln and Jemma, who remembered it and had lived it once respectively, he was the only one who understood. Well, and Deke, seeing he had been so afraid that they’d been swayed that he’d drugged them.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy muttered into the pillow. “You...you do understand. I’m sorry...I shouldn’t have taken my feelings out on you.”

Trip exhaled. “It’s okay,” he said.

They sat/stood in silence for a moment, each lost in their own painful thoughts. Finally, Daisy said, “Trip, it doesn’t make sense. If Lincoln’s been swayed, what is he still doing here? He would have gone to Hive already; you said so yourself that we were with Hive yesterday. He has no reason to still be here.”

She was trying to process that Lincoln might be swayed and the logic wasn’t sitting right with her. 

“There’s you,” Trip said softly. “He would stay for you. You may know Lincoln from the other timeline, but you haven’t seen the change in our Lincoln. Me, Deke, even the rest of them team who’ve barely seen you two together. We all know how whole you make him. He would do anything for you. ”

A myriad of new emotions swept like a tidal wave over Daisy. Deke had said a similar thing to her the previous day, about how Lincoln was more complete with her in his life. To hear Trip saying the same thing was confirmation of another kind and it warmed Daisy’s heart. But only if Lincoln wasn’t swayed. Because she knew that no matter how much he cared for her, it would not be enough to prevent Hive’s sway from influencing him to do what Hive ordered. 

“He would try to get me to go with him,” Daisy said quietly. “But that wouldn’t stop him from leaving if I refused to go.” She couldn’t look Trip in the eye as she spoke. Not while she was in a white containment room that looked identical to the one that she had been in, the one that Lincoln had been in that time when she’d betrayed him, almost beyond repair. 

Trip sensed from her words that she was speaking from experience. 

“Ward’s with him now,” Trip assured her. “If Lincoln’s been swayed, he’s not going anywhere.”

Daisy laughed harshly. “See, now, that’s another illogical thing. If Lincoln had been swayed, we were together alone for _hours_ last night. Ask Deke, if you don’t believe me. For part of that, I was asleep. All he would have had to do was drug me and take me to Hive. Hive was in the same city as we were. Or he could have taken me to Katya. It doesn’t make sense, Trip. If Lincoln’s been swayed, I’m not the reason he’s still here.”

Trip averted his gaze, making Daisy realize that there was something else going on that he hadn’t told her. 

“What is it?” she asked. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

“I don’t know if I should tell you,” Trip said cautiously. “You might be swayed as well.”

Daisy shook her head at him. “Trip, you’re the one telling me that if Lincoln’s been swayed, he’s not going anywhere because he’s in containment. Doesn’t the same courtesy apply to me?”

Trip sighed. “We think he might be here for the cross necklace,” he said; his admission leading her to believe that he didn’t actually think that she was swayed, despite what he was saying. That was a small comfort, but either way, they would know soon enough. 

Daisy frowned. “How could Hive possibly know about the vision….” Her voice trailed off. “Raina.”

Trip nodded reluctantly. “They know as much as we do about the future.”

“But didn’t Kora have the necklace?” Daisy demanded. The last she had heard about it, Kora had stolen it from Deke. “Did...what happened to it when she got taken by Katya?” She put two and two together almost immediately. “You have it now, don’t you?”

There was only one person whom Kora would trust with the cross necklace and that person was Trip. Daisy knew it as well as she knew the back of her hand. She stood up as she spoke, stepping towards him; Trip started backing up immediately, as though he thought she might come at him through the containment walls. 

Trip held up his hands at the same time as she stopped moving, to prevent him from leaving. “Daisy, I don’t. Honest.”

Trip might be a spy, but Daisy knew a lie when she saw one. It wasn’t Trip’s fault, necessarily; he just hadn’t time to come up with a good enough response.

“You do,” Daisy whispered. Although it had been years since he’d died, she still knew him well enough to know when he was lying. 

“Daisy, I-” he began.

“No,” Daisy interrupted, not moving any closer, but still trying to get her point across. “Even if Lincoln’s here for the cross necklace, that _still_ doesn’t make sense. Lincoln was the one who found the cross necklace with Yo-Yo in the first place. If he hadn’t mentioned it, we wouldn’t have known it was there. He could have taken it then and later taken me while we were in Bucharest. Trip, Lincoln _hasn’t_ been swayed.”

It wasn’t just how desperately Daisy wanted Lincoln to be alright that was telling her that he wasn’t swayed. All the evidence pointed in that direction. 

Trip looked at her sympathetically. “The second the test results get back, I’ll let you know,” he promised, backing up again as the door opened behind him. “I’ll see you later.”

“Trip!” Daisy moved towards the containment module, but it was too late, Trip was gone.

Exhausted, suddenly, Daisy sat down on the side of the bed, staring at the floor. She couldn’t process that Lincoln was swayed. She really couldn’t. It felt like a yawning chasm of horror and fear and terror and every bad thing. If he had been….

It wouldn’t be his fault. Daisy knew that. Everything they’d been through, even if he had been swayed the entire time wouldn’t be his fault. It wouldn’t be anything worse than what she’d done to him while she’d been swayed. Promising that they could be together while she’d set him up for Hive to sway him...he had been willing to move past that. He had loved her. She could deal with this too if he was swayed. It wasn’t the end.

But at the same time, Daisy was positive that he hadn’t been. There was no way that he could be and she wasn’t just thinking that because of everything that they’d been through. Everything she’d told Trip….

Daisy’s thoughts were too painful to deal with at the moment. She had to know if he was alright. One thing she knew that he would not do was physically hurt her while swayed. He might emotionally hurt her, but physically...she had never hurt Lincoln. And not because she hadn’t had the opportunity. She had had more than ample opportunity to knock him out and drag him to Hive. She hadn’t been able to do that. Even swayed, she’d loved him. 

If she was with him, he wouldn’t be able to leave.

And even though she firmly believed he wasn’t swayed, she still wanted to see him. She had to. 

Daisy scrambled to her feet and ran to the panel that opened the containment module doors. It only took her a few seconds to figure out the controls and how to open the door; she ran out through the module and into the corridor. 

For once, luck was with her. No one was in the corridor and when she pressed the panel to open the containment room next door, Trip hadn’t been lying. Lincoln was sitting on the side of his bed, frowning, deep in thought, rubbing his hands together slowly. For unknown reasons, Ward and Miles were MIA, but she wasn’t complaining.

“I had to see you,” Daisy said; he stood up as she entered the room.

Those probably weren’t the best words to start with, given how the last time she’d broken containment to see him, she had been swayed and that had been _exactly_ what she’d said. 

Except this time, she wasn’t coming in through the containment module, she was coming _directly_ into his room. If he was going to hurt her, then, well, they were going to wage a war of Inhuman powers that would make the whole base shake. And bake. Gah. Too much Hunter on her mind.

“Daisy, I - ” Lincoln began, but Daisy walked right up to him and wrapped her arms around him. She knew exactly why he looked so worried; if Ward or Miles or Trip had told him half of what Trip had told her, then he knew that he was looking guilty of being swayed.

Again.

Lincoln hugged her back, tightly, desperately. 

“You haven’t been swayed,” he promised, his breath warm against the top of her head, as though he knew how traumatic this experience must be for her. “The tests I ran...I _know_ you haven’t been swayed. I wasn’t lying. You’re still immune. I even saw the parasites move away from you last night...I know you’re not under Hive’s control.”

“You haven’t been swayed either,” Daisy mumbled, her words muffled against his shirt. “I know. If you’d been here for me, then you would have just taken me in Bucharest while I was asleep and if you’d been here for the cross necklace, you would have taken that way at the beginning when you first found it with Yo-Yo. And you _didn’t_ get swayed last night with Hive. I was there. I would have seen it.”

They stood there for a moment, ignoring the fact that even though Daisy hadn’t triggered any alarms by leaving her containment room, they were definitely in sight of the cameras. Finally, when her arms were starting to ache, Daisy reluctantly let go. 

“How...how are you feeling?” Lincoln asked tentatively as she sat down; he sat opposite her, raking his hands through his hair.

“Messy,” Daisy said, hugging her knees to her chest. “And not because I doubt whether you’ve been swayed or not...it’s just everything. Kora and Sousa being taken; Deke drugging us, my dad returning with _Ward_ of all people introducing us - thanks, by the way, for getting him out of there; Hunter getting shot; Simmons, Bobbi and Flint being back; Kara being Hive…. This is crazy. My brain just feels like it hasn’t processed anything yet. Oh, and don’t get me started on both Yo-Yo and Joey being swayed. I thought that we’re supposed to be a balanced species! Hive has Kora and Yo-Yo and Joey and Alisha and James and Giyera and Raina _and_ Katya? How is that balanced?”

Lincoln gave her a wry grimace. “Yeah...it certainly doesn’t feel balanced right about now,” he sighed, rubbing his temples. “At least we still have Yo-Yo in containment though...and Doctor Johnson and Simmons will find a way to help her. Doctor Johnson might be a lot of things, but he knows a heck of a lot about Inhumans.”

Daisy sighed. “How did you even work with him when he’s so...prejudiced against us?”

Lincoln sighed as well. “He’s not all bad. He’s just...not as comfortable with us as he could be. Kinda like Rosalind Price. Or Simmons when she first found out about your change.”

Daisy frowned. “I told you, Simmons was only trying to help.”

They were talking about the inhibitors that Simmons had given Daisy that had suppressed her powers. As a doctor, Lincoln had known what they had done to her body during the transition process. 

Lincoln held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Doctor Johnson studies us as a necessity to understand us,” he said, switching the topic from Simmons before things could get too heated. “Humans are trying to understand us...rather like the Symposium of Alien Contagion.”

Daisy sighed heavily. “Let’s not go there,” she said, not wanting to argue about a vaccine and Terrigenesis birthrights. “Although, you’re right about one thing, I wouldn’t complain if we had a vaccine or something we could use against Hive.”

The corner of Lincoln’s mouth ticked up like he was trying to suppress a smile. “I rather like the...reconciliation we had afterwards,” he teased. “Now _that_ , I wouldn’t mind doing again.”

Daisy threw a pillow at him and he laughed, swatting it away. 

“I’m going to completely eat my words and say that planning does _not_ take the fun out of it,” she said, unable to keep the playful flirting out of her tone. “Although, not right here, not now and certainly not when there is any possibility of Deke walking in on us.”

Lincoln burst out laughing. “His face this morning….”

“I think he’s going to want to go through the Tahiti program,” Daisy admitted. “He looked completely mortified.”

Lincoln grinned. “I had something much more beautiful to look at,” he said, causing a rush of warmth to go through Daisy’s veins. His voice hardened. “Although when he drugged you...I….” He clenched his fists.

Daisy stood up and sat down next to him, placing her hand on his. “Hey,” she said. “I was mad at him too. I kinda still am. But at the very least we should let him explain. You and I both know exactly how bad the sway can get. And if either one of us was swayed and he drugged us to save us, then wouldn’t you rather have me here, getting treatment, instead of gallivanting off somewhere with Hive? I know I would.”

Lincoln looked at her. “I know,” he said heavily. “I just…I can’t lose you. I don’t want anyone to hurt you. And the reason he was able to do so was because we trusted him.” 

“I know,” Daisy said softly. “I feel the same way. I can’t lose you again. Not to the sway, not to Hive….” 

Lincoln put his arm around her shoulder and drew her in; she rested her head against his chest, relishing at the sensation. 

“Deke cares about you,” she said. “He loves you like a son. I can see it. He wouldn’t willingly hurt you.”

Lincoln didn’t say anything for a minute and then he said, “He loves you too. Not romantically anymore...like family.”

“That’s what we’re all fighting for,” Daisy replied, her voice quiet. 

They sat there in silence for a moment, just relishing the presence of each other until Daisy broke it, reluctantly. 

“We probably don’t have long till they find out I broke containment,” Daisy muttered, toying with the fabric of his jeans at the knee, not in any flirtatious manner, just for comfort. 

“I know,” Lincoln said, his voice tense and worried. “And before they bring you back to your cell...I have to ask…. We never talked about it before and it was back when I was alive, so I don’t have any memories from anyone else’s point of view of what it was like…. Although I know that Hive’s sway is like an addiction and that it’s terrible and traumatic and I hate to have to ask you about it...but….”

Daisy pulled back, but not because he was hurting her. She stood up and started pacing; she needed to think before she spoke to him about it. Lincoln watched her, not speaking; she finally sat down again opposite him. Because she needed to look him in the eye while she spoke.

“Hive is a monster,” she said, pressing her lips together. “But...well, the...the worst part about Hive is when he’s making you hurt the people you care about…. He makes you love him for it. If Hive isn’t the devil, then he’s the closest thing to it you and I will ever see.”

Daisy had used those exact words to talk about Hive to Mack before, but they had been true then and they were still true now. It wasn’t just that Hive had hurt her and made her hurt her loved ones. It was also the fact that Hive had cost her Lincoln. Of all her enemies...he was the one that she hated the most. It wasn’t revenge like what Mack had said...it was everything that he was. A parasite that sucked the life out of her family and friends.

“He can’t be contained,” Daisy said finally. “He has to be destroyed.”

Lincoln’s face was downcast; it was clear that he was thinking about all the ways Hive had hurt them in the original timeline and the ways that he was now hurting them in this timeline. The casualties this time…. Kora, Yo-Yo, Joey…. Daisy knew that Alisha was his friend, even though he’d shocked Alisha at least twice after she’d been misled by Jiaying and later, when he had been trying to get her back. She might as well add Alisha to the list and James...well, Lincoln might not like James, but he still knew him. And Raina, his transitioner...while Daisy didn’t have as many ties to the people from this timeline as Lincoln did, she knew perfectly well that Lincoln was hurting more than he was letting on. If she hadn’t had time to process, he’d had even less. He was still struggling with his memories, she knew that much.

“Trust me,” Lincoln said, his voice rough. “I know.”

Daisy stood up again and crossed the room again to look at him. “Lincoln...if you need to talk about Raina or Deke or Hive or anything, I’m here. You can tell me anything.”

Lincoln looked up and met her gaze, his eyes dark and troubled. “I know,” he said softly, but there was a gentleness in his tone this time. He leaned towards her and she smiled faintly, anticipating his kiss.

And the door to the containment module hissed open.

“Up,” Ward snapped. He was carrying a very lethal looking rifle despite him being behind the glass. “Daisy, you need to leave. Now.” 

“Ward!” Trip was right behind him. “You don’t have to threaten them!”

“Hive killed Kara,” Ward retorted. “And swayed Raina. If there’s even the slightest chance of these two being swayed, we’re not taking it!”

“And Deke would kill you if you used that rifle on them,” Trip replied.

Daisy sighed and Lincoln muttered, “Time to go.”

Daisy bit her lip, looking away from Lincoln and pulling back slightly from him. During their distraction, Trip had placed something on the opening between the containment module and the room.

“Daisy, put those on,” he called. “They’re inhibitors for your powers. Kora mentioned that you hate drugs, so I figured you would probably prefer those over us drugging you again and if Ward and I are both with you when we walk you back to your room and you’re wearing those, we won’t have to. I’ll take them off electronically once we’re back in your room. Deal?”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln who grimaced. “It’s not a murder vest,” he offered, making Daisy shake her head, despite her wry smile. Both of them knew that it wasn’t really a choice this time round. 

“Both fortunately and unfortunately, they don’t work on you,” Daisy said, getting up and going over to the module door. She picked them up. “You would just fry them.” 

“It’s just till we know that you both aren’t swayed,” Trip said. “Please do it. Deke would come and tell you but he’s still donating blood -”

“It’s fine,” Daisy said, sighing. At least she’d been able to see Lincoln and speak to him...and she was even more convinced than ever that he hadn’t been swayed. Lincoln trusted them enough to let them convince her to wear inhibitors, so Daisy could do it. It wouldn’t be long till the tests were back. 

“And if both of you promise to stay in your rooms, I can set up video feed between them,” Trip added. “Or rather, Miles can. But anyway...if you’ll just stay in your own rooms, I can do that.”

Daisy’s heart warmed to Trip. He might be currently doubting their allegiances, but he didn’t have to help them. Even if his agenda was just to get them to stay in their own rooms, it was still heartwarming that he was so kind. 

“Trip!” Ward objected; clearly Trip hadn’t run this plan by him before. 

“What?” Trip demanded. “You know as well as I do that they can bust out of there faster than you or I can load a gun. She already broke out once and went to Lincoln. That’s a pretty darn good clincher to me that she’s not swayed. And if he’s been swayed, well, something tells me that he could have broken out just as easily.”

Trip was not wrong. All Lincoln needed was a tape dispenser, a pencil and a shard of glass from his mirror. And maybe a food tray if there was a guard outside the door.

“You should be getting Miles to up the security on the rooms, not make it easier for them to communicate and find a way to break out!” Ward retorted.

“That’s what he’s doing now,” Trip replied. “And we still need to get her back to her cell. Geez, Ward-”

“You have no idea what it’s like to lose someone you care about to this parasite,” Ward snapped. “If I have to be the bad guy and threaten these two, then I will do it to save them, even if it’s from themselves.”

“What is it with people thinking I don’t understand?” Trip demanded. “I know more than you think about losing someone to that wretched maggot.” He paused. “Not sure if that’s accurate, but-”

“Yeah, he’s a parasite,” Lincoln called from inside the room. “Not a maggot.” 

“Shut up, Lincoln!” Ward snapped, but by now, Daisy had had enough. She had already ripped Trip enough before remembering about Kora; she didn’t want to throw him under Ward’s bus as well. She of all people knew what Ward was going through - she had run away from S.H.I.E.L.D. after Lincoln’s death - but that didn’t mean that she wanted Trip to bear the brunt of Ward’s grief. 

She put on the inhibitors with a loud snap, causing both Trip and Ward to turn and look at her.

“Are we going now?” she asked, raising both arms to show them her wrists through the glass. 




The door to the room burst open and both Raina and Sousa looked up as James entered the room. 

“Time to go,” he growled. “Raina?”

Raina stepped close to Sousa; he flinched back, but she wasn’t trying to knock him out or hurt him. Instead, she yanked up the leg of his pants and forcefully removed his prosthetic leg that Jemma had made for him. 

“Can’t make it too easy for you to run away,” another voice said from the doorway. 

It was Katya. She had apparently regained some of her previous mojo despite having been outsmarted by Kora and was casually toying with Kora’s traditional Chinese gift from Jiaying. Sousa immediately decided that no matter what, he was going to get that back from her. Katya was a twisted and cruel Inhuman, even without Hive’s influence, according to Kora and he knew that that gift must mean a lot to Kora. Given that she’d kept it, even when she’d been with Nathaniel Malick, Sousa was all too aware of how important it must be to her. Even if she ended up swayed by Hive, Sousa knew that she didn’t _want_ to be under his control. She deserved to have her only reminder of her mother. 

Sousa didn’t say anything. He knew the more down-trodden he appeared, the more it would seem like Raina had done her job; he remained silent while Raina picked up his leg. 

“Good luck, Agent Sousa,” she said, lifting her hood to cover her thorns once more. “You’re going to need it.”

As she exited the room, Alisha reentered the room. There were just two clones of her this time; each knelt on either side of her and yanked open his manacles. 

“Where are you taking me?” Sousa demanded, although part of him already suspected that this was the mission to the Academy that Raina had told him about. 

Alisha punched him hard in the face and Sousa grunted in pain. He hadn’t been expecting that blow. Of all of Hive’s swayed Inhumans whom he had encountered before, Alisha didn’t seem that cruel or particularly manipulative. The way that Lincoln and Daisy had talked about her had given him the impression that she wasn’t a bad person, just another Inhuman under Hive’s control.

“You don’t get to ask questions,” Alisha snapped, each clone yanked an arm to pull him to the door. He was surprised by how strong she was; the clones lifted him as easily as they had lifted Kora and he knew he was much heavier than she was, even with a missing leg. 

“Nice one,” James said appreciatively. “Looks like you’ve got more fight in you than you’re letting on, Ginger.”

James jerked back in shock as another Alisha appeared seemingly out of nowhere and punched him right on the nose. It wasn’t intended to hurt, just startle, but the message was clear. 

“Don’t call me that,” she said, even as her other clones pulled Sousa out of the room. 

Apparently Hive’s Inhuman army had a lot of cooperation issues amongst themselves. They might all serve him, but they really didn’t like each other. Sousa had no idea how he was going to use that to his advantage, but he definitely was going to try.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Deke had just been handed a soda and a package of Twinkies by the doctor who had been taking his blood when the door to the med room opened and the last person whom he had been expecting to see burst into the room.

“Deke!”

Jemma hugged him so tightly that his soda and Twinkies went flying. 

“Nana!” 

Despite having held it together when they had spoken over the communications, Deke couldn’t contain it this time. Seeing Jemma again was as meaningful as seeing his mother appear to him thanks to the Grey Monolith. He had missed Jemma so much; 33 years without her or Fitz, even though he had looked out for them in this timeline, had felt like ages. 

Jemma broke down and that made Deke start tearing up as well. While he loved and cared for Fitz as well, he had spent much more time with Jemma; their bond was different. Special. He had missed her more than he dared to admit.

Out of the corner of his eye, Deke saw the doctor leave the room, carrying his blood to take to Hunter. That was enough to make Deke remember that his other grandfather was in critical condition.

“Where’re Bobbi and Hunter?” Deke asked, causing Jemma to pull back from him and wipe her eyes.

“Hunter’s gone into surgery,” Jemma said. “Bobbi’s outside the surgical ward, but I needed to see you and she needs to be with him, otherwise she’d be here too-”

“No, I get it,” Deke said. “I totally do. He’s her husband. Her everything. The stars in her sky.”

Deke wasn’t lying. He did understand. He knew how much family meant to all of them. And if he wasn’t having this mini-reunion with Jemma, he would be right outside that door as well, desperate to see if Hunter was okay. It might be slightly selfish, but he hadn’t seen Jemma in 33 years and as much as he cared about Bobbi and Hunter, he needed at least five minutes with the grandmother whom he had known and loved for 35 years. 

Jemma smiled at that familiar phrase. “You know about Alya?”

“Yep,” Deke said, his own grin wide now. “Kora told me. She knows everything, that one. Or at least...a whole ton about everything. She knows the past and the possible futures thanks to the timestream, but that’s not important right now. How’s Mum and Bobo? How’s Dad?”

Deke was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his father was Bobbi and Hunter’s son. But, to be fair, it wasn’t as shocking as finding out that Jemma and Fitz were his grandparents. After having one load of crazy dropped on him, finding out that Bobbi and Hunter were also his grandparents wasn’t half as mind-blowing. Although _was_ still a huge bombshell. 

“They’re good,” Jemma said, smiling, her smile lighting up the shadows in her eyes. “Speaking of Alya and Owen...I have something for you.” 

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a series of photos. “Bobbi told me about your collection in your office,” she said. “We thought you might want some from our timeline...and of your parents.”

Deke was speechless. Aside from the pocketknife passed down to him from Fitz to his mum to him, he hadn’t ever gotten a present from any of the old team, much less from Jemma. The fact that she had cared enough to ask Bobbi for something that he would like…. He had literally no words to describe how much it meant to him that this timeline version of his grandparents cared enough to do something like that for him. Even if the gift had been an elephant, he would have liked it, but these photos were beautiful. There was one of Jemma, Fitz and Alya, another of Bobbi and Owen, one of all five of them and then there were a few of the team: Mack and Yo-Yo, Coulson and May, and even Daisy, Sousa and Kora. Deke paused, his finger hovering over that one.

“That was before I knew about Lincoln,” Jemma said, seeing his hesitation. “Bobbi didn’t know how that one was going to turn out either, Deke-.”

“No, it’s good,” Deke said, flipping to the next one. “I don’t have photos of Sousa or Kora; I should have some.”

The next few photos were ones that Deke hadn’t seen before and realized that they were photos of the team members from the original timeline, those who had been on the team and whom Deke had never worked with. Bobbi and Hunter, Trip, Lincoln. There were even some of the whole team in progression, with members rotating in and out. A young Fitz and Simmons way back when they had been at the Academy; one of Fitz, Simmons and Daisy on the Bus; the original timeline Bobbi and Jemma in the lab at the Playground; one of the guys: Fitz, Mack and Hunter, drinking beer; even one of Daisy and Lincoln. Deke paused on that one.

“That was taken shortly after the Maveth mission,” Jemma said. “He and Daisy had just made it official. Or at least official in front of the rest of the team,” she added, smiling faintly. “Except Mack, of course. Mack already knew. He has a bad habit of walking in on people. Or at least that year he did.”

“Really?” Deke asked, looking up. “Because that seems to be what I do all the time.” He pulled a face and Jemma laughed. 

She nodded. “He walked in on Bobbi and Hunter’s second-ish proposal - and I say ‘ish’ because it wasn’t exactly one, just a discussion if they should get married again; a short while later, he accidentally eavesdropped on Daisy and Lincoln’s first kiss; and when Fitz and I attempted to pull a coms malfunction on him, he said that Bobbi and Hunter pulled that trick on him all the time.” She paused. “At least the four of us had the decency to turn off the coms first.”

“Hey, listening to a first kiss isn’t as bad as interrupting their makeout session,” Deke reminded her. “Which is what you did. And I did one much worse.”

Jemma’s smile faded at that. 

“What?” Deke asked. “You don’t like Daisy and Lincoln being together?”

He was careful not to make his tone accusatory, but Jemma noticed the slight hostility in his voice anyway. He had to give it to her, she was observant. 

“It’s not that,” she said cautiously. 

Deke lowered the photographs. “Explain then.”

Jemma sighed, wandering over to the doctor’s chair and sitting down. She popped the tab on a can of soda and handed it to him, before finally speaking.

“It’s complicated,” she said. “I know Lincoln’s as good as a son to you and I _am_ happy that you have family here, Deke. But, well, it’s been two days. I’m...I’m just surprised that’s all. I asked Daisy two days ago how things were going with Sousa and she seemed so happy with him. Now...well….”

Of course. Sousa. Jemma had been with Daisy for the year that she had been with Sousa. It was understandable that Jemma had reservations about these new developments. Especially because, while it had been months in Jemma’s timeline, it had literally been two days in Deke’s. A really long and complicated two days, but two days nonetheless. 

Deke shrugged. “I don’t know Sousa as well as you do, obviously, but she seems really happy with Lincoln. At first she was seriously torn between them - and by seriously, I do mean seriously, she was a mess - but I think she’s figured it out now. It’s the same thing with Jiaying loving her despite having found out that she was an alternate timeline version of her daughter and you caring about me even though I’m your grandson from another timeline. It doesn’t matter what versions of ourselves we are. We still love and care about people regardless.”

Deke really did believe that. He wasn’t just happy that his son figure had found the love of his life, nor was he biased for that reason. He really truly believed that it didn’t matter what timeline version of themselves they were, as long as they truly loved each other. 

Jemma sighed. “I shouldn’t be talking about this with you,” she said. “It’s for me to talk about with Daisy. Things are complicated in our family enough without you having to be the go-between with your grandmother and your son.”

That was a fair point. 

“Daisy’s your sister,” Deke pointed out.

Which was also true. 

“And your son’s girlfriend too, apparently,” Jemma said. “Exactly why I shouldn’t be putting you and Lincoln in the middle of this. I don’t want to make you choose between him and me and I don’t want to choose between you and Daisy either. I’ll talk to her about it.”

Jemma had a really good point. Deke didn’t want to argue with her about the whole Daisy-Lincoln-Sousa confusion, especially when it wasn’t really his business. It technically wasn’t hers either, but if anyone had a right to say anything, it _was_ them. As the non-biological family to two of the parties involved although, ironically, _they_ were biologically related. 

Deke took a swig of soda. 

“Thank you for these,” he said, holding up the photos. “They’re beautiful.”

He put the can of soda down to flip through them again, lingering this time on one of Jemma, Fitz, Alya, Bobbi and Owen. He held it very carefully, not wanting to smudge it with his fingerprints.

“Hunter’s not in it because he wasn’t with us, but we figured the least we could do was try to get a family photo,” Jemma said anxiously, seeing his preoccupation. “Do you like them? We considered putting them in an album, but decided if we just kept them as photographs, you could frame them or do whatever you wanted-”

Jemma looked so anxious that he might not like them that Deke was touched, almost as much as he was with the gift in the first place. She was genuinely worried that he might not like them. He stood up, walked over to her and crushed her in a hug, cutting off her words. 

“Thank you,” he said, his voice thick and heavy with emotion. “These mean so much to me. More than you know.” 

Jemma hugged him back just as tightly. “We love you, Deke,” she whispered. 

“I love you too,” Deke said, his voice shaking. 

It had been a long time since he’d said that to anyone. While he did love people, more often than not, when he loved them, he’d lost them. He hadn’t been kidding when he and Daisy had talked about that all those years ago. 

Deke had come a long way from the selfish scavenger who had sold Daisy out to Kasius in exchange for that valuable rhodium coin. But that didn’t mean that he didn’t know what was going to happen. He didn’t have to be a clairvoyant like Raina or have seen the timestream like Kora to know what was going to happen.

When this mission was over, Jemma, Bobbi and Hunter would return to the original timeline to be with Fitz, Alya and Owen. There was no alternative. Owen was the tether in the timeline and Deke was an adult. He didn’t begrudge his grandparents going back to their baby children. Of course he didn’t. Even if they didn’t insist on going, _he_ would insist that they leave. He knew how terrible it was to lose parents at a young age; he didn’t want Alya and Owen growing up with only Fitz to take care of them. Although he knew that Fitz was a great dad. He wanted them to leave, as much as it hurt him to lose them. 

However, he also knew that there was a high possibility that Daisy would want to leave as well. And that Lincoln would go with her. 

Deke was all too aware that while he was Lincoln’s father figure, he was not the one in control of Lincoln’s life. He couldn’t and wouldn’t stop him from pursuing a life and a family outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. if he so wanted to. And Deke was beyond happy that Lincoln’s choice was Daisy and that she had chosen him in turn. While it would hurt if they decided to leave, Deke would be supportive of that. He knew how much the original team meant to Daisy. He also knew that all of them remembered Lincoln. They had honoured and mourned him; they would welcome him back into the fold. It might take time for them to accept that Daisy had gone a full circle with her emotions, but they would accept it eventually. Deke hadn’t seen the full force of Daisy’s grief after losing Lincoln, but everyone else had. He knew they would eventually understand. 

On top of all that, Deke was pretty sure that Kora would go wherever Daisy decided to go. Which meant that Trip would probably leave as well. Deke wasn’t blind about those two either. It was a newer relationship, but Deke knew that Trip was being especially kind to Daisy and Lincoln currently because Kora would do anything to keep them safe since she loved Daisy. If Kora wanted to leave...Deke was pretty sure he would go with her. 

Deke didn’t want to get his hopes up that all four might decide to stay. He knew perfectly well that the choice was with the girls. The guys would follow; if they chose to leave, they would all leave, if they chose to stay, then they would stay. 

If they chose to leave, then his team would be down to Ward, Miles and Flint. And maybe Sousa. He wasn’t sure what that man would decide to do after their mission with Hive. It would definitely be strange for him to go with Daisy, Lincoln, Kora and Trip back to the original timeline if that was what they chose to do. Maybe not strange for Kora and Trip, but certainly strange for Daisy and Lincoln. Maybe Deke would lose two agents and get a different one in exchange. 

Wow. That would mean that the team would consist of Ward, Miles, Sousa and Flint. Three of Daisy’s ex-boyfriends/former love interests from another timeline, him and Flint. That was a great combination. The only thing that would make it any weirder would be if Flint somehow turned out to be Daisy and Lincoln’s grandson. 

Which, at the rate things were going, Deke wouldn’t put it past the timelines. Although neither of them had been alive at the time of his conception, Deke wouldn’t be surprised if time-travel somehow had allowed them to have Flint in the first place. The timelines were so screwed, there was probably some logical reason out there somewhere that could explain it all. 

Not that Deke had any proof on that front though.

Still, it would make an interesting team. 

There was still Mack, when he returned from vacation, and hopefully May might decide to return as well. Otherwise...well, Deke would definitely have to recruit some new agents. 

“We should probably go and find out how Hunter’s doing,” Deke said reluctantly, pulling away from Jemma as he spoke; he didn’t want to think about his rapidly dwindling team. 

“Yeah, we should,” Jemma said, giving Deke a wry smile. “Although, as a doctor, I must insist that you eat this Twinkie and finish a soda. You just donated bags of blood!”

Deke snorted. “You’re as bad as Lincoln and Trip,” he said, scoffing down the Twinkie. “They’re always pulling that card on the team!”

“And it’s a fair one!” Jemma insisted. “You _did_ just lose a lot of blood and you need to replenish your blood sugar levels.” 

Deke drained the can of soda. “Happy, Nana?” he teased, crumpling the can and tossing it into the trash. 

Jemma smiled at the name. “Another Twinkie and we can go,” she said.

“Can I pull rank as director?” Deke teased, but he was more than happy to have her here, even if it was with her force-feeding him food. It was something a mother or grandmother would do.

“Nope,” Jemma said, unwrapping another one and handing it to him. “Even directors have to listen to their grandmothers.”

“Wait till Bobbi pulls that one on me,” Deke muttered. “She’ll probably play that card on pizza night or something. Make me go and get the beers and pizza instead of her.” He paused. “Provided that you guys are around for the next pizza night, that is.”

Jemma winced. “Deke, I-”

“No, I get it,” Deke said, holding up his hands. “And even if you didn’t insist on leaving, I would insist that both of you go. I know what it’s like to lose my parents at a young age and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, much less my own parents.” He paused. “That sounds weird, but you know what I mean.”

Jemma did. “I’m sorry, Deke,” she said, looking down as she crumpled up the Twinkie wrappers and put them in the trash. 

“It’s not your fault,” Deke insisted. It really wasn’t. “And I don’t want you feeling guilty about it for another minute. Let’s just enjoy the time that we have, okay? And we should probably go and find Bobbi and Hunter.”

Jemma nodded, smiling wanly. “Okay.”

They walked out into the hall and down the corridor, Deke leading the way. When they were halfway there, Deke realized something.

“Where’s Flint?” he asked. 

“Getting tested,” Jemma said. “Even though he’s never encountered Hive in either timeline, Ward was insistent that he get tested when we arrived. It might be paranoia or something, but still, it can’t hurt.”

“So he’s in containment?” Deke asked. “If so, I should visit him. He’s never been in containment before, as far as I know-”

Jemma gave him a knowing look. “Postponing talking to Daisy and Lincoln won’t make it any easier,” she warned him. “And, knowing them, they’ll get even madder at you if they find out you went to Flint first.”

Deke sighed. “I know…. I’d just rather not face the wrath of two angry Inhumans right about now.” 

Jemma eyed him shrewdly. “They probably won’t be too hard on you,” she said. “If you explain, they would probably understand. Besides, it’s not like you shot one of them.”

Deke’s eyes widened. “What would have happened if I’d ICE-d one of them?” he asked.

“Well, for one, it wouldn’t have worked if they’ve been swayed,” Jemma said. “Hive’s sway makes them impervious to the dendrotoxin. Daisy wouldn’t have known that; she wasn’t around when we figured it out. But Lincoln and Kora…?”

“Lincoln’s still dealing with the memories,” Deke said, feeling a pang at his inability to help him. “He hasn’t really talked about it much to me, but I know that Daisy’s helping him cope with the two lives in his head. And Kora...well, she implied once that she knows everything that happened in my past, but I think she doesn’t really. She knows a lot about the past and the future, but not everything.”

“Well, now you know,” Jemma said sighing, not at their lack of understanding about the ICERs, but about the difficulty of dealing with swayed Inhumans. “Which is frustrating, because if an ICER worked on swayed Inhumans, then we could knock them out without hurting them. But anyway, back on the topic of shooting them...Lincoln threatened to kill Coulson if he ever shot Daisy. But hey, Coulson was Daisy’s father figure, not Lincoln’s, so I doubt Lincoln would kill you.”

“Great,” Deke said in a mock-cheerful voice. “That means _Daisy_ would kill me.” He paused. “I’m going to find a nanomask. And pretend to be Trip for a day. They like Trip, right?”

Jemma laughed. “Don’t be dramatic, Deke.” 

“Hey, that’s me,” Deke said. “I have Great Master of Melodrama for my paternal grandfather. Is it really surprising that I’m dramatic?”

As he said this, he and Jemma rounded the corner that led to the surgical ward and almost walked straight into Bobbi, who was sitting outside the doors, twisting her wedding ring around and around her finger. She was on her feet and hugging Deke before he realized what had happened.

“Thank you,” she said, her voice unstable. “The transfusion...it might just save his life. He was so pale….”

“No worries, Gran,” Deke said, the nickname coming out before he’d even realized. “Oh, sorry, if you don’t want me to call you that-”

Bobbi laughed, despite her obvious hectic emotional state. “It’s actually kind of sweet. I like it.”

“You have to come up with a pet name for Hunter now,” Jemma said, trying to keep her tone cheerful as possible; the three of them sat down to wait outside the surgical wing. “Fitz is already Bobo….”

“Gramps,” Deke decided. “Or actually...now is the perfect time to come up with an even better pet name…. He and Miles have come up with so many nicknames for the team that this is the _best_ time to get revenge.”

Both Bobbi and Jemma started laughing despite the obvious stress that Bobbi was under. 

“We can help,” Jemma suggested, in an attempt to keep Bobbi’s mind off Hunter’s condition. “Although only if you don’t tell him that we did.”

“I’m thinking ‘Harry Potter’,” Deke said. “Because his real middle name is Ravenclaw.”

“That doesn’t really tie in with ‘grandfather’ though,” Jemma pointed out. 

“King Arthur then,” Deke said. “For Lancelot.”

Bobbi eyed him suspiciously. “How long have you been thinking up pet names for him?”

“Long before I found out I was his grandson,” Deke said cheerfully. “I was planning revenge for all the nicknames he’s given me!”

“It is very clear,” Jemma said. “Where he gets this from.”

They started laughing again, even Bobbi, but as they did, the lights in the hallway flickered. The laughter died immediately.

“Lincoln?” Bobbi said, her voice uneasy.

“He’s in containment,” Deke said, his voice equally uneasy. “If Hive decided to send her here, it _could_ be Kora. But if Hive sent anyone here, practically any Inhuman could take the lights out; Daisy could quake the generator if she so chose-”

As he spoke, the lights completely died. 

“Oh no,” Jemma said. 

“Hunter,” Bobbi gasped. “Electricity, the surgery-”

At that, she was bursting through the doors that led to the surgical wing. 

“Bobbi!” 

Jemma and Deke raced after her, moving so quickly that the doors didn’t even have time to try to close before they entered the corridor of the surgical wing.

In the first room on the right, all three of them could hear anxious, raised voices as they tried to understand what was going on.

“Electricity’s gone-”

“His heart’s stopped-”

“We need a defibrillator-”

“He’s fading-”

“Blood-”

Bobbi burst through the door; Jemma hot on her heels. 

“What are you doing in here?” one of the doctors demanded, looking up. “You can’t be in here, this is a surgery-”

“He’s my husband!” Bobbi screeched; tears were streaming unchecked down her cheeks. “He’s dying!”

The terror in Bobbi’s voice was so obvious that it made Deke’s heart stop. He knew how much Bobbi loved Hunter, but seeing her this emotional was rare. It made his heart bleed for them both. 

Jemma turned to Deke. 

“Lincoln. Get him. Now.”

“The sway-” Deke began, his voice uneasy. 

“We have no choice!” Jemma said, her eyes flitting from Hunter’s still body on the surgical table and Bobbi’s distraught face. “We have to try something!”

“I don’t even know if the drugs have worn off yet,” Deke began feebly.

“Go!” 

Deke raced out of the room and back into the corridor. However, outside the surgical ward doors, he ran smack into Ward and Trip in the corridor. Quite literally. He practically bounced off Ward and almost crashed back through the revolving doors.

“What’s going on?” Deke demanded. “I thought you were watching Tremors and Sparks!”

“They’re gone!” Trip’s voice was more anxious than panicked; Ward was agitated. 

“How? How did they get out?” Deke snapped. “Those containment rooms run on electricity independent from the rest of the building!”

It was difficult to tell in the dim lighting, but Deke thought that Trip looked a little embarrassed. 

“Daisy broke out once before,” he admitted sheepishly. “She just went to Lincoln’s room, but-”

“If she did it once, she could do it again,” Ward said angrily. “We have no idea where they went; cameras are down. They went out before the electricity did. For all we know, Lincoln caused this blackout.”

This was not good. Not good at all. 

Deke exhaled. “Okay,” he said. “Ward, run and see if you can find a portable generator. Any kind of generator. Or power source, really. Any at all. We need to power a defibrillator. Or Hunter’s going to die.”

Ward swore. “On it.”

He raced off down the corridor; Deke could only hope that he would find one in time. He had no idea where Daisy and Lincoln had gone to, but if this was an elaborate plan on their part to break out, then the rest of the team was screwed. From the details that both of them had given him about the sway, he had no doubt that they would sacrifice Hunter’s life as part of their mission in serving Hive.

“Trip, where’re Miles and Flint?” Deke asked. 

“Both in the lab,” Trip said. “Doctor Johnson was running tests on them before the blackout.”

“Go find them,” Deke ordered. “Make sure they’re safe. And start evacuating the cadets to the bunker. This can’t be a coincidence.”

Trip nodded. As Deke turned to go, Trip caught his arm. 

“Deke, wait,” he said. 

“What?” Deke asked, impatience in his voice. He needed to get back to Hunter as soon as possible.

“Take this,” Trip said, shoving the cross necklace into his hand. “Daisy and Kora both know I have it. If either or both have been swayed, they’ll come after me. We need to hide it from them. We both know that I’m no match for Inhuman powers.”

Deke closed his hand around the necklace and shoved it into his pocket. Trip was right. Seeing as ICERs wouldn’t work on swayed Inhumans, well, it was pretty clear that running would be the best option if faced with an Inhuman with powers like Daisy, Lincoln or Kora. Otherwise, they would just end up being shaken around in a blender, baked in an oven and served on a platter. And then some. 

“Go,” Deke said and spun on his heel. 

They raced in opposite directions, Deke heading for the surgical wing and Trip for the labs. 

When Deke re-entered the surgical room, it was clear that things weren’t going well. One doctor was performing CPR, another was trying desperately to hold part of the wound closed, another was hefting up another bag of Deke’s blood to the IV. Bobbi and Jemma were both holding flashlights to help the doctors see what they were doing, although Bobbi’s face was a wreck.

“Lincoln?” Bobbi asked desperately.

Deke hated to be the bringer of bad news. 

“They’re gone,” he said. 

Bobbi’s face crumpled; her hand that was holding the flashlight shook. Deke moved quickly to her side to help her hold the torch. 

“What do you mean, gone?” Jemma asked. Then she cursed under her breath and answered her own question. “The tape dispenser, pencil, mirror and food tray. And the containment module that goes between floors. They both know how to break out without using their powers.”

Deke cursed. “I suspected as much, especially because Daisy’s a hacktivist, and Miles has taught Lincoln some stuff -”

“Daisy broke Lincoln out once,” Jemma said. “He’d remember how. They either broke out alone and one went after the other or they broke out together. After last time, if only one has been swayed, the other would definitely know that not agreeing to leave wouldn’t end well, so they would definitely have left with the other, even if they haven’t been swayed.” 

Although that was definitely a mouthful of words, it made perfect sense. Deke cursed under his breath, even as the doctors frantically tried to help Hunter. The deafening silence in the room was terrifying; at least if the machines were beeping, they would know that the machines were keeping Hunter alive. But now, the silence was deadly because none of them knew if his heart was still beating.

“We’re losing him,” one of the doctors said, in a frantic voice. “Come on….” 

“Ward’s trying to find a generator,” Deke began, but he already knew that no matter how fast Ward was, if he didn’t get up to the hospital wing in two minutes tops, Hunter would die. 

Bobbi’s face was both ghostly and ghastly in the light from the torches. 

“Come on, Hunter,” she whispered. “Fight. Come on.”

“He’s not going to wake up,” a voice said from the door. “I can help him. I’m the only one who can.”

Deke, Bobbi and Jemma all turned towards the source of the voice. 

“No way,” Deke whispered. “You were kidnapped, you’re swayed, we need to get away from you-”

“I haven’t been swayed,” the same voice insisted. “Don’t you think as someone who knows the future would have done everything to prevent an outcome that would have resulted in me getting swayed?”

With that, Kora stepped into the light from the flashlights, looking a lot beaten up, but alive and mostly unharmed.

“I saved Daisy once,” Kora said. “Jemma knows I did. And now I’m your only hope for saving Hunter.”


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

The second the video feed that Trip had set up between her room and Lincoln’s went out, Daisy knew that something was wrong. At first, she suspected that Ward had persuaded Trip to cut their connection, but when the electricity in the containment room went out as well, she knew that it was something more than that. There were only two Inhumans in the world who could cut the power like that: Lincoln and Kora. 

And while Lincoln was under suspicion for being swayed, she had a pretty good feeling she would have seen him blast electricity into the walls of his containment room to help him to break out, cause a blackout and destroy the video feed. He might be able to sense electricity without revealing his own powers, but he was not able to manipulate it without showing the blue lightning.

That meant that Kora was here. And Daisy knew that she and Lincoln were the team’s only defense; Kora was extremely dangerous. While all members of Deke’s team were skilled fighters, it wasn’t a balanced fight. Inhuman powers threw everything in a loop.

Daisy ran to the door. This time round, it took longer to hack her way out; the containment rooms had a different power source from the rest of the building. Even worse, when electricity failed, the containment rooms entered a “sealed” lockdown, making it even harder for the prisoners inside to break out.

After a minute or so, Daisy managed to get out through the containment module again. Knowing that she could use the same hack to get _in_ through a containment module and not wanting to waste time on trying one of the main doors, she hurried into the one connected to Lincoln’s room. He was at his desk, detaching a roll of tape from a disposable tape dispenser; a broken mirror sat next to it. 

“I had to see you,” Daisy said automatically, realized once again how stupid she sounded, shaking her head in an attempt to rectify her words.

Lincoln had walked over to her immediately when he saw she was in the module; he was now facing her. She had expected him to look concerned as to why she was in the module in the first place since this was exactly how she had faced him when she had been swayed by Hive, attempting to convince him to come with her in the first place. However, the worry on his face wasn’t for that reason; when he spoke, it was clear that he was anxious that she might be doubting his loyalties again. He was worried that she thought that he had caused the blackout in the first place. 

“Daisy...I didn’t do anything,” he said, anxiety all over his face. “I...I promise. I did not betray the team.”

How terribly ironic that even though _she_ was the one who had betrayed him last time, he was still worried that he looked guilty because once again, there had been a blackout at the base. Only difference: they were now at the Academy, not the Playground. And the other difference, she was not swayed and was also 100% positive that he was not under Hive’s control.

“I believe you,” she said, the words spilling out of her unbidden. “I believe you, that’s why I came, I came to get you out of here.”

They looked at each other and immediately realized what had happened. 

Each started protesting in earnest. 

“I really didn’t cause the blackout-”

“I swear, Lincoln, I haven’t been swayed-”

“I’ve been in here the entire time; we were on video with each other-”

“I’m not here to betray you again-”

Both stopped at the same time, looking at one another desperately through the glass. 

“I swear,” Daisy whispered, touching the fingertips of his hand through the glass of the containment module with her own. “I swear I haven’t been swayed. I know it looks like I did because I just came in here and told you the exact same thing that I did when I was swayed, but-”

“I know you haven’t been,” Lincoln interrupted. “We just had this conversation and we were on video chat since you’ve been back in your room -”

“Which is how I also know you didn’t cause the blackout -” Daisy began and then cut herself off as she heard footsteps approaching. She turned her head towards the containment module door, eyes wide.

“You have to get out of there,” she said urgently. “I think Ward and Trip are coming. They’ll blame you. You need to reboot the power. Hunter’s probably in surgery by now and if there’s no electricity, he might die.”

Lincoln was already dashing back over to his table and grabbing the detached roll of tape and pencil. Quickly, he picked up a shard of glass from his broken mirror and moved back over to the door. 

“Good memory,” Daisy attempted to joke, despite her obvious anxiety as Lincoln removed the panel by the door. She had taught him how to break out in the original timeline and whoever had stuck them both in containment was not aware of that. In fact, aside from Kora and Simmons, no one knew that they had spent almost all of their time in containment breaking out. As Lincoln worked, she glanced quickly over her shoulder to see if Ward and Trip were on the way; she wouldn’t put it past them if they were.

“Like I said,” Lincoln said, a teasing grin on his face. “You’re helping.”

If they hadn’t been in such a perilous situation, Daisy would definitely have flirted back and/or kissed him for that. If she had been in the same room with him. If Ward and Trip weren’t on the way. If Hunter’s life wasn’t hanging in the balance. 

As it was, she smirked back and said, “Get out first, Sparky. Then we’ll see.”

Lincoln was about to respond when Daisy suddenly saw someone approaching. It was a random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, not one she recognized, but she ducked anyway. 

“He’s right outside your door,” Daisy whispered. “I’ll take him.”

She stepped back out through the panel to the corridor and was about to kick the agent in the face when a white tray slammed into him instead and he fell over. Lincoln was standing there, dropping the tray and picking up his earpiece, just in case they might need it to hear what was going on around the Academy if the electronics started working again. 

“Like you said,” Lincoln said, with a wink. “Good memory.”

Daisy opened her mouth to speak but before she could, they heard the unmistakable sounds of Ward and Trip’s voices down the corridor. 

“He caused the blackout, Trip, he’s the only one who could have!” Ward snapped.

“I’m telling you, we don’t know that!” Trip retorted. “Heck, it could have been an EMP, for all we know!”

Daisy felt a rush of warmth for Trip; even though he knew that chances were likely that Kora had been swayed, he still wasn’t about to accuse her of causing the blackout. Logically, it made sense that Kora was the guilty one for causing the blackout. 

“What, the Watchdogs?” Ward demanded. “Not everyone can be innocent all the time, Trip!”

It was an unpleasant reminder that the Watchdogs existed in this timeline as well. If Daisy wasn’t so anxious about getting Lincoln to the main electrical system and keeping themselves hidden from Ward and Trip, she definitely would have demanded answers out of him for that. 

“Go,” Daisy whispered and they fled down the hall, keeping their footsteps light. 

Fortunately, Lincoln knew his way around the Academy. Daisy had only been to the Academy once in her timeline and that had been long before the containment rooms or modules had ever been built. 

Lincoln led the way, but stopped when they rounded the corner. He yanked open the door to a broom closet and whispered, “Get in.”

“Hiding?” Daisy whispered back. “Shouldn’t we be running?”

“They’ll hear us,” Lincoln said in a low voice. “It’s Ward and Trip, Daisy, not two science cadets!”

Lincoln had a good point. In both timelines, Ward and Trip were specialists and they were extremely skilled at their jobs. Hiding probably was the better option at this point, although a broom closet wouldn’t be her first choice of hiding place. It wasn’t the claustrophobia, it was more like they would have nowhere to run if they got caught. Although if the drugs had worn off and they could use their powers again, Ward and Trip didn’t stand a chance. On the other hand, if the drugs _hadn’t_ worn off yet...well, four specialists. That would be an interesting fight.

Daisy hadn’t fought either Ward or Trip in this timeline, but if their skills were anything like theirs in her timeline, well, then they were in for it. She could possibly take Ward - May had beaten him and May had been her S.O. - but still...Daisy wasn’t all too eager to find out. 

Daisy quickly stepped into the closet and Lincoln followed, pulling the door closed behind him. It was tiny; they were pressed up close together in the space, practically sharing breath. If it were any other situation, Daisy would probably have enjoyed it, but with Ward and Trip close to finding them, it was not a situation that either of them wanted to get caught in, and not because of the teasing that might arise. 

Hiding hadn’t come too soon. A few seconds after Lincoln had closed the closet door, both of them heard Ward’s frustrated shout. 

“I told you!” His voice was extremely annoyed and worried, intermixed with the anger. “They’re gone! If they were innocent, they would have stayed!”

 _Not with the attitude you’re having_ , Daisy thought snarkily, but she couldn’t say that aloud. Not while they were still hiding from Ward and Trip, who would undoubtedly shove them back into yet another containment module, even though at this point, they should really know it was futile. Unless they made them wear inhibitors, murder vests, drug them _and_ knock them out. Containment modules were designed to adapt to an Inhuman’s powers, but Daisy and Lincoln had perfected the art of breaking out with and without said powers. 

“Yeah, well, we need to tell Deke,” Trip said grimly. “Although, for all we know, they have a perfectly legitimate reason for breaking out. Maybe the reason they busted out is _because_ they knew you’d suspect them of causing the blackout!”

If Daisy had a hat, she would have taken it off for Trip. He totally got how Ward being heavy-handed was not working. 

Daisy didn’t blame Ward for being wary of them. Ward had just lost Kara; Daisy knew how badly grief could strike when you lost someone you loved, but that didn’t make the situation any easier, especially when she and Lincoln were the ones trying to explain how they weren’t swayed. 

The two men raced back down the corridor in the opposite direction that Daisy and Lincoln had gone, presumably in search of Deke. Deke, who was likely with Hunter. Hunter, who was dying. Hunter, who needed the electricity back as soon as possible. They needed to get out of there and restart the electricity at the Academy. Once Ward and Trip’s footsteps stopped echoing on the tiled floor, Daisy and Lincoln slipped back out into the corridor.

“Fusebox?” Daisy whispered. “Where’s the main power source?”

“The labs,” Lincoln said in a low voice. “Downstairs.” He hesitated for a split second. “Do you want to come with me or go check on the others? I know-”

“We’re not splitting up,” Daisy insisted. “Not again. Not with Hive around.” 

Even as she spoke, she was suddenly struck with the reminder of Fitz and Simmons deciding never to split up again after the whirlwind of an adventure in Deke’s dystopian future. She wasn’t sure if that was what Lincoln was thinking about as well; their eyes locked, but for once, she wasn’t sure what was going on inside his head. She did know, though, that there was no proof that they would make it through this alive...there was no futuristic grandson as evidence that they would live long enough to have kids. Or heck, live past the Quinjet explosion in space.

If there was time for them to speak, Daisy wasn’t even sure what she would say. Like she had thought earlier that morning, both of them knew that they had a future together if they lived past the Hive disaster, but what those plans really were, well, they hadn’t discussed it. All either of them knew at the moment was that they wanted to be together.

Lincoln took a quick step towards her and pressed his lips to her forehead softly. Just a gentle touch, just a reminder that he was there, that they were together, a reassurance that it would all be okay. 

“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand; they fled as fast as they could down the corridor in the direction of the labs. 




Jemma pulled out a gun from around her waist. 

“Kora, back away now,” she ordered. “These are real bullets.”

“Jemma!” Deke wasn’t entirely sure why he was protesting. All their lives hung in the balance, including the lives of both of his grandmothers and his grandfather. Maybe it was because he knew Kora, or at least knew her when she wasn’t swayed. She was a good person. And they didn’t have proof that she was swayed. Threatening her with bullets wasn’t ideal, but then again, Jemma had just told him that ICERs didn’t work on swayed Inhumans. 

Jemma didn’t know Kora that well. She only had Daisy’s word and the fact that Kora had saved Daisy’s life once to judge Kora. Deke didn’t blame Jemma for being wary, but he also knew that there was no way that Kora would be doing this voluntarily. 

If she was, in fact swayed.

Either way, he didn’t want to hurt her if there was an alternative. Unfortunately, with all their lives on the line, there didn’t really seem to be one. 

The doctors surrounding Hunter ignored the deadly stand-off, which was to their everlasting credit. They didn’t know Kora and they didn’t know how dangerous she was, but with Hunter’s life on the line, they were still picking the patient over the potential threat. They were still working, in rapid near-silence, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to get his heart beating again, but either way, Deke couldn’t pay attention to them. 

“I haven’t been swayed,” Kora insisted, taking a step closer; Jemma shifted as well, blocking her direct path to Hunter. Deke reached for his own gun as well, moving protectively in front of Bobbi, who was now holding the only light source on Hunter. Jemma’s flashlight was aimed at Kora, along with her gun. 

“Not another step!” Jemma barked, but her face was pale. She knew what Kora could do and Kora’s blasts were definitely faster than a bullet. The gun was probably useless at this point, unless she and Deke fired at the same time. One bullet would take out Kora, but one of them would get hurt in the process. Especially since neither of them was a skilled specialist like Ward or May. Deke was 66 years old! Most of his fast reflexes were behind him and Jemma herself had been retired for a year. Not to mention that both of them were the science guys, not the weapons masters. 

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Kora said soothingly. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help. To save Hunter’s life.”

“You were captured by Katya and James,” Jemma said sharply. “There was no way you could have gotten yourself and Sousa out of there. And you wouldn’t have abandoned him to them.”

Jemma sounded confident, but Deke knew her well enough to recognize the slight tingle of fear in her words. She wasn’t sure if Kora would have abandoned Sousa or not. And she wasn’t sure how powerful Kora was. With her knowledge of the timestream, Kora was likely the only person who could evade Hive’s sway if she manipulated the future to her liking. Well, Kora and Raina, most likely. These future-predicting Inhumans were complicated to deal with. 

“I didn’t,” Kora said, still holding up her hands in an “I surrender” gesture. That might be reassuring for some people, but with Inhumans like Daisy, Lincoln and Kora, it was no good; _they_ were the weapons. Literally and figuratively. Inhumans had been designed to be weapons by the Kree. “I got him out too. We both got out. I promised Daisy I would save him and I did.”

“Where is he, then?” Deke asked, speaking before Jemma could. 

“He’s here,” Kora said, gesturing around the corner. “Raina took away his leg; he can’t walk.” She paused. “Plus, Katya’s influence is still on him. You know how docile and subservient that made Miles.”

Unfortunately, that was true. While Deke hadn’t spent long with Miles since he had been influenced by Katya, he knew that the latter was definitely not back to normal. If Sousa was missing his leg and still mentally unstable, it made sense that he wasn’t with Kora right now. 

Next to Deke, Jemma gave out a little gasp. Deke wasn’t sure what she was thinking of, but Kora apparently did.

“Yes, Jemma,” Kora said. “History repeats itself. You were there when Daisy rescued Lincoln from Doctors von Strucker and List. Mike lost his leg. You’ve seen Katya; the stand-off with her was Bahrain from your timeline. Hunter took a bullet where Bobbi did in your timeline. In the lung. I can save him.”

Deke knew some of those similarities, but he hadn’t lived them, unlike Jemma and Daisy. It was clear that Kora had struck a nerve with reminding Jemma about the past. 

“Yes, you twisted psychopath, you can!” Jemma snapped. “By turning the lights back on!”

“Turning on the power won’t save him,” Kora said. “He’s dead.”

She said this at the same moment as one of the doctors said, “Call it.”

“No!” Bobbi’s scream was gut-wrenching; Deke hadn’t even realized that Bobbi was capable of making such a sound. Nor had he been half as aware of the doctors working behind him as he should have been. 

Jemma’s hand twitched on the gun.

“Let me by!” Kora raised her voice for the first time. “You know time is of the essence! I couldn’t save my mother, but I could save Daisy. If you want him to live, let me by!”

Jemma hesitated a split second, but her hesitation was long enough for Bobbi to take the gun off her. Deke wasn’t even sure what Bobbi did, but one second the gun was in Jemma’s hand and the next, it was in Bobbi’s. 

“Do it,” she pleaded to Kora. “Save him. _Please_.”

“Bobbi!” Jemma protested; despite her experience in the field, she was no match for Bobbi. Or at least, not without tricking her in the first place.

“If he’s already dead, she can’t hurt him anymore!” Bobbi cried. “This could be his only chance!”

The logic was all there. No matter what Kora did, she really couldn’t hurt Hunter if he was already dead. And if she wanted to try to hurt them, it would be easier when she had been closer to the exit than they were.

Kora pushed past Deke, Jemma and Bobbi; the doctors hesitated when she approached them.

“Let her do her thing,” Deke said, knowing he had to pull rank. Even as S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors, they still had to uphold the Hippocratic Oath and they didn't know if Kora was about to hurt or help Hunter. “She’s an Inhuman. She can save his life.”

“You’ll still need to stitch him up afterwards,” Kora warned, her palms and eyes already glowing. “But he’ll be alive.”

With that, she pressed her glowing palms to Hunter’s head. For a second, nothing happened. Then he gasped and coughed, all of them hearing the wheezing rattle and gurgle of his lungs. 

“Stitch him up,” Kora said, stepping back. “I can only do so much.”

“Hunter,” Bobbi whispered, rushing forward, but Deke pulled her back. She couldn’t get too close to Hunter or Kora at this moment. He understood how worried she was, but at the same time, he was beyond confused. Why would Kora save Hunter’s life if she was swayed? What motivation was there in that? Unless she wasn’t swayed? Deke had no idea what to do or say. 

The doctors swarmed the table; Deke and Jemma backed away as Kora moved back towards them. Her eyes and hands were no longer glowing, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t attack them in a split second. Without an Inhuman there to defend them, they were sitting ducks. Even if they _had_ an Inhuman there, Deke wasn’t sure how much good that would do. Daisy wouldn’t fight Kora, Lincoln and Kora were probably equal matches for each other, and Deke was pretty sure that Kora could beat Flint in a fight. Kora could probably do what Lincoln did to make himself impervious to external attacks; she could likely cover herself in a layer of energy and deflect anyone who tried to attack her. 

“See?” Kora said, lowering her hands. “I told you. I’m on your side.”

“Prove it, then,” Jemma said. “Let us test you for Hive’s parasites.”

Kora rolled her eyes. “Right. Daisy and Lincoln’s tests are going to take another 30 minutes at least. Mine would take at least an hour. You don’t have that kind of time. You need my help to take them in safely. I’m the only one who can. You aren’t going to drug them again; not only will they not trust you, but you wouldn’t get within five feet of them. Lincoln’s the one who caused this blackout. _He’s_ the one who's been swayed, not me.”

“Right,” Jemma said in a scoffing voice. “Because when there’s a blackout, you automatically think Lincoln. To go with your theme of ‘this has all happened before’, well, Daisy framed Lincoln in the original timeline, so I’m pretty sure you framing him is just as believable!”

Well, things were getting even more messy. While Deke had known that Daisy had been swayed in the original timeline and she and Lincoln had both hinted that bad betrayals had been involved, this was something else entirely. 

“Jemma, she didn’t have to save Hunter’s life,” Deke pointed out, although by now he had his gun aimed at Kora. While he wasn’t sure what to believe, at least with a gun in hand, he had a better chance of defending the people whom he loved.

“Exactly,” Kora said in a reassuring voice. “I’m here to help. I want to make sure that you can get Daisy and Lincoln into containment and keep them there. You know as well as I do that regular containment won’t keep them inside anymore. Someone has to keep Lincoln out of the electrical system and prevent Daisy from hacking her way out.”

“You’re not a hacktivist,” Deke retorted. 

“But I can predict the future,” Kora reminded him. “I can predict what hacks Daisy would use to try to get out and tell Miles. My future-predicting ability is incredibly accurate. Jemma, think of a word, any word, say it and I’ll tell you what it is.”

“Phlebotinum!” Jemma and Kora exclaimed in unison.

“Hell no,” Deke said. “That’s cheating!”

Both of them looked at him. 

“Time loops! Daisy! Implants! Time storm! Enoch!” Deke said. 

While Deke and Jemma didn’t remember all the times Daisy had time-looped back in the timestorm that Zephyr One had been stuck in, she _had_ told them about it in order to explain how Enoch had died and how they had fixed the time drive. Of all words Jemma could have picked, of course she had gone back to ‘phlebotinum’. 

Although, in Kora’s defense, while it was likely that Jemma would have picked ‘phlebotinum’, there were a lot of other words she could have used instead. 

“Well, I _could_ have used another word,” Jemma said reluctantly. “I could have used-”

“Manscaping,” Jemma and Kora said at the same time.

Jemma looked at Kora. Kora shrugged her shoulders back.

“I know the future,” Kora said.

“You don’t need to prove that to us, we know that you know the future,” Jemma said in frustration. “We just need to know that we can trust you, which we can’t, unless we test you for the sway and then keep you in containment until the tests come back!”

“I swear, the next thing Kora is going to say is ‘Sparks, Yo-Yo, Simmons, Deke’,” Deke began and then he froze.

“Deke?” Jemma asked.

“Sparks,” Deke said.

“What?” Jemma asked, looking around for any sign that something was malfunctioning and about to catch fire; even though she was a little distracted by his words, her gun was still trained on Kora. 

“Sparks and Yo-Yo,” Deke said. “Kora wouldn’t have come alone. If there are other Inhumans here, then they went after Daisy, Lincoln and Yo-Yo. Even if Daisy and Lincoln haven't been swayed, Yo-Yo definitely has been. Sparks and Yo-Yo. This time it’s not the physical sparks, it’s Lincoln. There are other Inhumans on the base.”


	35. Episode 10: The Stars In Your Skye - Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, I am SOOOOO excited to say that Trailer 4 is out!!! Trailer 5 is coming soon!!!! Advice: read the chapter and then watch the trailer, but you'll see why this trailer HAD to come out with this chapter to better help you guys see what's happening.... AHHHHH!!!! I'm so excited for you guys to see the trailer! I really hope you guys like it and feel free to comment on the trailer and/or share it with any friends who you think might like it!!! 
> 
> As always, happy reading! 😊😊😊
> 
> Link to trailer: https://youtu.be/8FOvj7ikzQw  
> Link to extended scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELuhaX9lHx0
> 
> P.S. This trailer contains SERIOUS spoilers if you haven't read the previous chapters and/or watched the first three trailers, so if you haven't done that yet, you might want to do that first. 😂

**Episode 10: The Stars In Your Skye**

**Chapter 35**

The second those words had come out of Deke’s mouth, Kora’s expression shifted. Her eyes started glowing and the only thing that crossed Deke’s mind was “Bad!”. Before he or Jemma could do anything, Bobbi’s batons flashed out of thin air, striking Kora in the head and knocking her backwards. Kora staggered, her glow fading.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to attack first, but when Kora stood up, her eyes starting to glow again, Deke realized that Bobbi had done the right thing. Kora’s glowing eyes were never a good thing, except when it came to saving lives, like she had done with Daisy and now Hunter. 

“Find Daisy and Lincoln!” Bobbi shouted at Deke and Jemma. “I’ll hold her off!”

Bobbi was a good fighter, better than almost anyone on Deke’s team, but protecting a bunch of doctors and Hunter from _Kora_? There was no way she could do that. If she was alone, maybe she could defeat Kora, but trying to keep an immobile Hunter safe was not something that she could do. Their weaknesses were each other and Hunter was right there; Kora had all the leverage she needed to defeat Bobbi. 

“Where’s Daisy?” Jemma asked, glancing at Kora; the Inhuman didn’t bat an eyelash, making Jemma think that Kora was as in the dark as to Daisy and Lincoln’s whereabouts as she was. 

At that moment, the lights flickered on overhead and all of them looked up.

“Lincoln.” Deke said what all of them were thinking. He glanced at Kora; their eyes met. “Kora-”

“The lab,” Kora said, also voicing the thought that was everyone’s mind; it was where the main power source in the Academy was. 

As Kora spoke, Deke immediately knew what she was going to do - and not because he knew the future. They stared at each other for a split second and then both bolted for the door. Kora was closer to the door - she had walked back in that direction after she had saved Hunter - but Bobbi lashed out again with her batons, hoping to knock her down. Unfortunately, before her batons could hit Kora, someone skidded into the room, catching the batons telekinetically in midair. 

A familiar Inhuman whom Bobbi had faced once before in the original timeline, unfortunately with Hunter’s help, not with Hunter essentially comatose. 

“Giyera?” Jemma gasped; she hadn’t seen the telekinetic Inhuman in this timeline yet. 

Deke kicked Giyera in the side, sending him staggering into the wall. In the previous timeline, Bobbi and Hunter had defeated him once by distracting him with one target while another attacked him; while Deke didn’t know that that trick worked, it was still worth wounding him while he was trying to chase after Kora.

“Go!” Jemma shouted as Deke hesitated, turning around to look at her and Bobbi. “We’ve got this!”

Seriously, this was an impossible choice. Deke had to choose between going after his son and daughter-in-law figures and protecting his grandparents. It was literally the worst choice that he could be confronted with. How could he choose between five people whom he loved? 

If he wanted to get all technical about it, Bobbi, Jemma and Hunter were in more danger than Daisy and Lincoln. The latter two had superpowers; Deke knew they could look after themselves. However, both of them were hindered by not wanting to hurt Kora and Deke wasn’t even sure if the drugs they were on had worn off yet. If they were both still drugged, Kora could take them in two seconds. 

“Go!” Bobbi yelled; the adamance in her voice was the clincher. 

Deke took off after Kora. 

Kora was a fast runner. When he rounded the corner, he caught the briefest glimpse of her racing through the doors that led out of the surgical ward, but before he could do or say anything, someone flew straight into him, completely distracting him. That person was no lightweight and was also already off-balance; when he crashed into Deke, both of them collapsed back onto the floor, sliding halfway across the corridor.

“Sousa?” Deke spluttered in shock; he hadn’t been expecting to see him, even though Kora had said that he was there.

Apparently, Kora hadn’t been lying about some things, because he was here and definitely missing one leg. And, when Sousa tried to punch him again, Deke realized that she also hadn’t been lying about how he was still partly under Katya’s influence. 

“Sousa, it’s me! Deke!” 

Deke would have said more, but Sousa aimed another punch at him, missing and striking the floor when Deke jerked his head out of the way. However, Sousa didn’t seem to be any worse for the wear despite the obvious pain he must be in; he aimed another blow at Deke’s head. 

Deke blocked his punch with his arm and tried to counter with another blow, only for Sousa to deflect that one too. They rolled over, wrestling to try to get the upper hand, both attempting to land punches on the other. While Deke had the advantage of having two legs, Sousa was still younger and stronger than he was, even though he had been born almost 200 years before Deke had been. That was time-travel. Complex and confusing. 

As Deke tried to prevent Sousa from strangling him, his only hope was that Daisy and Lincoln might somehow figure out that Kora was coming after them. He was not getting out of this fight any time soon, especially because he was trying not to kill Sousa, but the other guy apparently hadn’t gotten that memo. 




Daisy and Lincoln reached the labs and almost ran right into Trip. Thanks to the circuitous route that they had to take to get there, evidently Trip had had time to beat them there. Fortunately, Ward wasn’t with him, but regardless, it would be easier if they didn’t have a confrontation with Trip. He might defend them to Ward, but neither Daisy nor Lincoln knew how he would react to finding them out of containment. 

“Trip! What’s going on, man?” Flint asked as he ran into the lab; Flint, Miles and Doctor Johnson were grabbing some medical equipment and tests and shoving them into travelling containers, illuminated in the dark room by a few flashlights and emergency lights.

“We have to get out of here,” Trip said urgently. “Hive’s Inhumans are swarming the Academy; we have to go.”

“Hive? Here?” Flint asked at the same time as Doctor Johnson said, “The tests aren’t done. They need at least 15 more minutes.”

“Bring them!” Trip said. “We need to get out of here!” 

“Where are we going?” Flint asked. 

Lincoln pulled on Daisy’s arm, mouthing the words, “Follow me.” 

Apparently these weren’t the labs that housed the main source of the power. This might be the shortest way there, but they weren’t the only way to the mains. Daisy tiptoed after Lincoln; he led them in another circuitous route, before finally ending up in another lab that was presumably somewhere behind the ones that Trip and the others were in. He tugged open the control panel.

“Hopefully it just needs a reboot,” Lincoln said nervously. 

He stuck his hand inside the panel. Electricity sparked and then the lights overhead flickered back on almost instantly.

“Oh, thank God,” Daisy breathed. “I was worried the drugs might not have worn off yet.”

She glanced at Lincoln and saw the same relief in his eyes. While Hunter had dropped them out of the sky into the ocean, he was also Lincoln’s friend in this timeline and Daisy’s friend in the original one. They might just have saved his life. 

“I hoped that they were back,” Lincoln admitted. “But I wasn’t sure. Trip made you wear inhibitors, so I _thought_ that the drugs had worked their way out of our systems, but I wasn’t sure.”

“At least if Kora or one of Hive’s Inhumans finds us, we won’t be parasite bait,” Daisy said anxiously. “Although we’re _not_ going to hurt her.”

There was an intense tone in Daisy’s voice as she spoke; Lincoln glanced at her. 

“I won’t hurt her,” he assured her. “As long as she doesn’t hurt you.” 

Daisy opened her mouth to speak, but Lincoln spoke over her. 

“Daisy, I won’t let her kill you,” he insisted. “I won’t deliberately hurt her, I promise, but if it’s you and her, I’m going to pick you every time.”

Daisy heaved out a shaky breath. She didn’t want to hurt Kora either; she couldn’t imagine a scenario where she would deliberately try to injure her sister. Even when Kora had been under Nathaniel’s spell, she hadn’t been able to hurt her. But Lincoln had a point. If it came down to Lincoln or Kora, could she hurt one to save the other? She cared deeply about both of them and didn’t want to imagine a future without either of them in it. 

At that moment, she was struck with the realization that she might actually be facing a future without one of them. One of the team was still going to die in the Quinjet with Hive; neither she nor Lincoln or Kora was safe. She might actually have to try to live without them. The thought was gut-wrenching and she had a pretty good feeling that some of that emotion came out on her face because Lincoln stepped towards her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice soft. “I’m sorry if I hurt you by saying that-”

“I can’t lose either of you,” Daisy whispered. “She’s my sister. I love her. And you...I-”

A loud clanging from the next room over caught both of them off guard and both whirled around. Daisy realized, with an inward curse, that by turning on the power again, they had inadvertently revealed their position. And seeing as only two Inhumans in the world could blackout and repower a building in one go, well...if Kora was on Hive’s side, it made sense that Lincoln was on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s. 

“That might be Kora,” Lincoln said in a low voice. 

“Get the drugs,” Daisy muttered back. “The power-removal drugs. If we can stick her with them, we won’t have to hurt her.”

It was the only solution that she could think of at the moment. While neither she nor Lincoln wanted to hurt Kora, if they could distract her long enough, they could inject her with the drugs, knock her out and then put her in containment while they figured out an antitoxin or some other solution. 

Lincoln hurried to the back of the lab; Daisy stepped forward tentatively, ready to use her powers if any enemy Inhuman came into view. Well, she was more prepared to dissipate Kora’s blasts if Kora appeared and to non-fatally toss Yo-Yo into a wall if she had somehow broken out of containment. She didn’t want to hurt Joey either, but the others...she would happily stop Katya’s heart and tie James up with his own fiery chain. While she didn’t know the details, she knew that those two were primarily responsible for Kora and Sousa’s kidnappings. 

The sound of footsteps in the corridor caused Daisy to step out there; she was confronted with her sister, facing her head on. However, Kora didn’t appear to be there to attack her...or at least, Daisy didn’t think so. Her eyes weren’t glowing, her palms weren’t alight, and the expression on her face was bordering between confrontational and conversational. 

“Daisy,” Kora said. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Kora, we don’t have to do this,” Daisy said, holding up a hand towards her in an attempt to stop her sister. She didn’t want to fight her, especially since she knew the sway was beyond any Inhuman’s control. Whatever Kora was doing was not of her own volition. 

The second he heard both Kora and Daisy’s voices, Lincoln was out of the lab. His hands were empty as he hurried past Kora to Daisy’s side; Daisy didn’t know if he had the drug on him or not. Regardless, Daisy was surprised that Kora let him pass her. Maybe she thought it would be easier to fight both enemies if they were both facing her. Or maybe she really wasn’t there to hurt them. Although Daisy hoped that her sister wasn’t swayed, she felt in her bones that Kora was. It hurt to think that, but at any rate, Daisy was extremely grateful that Kora had let Lincoln pass. It was much easier to feel secure when someone had her back, especially if that person was Lincoln. Daisy was more than capable of kicking butt on her own, but it was always safer if/when someone had her back. 

“What the hell,” he said, frowning at Kora as he came to stand at Daisy’s side. “Looking for us? Or just Daisy? Why?”

Hive should know by now that Daisy was immune. In the original timeline, when he had tried to sway her after Lash had made her immune, he had recoiled visibly from her. Additionally, he had to know that when he’d tried to sway her back in Bucharest, he had failed. Why Hive was still after her was anyone’s guess. 

“No reason to hurt each other,” Kora said, raising her hands in a calming gesture. “I don’t want to hurt either of you. You know how much I care about both of you. How much I want you both to be happy.”

The worst part was that it was true. Daisy knew how much Kora cared about both of them; Kora had encouraged her to go to Bucharest, had made countless insinuations about their relationship, probably because she had known what Daisy’s choice would be. Had it been an inevitable one? Daisy didn’t know. Had Kora seen all roads leading them in this direction? Daisy still did not know.

“Why are you really here?” she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. Hive had sent Kora; Hive must want something. Both of them? Maybe. But why them? There were more powerful Inhumans out there. “All of us here know that you’ve been swayed.”

Kora did not deny it; instead, she said, “I’ve always wanted a sibling. We have the same blood.” 

And here they were again. The last time Kora had been there for Nathaniel Malick, she had told Daisy the same thing. Both times, Kora _hadn’t_ been lying, but it had been under the guise of something else. She had been playing to Daisy’s weakness, her longing for a family, her desire to belong somewhere. 

Before she and Lincoln had had their first kiss, she had told him, “You gave me hope. A place in the world.” That had been true. So true. He had taught her that their powers were a gift, not a curse and had given her a place to belong among their people in Afterlife. Later, when Coulson had been dying, she had told him a similar thing: “You gave me everything. A home. A belief. Solid ground to stand on.” That was her weakness and Kora knew it. 

“I know Daisy would say…,” Kora began, smiling slightly, her gaze flickering to Lincoln’s tense face.

“I finally have a family,” Daisy said, stepping towards her. “You. Lincoln. The team. You guys are my family.”

Daisy didn’t need Hive to give her a connection. She was whole and complete without him. She had a family. It wasn’t just Kora and Lincoln who were her family; Jemma was as good as a sister to her, Coulson was like her father, May was so much more than just her old S.O. to the point that she was a silent but supportive mother figure, Fitz and Mack were her brothers for all intents and purposes, Yo-Yo had been the only one who had understood that Daisy had needed to stay away from S.H.I.E.L.D. after Lincoln had died…. 

But even beyond the original team, Daisy also meant Deke and some on his team. A year ago, if someone had told her that Deke would become another father figure to her, she would probably have laughed in their face. Now, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like without him there as her boyfriend’s endlessly awkward father figure. Trip too; it was difficult to think of life without him again. While she wasn’t as close with any of the other members on Deke’s team, Daisy didn’t want any of them to die, not even Ward, who was extremely aggravating and annoying at this point, but really had his heart in the right place. He was, after all, as he had said, being strict about keeping her and Lincoln in lockup to protect them from themselves.

“Predicted you would say that,” Kora said, smirking. 

“We know you can predict the future,” Lincoln interrupted in a frustrated tone. “You don’t have to prove to us that you know the future.”

Unbeknownst to them, Simmons had told Kora a similar thing a few minutes ago. 

Kora’s face became serious. “I have something I want to show you,” she said. 

“What?” Daisy and Lincoln said at the same time.

“A vision,” Kora said. “Of the future. I need both of you to trust me.”

“Hell no,” Lincoln said, stepping backwards. “Trust you? You’ve been swayed!”

Daisy also took a step backwards. “Kora, you always told me that you can’t show me the future,” she reminded her. “And now all of a sudden you can?”

Kora shook her head. “I can’t. Lincoln can. What I want to do is let him see a vision in my head, the same way I returned his memories. All he has to do is hold your hand and channel his electricity to your brain too. You can both see the vision that I’ve foreseen.”

That was a shocker in and of itself. All of Daisy’s experiences with visions of the future were not good. Raina’s visions, which she had heard about but not seen; Charles’s self-predicted death; Lincoln’s death in the Quinjet in space; Robin’s drawings of the end of the world…. Daisy couldn’t imagine any vision that Kora had to show them was good.

“Why should we trust you?” Daisy demanded.

“Because Lincoln knows that I’m not going to hurt you,” Kora said.

And that was another bombshell. Daisy turned to Lincoln, whose face was now confused. 

“You showed me this already,” he said slowly. “Not this moment exactly...but it’s more like...you were always going to show us this. I don’t know how to explain it. You saying that...you just sort of...triggered a memory that you implanted way back when you first returned my memories. You were always planning on showing us this vision and no matter what the circumstances, you aren’t going to hurt us.”

That was complex in and of itself. It was _confusing_! Then again, life almost always was. Daisy frowned. 

“How could you possibly know that?” Daisy asked him.

“I don’t know,” Lincoln admitted. “I just...do.” 

That wasn’t a good answer. But it wasn’t a “not good enough” answer either. Daisy knew that when Kora had first given Lincoln back his memories, there was no possible way she could have been swayed. Her intents and purposes had been genuine. And Daisy knew from Lincoln’s confused explanation that Kora wasn’t going to hurt them when she showed them the vision. But if they should see it _now_ , was the question.

“Even if she wasn’t swayed, she would still show us this vision?” Daisy asked Lincoln for confirmation, even as her brain wondered why Kora had already planned to show them said vision.

Lincoln nodded. “I get the feeling that in some instances, if we both live, even ten years from now, she would show us this vision. I don’t know what the vision is...I just know that she would show it to us regardless. And no matter the circumstances, she won’t hurt us.”

Daisy frowned. “Why didn’t you just show it to us earlier?” she asked Kora, genuinely curious. Was this what Hive wanted Kora to do? Was this what Kora wanted to do? She didn’t understand.

“Because you had to make a decision first,” Kora said. “Even though this is a highly likely future, like I once told Trip, there is a future where each and every member of Deke’s team ends up in the Quinjet in space. There is a possibility that this vision will not come to pass, but the possibility of it happening is growing stronger every minute.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” Daisy muttered under her breath.

“It’s...it’s not a bad vision,” Lincoln said slowly. “I get the feeling like it’s a good one. A happy one. I know that that sounds really strange and weird, but Kora gave me this association with this vision before she was ever swayed. And she wouldn’t have been working with Hive if she wasn’t swayed.”

Daisy looked at him. “You want to see it?” she asked. 

“I think...I think you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Lincoln said. “In fact, it might be safer if I just see it for the both of us. You can protect me from Kora if something happens.”

“I thought you just said that nothing was going to happen!” Daisy protested. “That she wouldn’t hurt us!”

“I won’t,” Kora promised. “There is no future where I would do such a thing. Just as there is no future where Daisy Johnson would let her sister fight alone.” She paused. “Regardless of the sway. You would fight for me no matter what. Not necessarily on the same side, but you would fight for me regardless.”

Kora saying that was her practically admitting that she was swayed. But as much as Kora could lie to other people, she couldn’t lie to Daisy and Lincoln. Not about this. Not if she wanted them to trust her. 

Seeing this vision was probably a really bad idea. But Lincoln seemed to trust Kora from way back when. Which was saying something, considering that he of all people knew how badly someone could betray someone else when swayed. 

“Is she able to remove your memories?” Daisy asked, a niggling fear rising in her stomach, even though she knew that they had both chosen each other regardless of their past lives. It wouldn’t make a difference if he forgot her now...not a big one. She would still be there for him. They might end up taking things slower, but regardless...Kora wouldn’t be able to remove Lincoln’s memories of the last two days. Those were his, not memories from another timeline version of him.

“No,” Lincoln and Kora said at the same time. 

Lincoln clarified. “If anything, I would overpower her. I can see more than she’s willing to show. It doesn’t work the other way.” 

As he spoke, Daisy realized that that might allow them a leg-up in figuring out Hive’s plans. The very fact that he would be able to see more than she was willing to show them….

“He’s the one running the machine, Daisy,” Kora confirmed, seemingly ignorant of what Daisy was thinking. “Technically speaking. He sees what I choose to show him, but once he’s seen it, I can’t take it away. He’s the one with the electricity powers, not me. The timestream just exists in my head, that’s all.”

“Would we collapse?” Daisy asked, voicing another concern as she remembered what had happened to Lincoln and Kora back when she had first given Lincoln back his memories. “Like how you did when you were showing Lincoln all those memories of the past six-ish years?”

“No,” Kora said. “That was six years of memories and lots of duplicates; I showed him things that happened to Fitz and Simmons when you weren’t there, or stuff that happened between Mack and Sousa while you were asleep. This vision is short. It’ll be over soon. You won’t collapse.”

There was a pause. 

“Why now?” Lincoln asked. “Why show us this memory now?”

An anguished look cross Kora’s face. “Because we all want it to come true,” she said. “All three of us.”

That was...seriously confusing. And then Daisy realized something.

“Your desires and wants don’t change because of Hive,” she said softly. “I never hurt Lincoln physically, I just wanted him to be swayed; I spared Fitz’s life and told him to take Simmons away from S.H.I.E.L.D. if he cared about her because someone on the team was going to die; I tried to get Mack to join Hive before beating him to pulp. This memory... _you_ want to show it to us, not Hive.”

But while Daisy knew what it was like to be swayed, Lincoln knew the other side of the spectrum all too well.

“Daisy, while that might be true, she’s still serving Hive,” Lincoln warned her. “You wanted to get me out of the base because then we could be swayed together. Whatever Kora is about to show us isn’t only from her.”

“I don’t want either of you to die in space,” Kora said urgently; Daisy and Lincoln both looked at her. Kora pleading was a...rare occurrence. Swayed or not. “Please let me show you the future. You’ll want to see it, I know you will.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other.

“What do you want to do?” Lincoln asked her. 

Daisy took a deep breath, taking his hands in hers. “I think we need to see it,” she said quietly. “Kora says that she wants both of us to see it...and she doesn’t want either of us to die in space. And you’re already positive that she would want us to see this vision like 10 years from now even...and that she won’t hurt us. What if the vision is a way for you not to die in space?”

It was hard to keep the hope out of her voice. While a large part of her knew that that probably wasn’t going to be what Kora wanted to show them and that this was another way to manipulate them, the more they knew about the future, the more they could change it. Unless, of course, Fitz was right and spacetime existed. 

But even as Daisy sounded urgent and desperate, even to herself, she was tracing letters in Lincoln’s palm with one finger: read recent memories. She could only hope that he got her message and understood it; she was trying to ask him to search Kora’s memories for something other than what she wanted to show them. To search Kora’s memories for any clue about Hive’s whereabouts, how many Inhumans were swayed and so on. 

“Daisy, for all we know, in this timeline, it could be you in that Quinjet,” Lincoln said anxiously. “It’s not just my life at stake; it’s yours. That’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”

As he spoke, he traced two letters back. O and K. He knew. He understood. He was going to do it. Relief flooded through her. 

Although they were having two conversations at once, Daisy was still trying to pay attention to what he was actually saying; she knew that he was too. 

“We’re both going to live,” Daisy insisted. 

Even as she spoke, for some strange reason, Daisy was starting to believe that Lincoln’s hunch was right and that Kora wasn’t going to hurt them. She needed Lincoln’s help to show them the vision and that would only happen if he agreed to it. Plus, whatever this vision was...Lincoln suspected that it was a good one. And she had hinted that she would show them this eventually...it had to be something at least semi-reassuring. 

Daisy slipped her hand into his. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

Lincoln held out his free hand to Kora, a little cautiously. “Try any tricks and I’ll fry your brain,” he warned. “You won’t be dead; you’ll be a vegetable. You know what I could have done to Alisha and what I did to Lash and Creel.”

“I’m not going to hurt either of you,” Kora assured him. 

A white light flashed before Daisy’s eyes and everything around her - Lincoln, Kora, the walls of the Academy - vanished. 

“You can live a peaceful life….”

Daisy was sitting on a bed with Lincoln, eating popcorn. She was living the scene, not seeing it from an outsiders’ point of view; she could taste the buttery popcorn in her mouth, feel the texture of the bed under her legs…. They were both laughing, smiling and talking; it was a similarly relaxed feeling that Daisy had felt with him that morning, after they had had sex and they didn’t have to rush off to save the world. It reminded her of how happy they had been at Afterlife. Come to think of it, she thought that that room _was_ in Afterlife. But before she could tell, the scene changed. 

“Have kids….”

Daisy gasped. She couldn’t help it. 

A little girl and boy were standing on a white picket fence, waving at her and Lincoln. The little girl had dark blonde hair and the boy had brown; they were adorable, unmistakably their children. Even as the girl stuck her tongue out at them playfully and her brother smiled at them, Daisy could see that their son had Lincoln's smile and their daughter had her eyes….

“Grow old together….”

The scene changed again. Now they were lying in bed together, all curled up together in a clump. Daisy was in the middle, their son on her right, Lincoln’s arm around her shoulder, her head resting on his arm like a pillow. Their daughter was snuggled up between her and Lincoln, cuddled up to him. This was even better and worse than the previous scene because Daisy could actually feel the sensation of their son’s body resting against her own. His little body, the shifting of his head as he settled into a more comfortable position.

“A family,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison.

Lincoln speaking at the same time as Daisy shocked her a little; it was a reminder that this was a vision. What she was seeing hadn’t yet come to pass. But it could...it might…. Lincoln was feeling the exact same thing that she was. If she was feeling it in her body, then he was too. He knew what it was like to have their daughter hugging him tightly, even in her sleep. 

The scene changed again and Daisy and Lincoln were sitting opposite one another at a table. They were just talking nonsense and laughing, but it was so...so real. So un-S.H.I.E.L.D.. They were so happy. So peaceful. It was beautiful. She could feel it. 

Once again, the scene switched and this time, Daisy’s heart melted a little more. Their daughter was running towards her, laughing, her blonde hair, similar to Lincoln’s, flying behind her as she ran towards them. Lincoln was already holding their son, Daisy was standing next to him, holding her arms out as well. 

“Every child loves her mother,” Kora said.

“Every mother loves her back,” Daisy replied, her voice cracking. A year ago, when Kora had said a similar thing to her, she had told her that _not_ every mother loved their daughter back, but after Jiaying had died saving her from Nathaniel Malick, Daisy’s perspective on mothers had definitely changed. Of course not every mother loved their daughter back...but Daisy already felt a longing for her and Lincoln’s little girl, a girl who hadn’t been born yet. 

In the scene, Daisy caught their daughter, swinging her up in her arms, laughing; Lincoln grabbed their son, hugging him too. They both turned to look at each other, smiling. Daisy could see the love and happiness in his eyes, not just love for her, but also for their children, for their family, for everything they shared….

The scene shifted back to Daisy and Lincoln at the same table, playing checkers. Daisy’s arms already ached from the loss of their daughter, but this was the future. It could happen for real. They could have these beautiful children…. 

As Daisy smiled at Lincoln, he raised his hand and zapped a checker piece with electricity, reminding Daisy that they didn’t have to lose their powers to have a family. In fact, both their children would be Inhuman - with her and Lincoln as parents, there was no way that they wouldn’t be - but still...having powers was a gift, not a curse. They would be the best parents ever seeing as both had gone through Terrigenesis and knew what it was like to have crazy powers that they could not control. 

The scene changed once more and Daisy saw their daughter and son lying in a tent, playing in a house. She and Lincoln were just outside it, laughing as Daisy warned them she was about to quake them off the floor with her powers. Their children were inside, also laughing, happy, trusting that their mother was not going to drop them and even if she was to drop them by accident, that their father would catch them in time….

“It’s not a dream,” Lincoln said, his voice uneven. 

The scene changed again to Lincoln levitating Daisy above the ground with his powers. Daisy had already lived this once in the original timeline, but the tingling, the electrical sensation running all over her body was something that she had missed. She hadn’t felt that feeling in years, excluding when he had anchored her to the base of the containment module and Zephyr One to prevent her from falling out of the sky. And besides...it _hadn’t_ happened yet in this timeline. Going by all the parallels that they had lived through in the last few days...she knew instantly that this could happen again and it wouldn’t even be illogical; they had re-lived so many past moments that she totally believed that Lincoln would levitate her once more. 

“No,” Kora replied; Daisy’s heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t fake. It _could_ become a reality. 

Once again, the scene switched, this time to show their daughter and son doodling on a chalkboard. As Daisy approached them, carrying a tray of snacks, their daughter turned and smiled at her, just as she was drawing a white heart on the board. Daisy knew instantly that that heart represented the love that their family had for one another and it took all her willpower not to break at that moment. 

“You promise?” Daisy asked, her voice unsteady.

“I’d like nothing more,” Kora replied at the same time as the scene changed once more.

Daisy gasped as did Lincoln. Lincoln was standing in a grassy tree area, wearing a grey suit and tie. Daisy herself was wearing a white wedding dress, her long hair hanging loose, walking towards him. It was unmistakably their wedding. As she smiled up at him, she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Coulson standing where her father should stand, with May at his side. Mack and Yo-Yo stood behind them, smiling. On Lincoln’s side, 60-something-year-old Deke stood there, along with Bobbi, Hunter and their son; Fitz, Jemma and Alya. It must have been at least three years from the present because Bobbi and Hunter’s son was a toddler and Alya looked maybe eight years old, but either way, they were all there. Beyond the families whom Daisy did recognize were the blurred shapes of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, presumably the rest of Deke’s team, but their faces, Daisy could not make out before the scene changed once more. 

“Easy choice,” Kora said as once again, their son and daughter appeared, running towards them on the lawn. Daisy and Lincoln were standing in the grass, staring at the sunrise, but as their children called “Mama! Daddy!”, both of them turned to catch them in their arms. However, this time, Daisy knew that something was different. There was a bump under her shirt; she was pregnant again. As their children ran towards them, Lincoln smiled at her, lightly touching his hand to her belly, kissing her on the cheek. 

The scene vanished before her eyes; Lincoln must have pulled away from Kora. He let go of her hand as well, but Daisy touched a hand lightly to her belly, reassuring herself that she was not pregnant. The reminder that that had been the future brought Daisy back to her senses. 

“In exchange for…,” Daisy began, her voice shaking as she tried to reconcile what she had just seen with the present-day world.

“Mind control?” Lincoln finished, his expression incredulous. 

Both of them stared at Kora, hoping against hope that she hadn’t just shown them the vision as bribery. Of all the things that Kora had been about to show them. When Kora had mentioned that it was an easy choice...that meant that there had to be some reason why Daisy and Lincoln wouldn’t want this future. Lincoln must have seen something in Kora’s head that made him pull away from her. But either way, the majority of the vision had been delivered. They had seen the future. It made perfect sense why Kora had been waiting for Daisy to make a decision. Daisy’s choice had been Lincoln and that was why Kora was now fine with showing them the future that could happen. 

But more pressing, was the vision of the wedding. Daisy hadn’t seen Kora there. Did that mean she was the one to die in the Quinjet in space? Or had she been standing behind her, where the maid-of-honour usually did? Lincoln would know; he had been facing that direction. He could tell her. 

How was her whole old team there? Were they holograms? Enoch had said that their mission with time-travel would be their last mission together and the last time they were all in the same room together…. And all the faces of the Deke’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team...they had been blurry; the vision had changed before Daisy could make out their faces…. 

Daisy wanted to focus her thoughts on the vision of the wedding, just so that she could figure out who was going to die in order for this future to pass, but her mind kept going back to the memory of holding their children in her arms. Her arms ached from their absence; she glanced at Lincoln’s face and then at Kora’s. His expression echoed the longing on hers. They both wanted their children back, even though it had just been a vision of the future. It had felt so real. 

“You,” Kora replied.


	36. Chapter 36

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, I hope you really enjoyed the trailer!!! A long time ago, I promised you guys fanart between trailers, so here is the link to the second one at long long last!!! 
> 
> Link to fanart: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHrmCJgFoXB/
> 
> As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 36**

Daisy and Lincoln stared at Kora for a split second and then, as if they had read each other's minds, moved like...well, like Lincoln’s electricity. They grabbed each other and hurled themselves through the first door on their right, landing inside one of the offices that bordered a lab. The landing was rough - the floor was made of stone - but at least they were away from Kora. 

Kora snarled and moved after them; Lincoln was on his feet in a second, slamming his bodyweight into the door to prevent her from coming through. Daisy heard the thump as Kora hit the door on the other side, even as she was scrambling to her feet.

“Go!” Lincoln shouted at her, his eyes wild with fear and anxiety for her.

“I’m not leaving you!” Daisy shouted. She could not, would not leave Lincoln with Kora. Not when her sister was willing to do whatever it took to bring them in to Hive. Kora might have promised not to hurt them while she was giving them the vision of the future, but they had now seen the vision (or at least the majority of it) and all bets were off.

“Daisy, watch out!” Lincoln shouted, seeing something over her shoulder.

Daisy whirled around. Trip had come racing at the sound of the commotion; he now burst through the back door of the office. He was carrying two guns that at first appeared to be ICERs, but on second glance, were actually some sort of guns loaded with power-removal drugs.

Daisy lifted her hands, ready to knock him into the wall if he tried to shoot her and Lincoln with drugs, but Trip shouted, “Wait, stop! I’m on your side! You’re both immune!”

That was a shock in and of itself. _Lincoln_ was immune? How in the world had that happened? Had Lash blasted him with immunity in his sleep or something? 

“I’m not here to hurt you!” Trip protested. “The results came back from the tests. I’m not lying!” 

If it were anyone but Trip (and Sousa, Deke and Simmons), Daisy might have quaked them into a wall anyway. In fact, if Sousa were there, she might be forced to knock him out as well. The only reason he would be there was if he were still under Katya’s influence. As it was, she was bracing herself to deflect the drug shots from both her and Lincoln; her vibrational pulses were faster than Trip’s guns. 

“He’s telling the truth!” Lincoln shouted; Daisy tensed, even as she listened to him. “I saw it in Kora’s head. It was one possibility in the thousands of strands, something that she wasn’t even sure about because you know Kora’s knowledge of the future, but Raina did something to me; she made me immune!” 

A million thoughts rushed through Daisy’s head at once. She knew that Lincoln was not lying to her and he even had Trip to back him up. They _had_ to be telling the truth. They couldn’t _both_ be working for Hive; it was a ridiculous thought in and of itself. 

“I swear!” Trip yelped. “I’m here to help you! These are for Kora!”

Thank goodness a particularly loud bang up above them somewhere sounded at the same time as Trip spoke. It sounded like an entire series of tables had been overturned or a massive cabinet had been smashed. Probably a rogue Inhuman had tried to kill someone. That one was unfortunately the most likely scenario. There was no way that Kora could have heard them, when Daisy herself could barely hear Trip over the ruckus. 

If Daisy hadn’t heard Trip defending them to Ward the entire time she and Lincoln had been in containment or hiding from them, she might not have believed him. But seeing as he had, she was much more inclined to assume that he was telling her the truth. 

“Daisy, go!” Lincoln said urgently. “Kora’s after _you_! Let us hold her off! Get to Deke and Jemma! Kora wouldn’t have come alone!”

Daisy had no idea why Kora was after her. Maybe for her blood that was infused with GH.325? But even then, Lincoln too, had GH. in his system and Lincoln seemed to think that Kora was exclusively after her. Both of them had GH.325 in their blood and apparently both were immune; what made her so special over Lincoln? 

Lincoln had a good point though, about Jemma and Deke needing protection. Whether he meant she would be safer with them or they would be safer with her, either way, she still needed to help them. After seeing Giyera, Alisha and Joey in Bucharest and knowing that Katya and James were the ones who had kidnapped Kora and Sousa, Daisy was pretty sure that Hive had thrown more than just Kora at the walls of the Academy. 

Daisy hesitated for a split second longer and then, hating herself for leaving Lincoln after they had just promised each other they wouldn’t split up, raced for the back exit of the office. Lincoln was right; Kora wouldn’t have come alone and the noise up above them was proof that there was another fight going on somewhere in the Academy. 

As Daisy sprinted out of the lab, the lights flickered off again. Dammit! For whatever reason, Kora really wanted the lights off and she and Lincoln were basically playing a game of “Flip the switch” with the power. The only good thing about Lincoln still being in the labs was that he could hopefully reboot the system. Again.

Daisy raced down the corridor and made for the stairs. While she didn’t know the Academy as well as Lincoln and Trip did, she knew they had come down several flights of stairs before reaching the labs; to find Jemma and Deke, she would have to go back up. 




To say that Ward was having a bad day was an understatement. Not only had his girlfriend turned out to be dead and her corpse was now hosting an ancient alien Inhuman from another planet, but one of his teammates was likely swayed by said girlfriend, but was in complete denial about the whole thing, and his other teammate was not believing him when he was doing his best to keep said first teammate and _his_ girlfriend in lockup. Then, another of his teammates was likely dying, thanks to a bullet in his lung and Ward was tasked with trying to find a power source for a defibrillator, only for the lights to turn back on. For all of five minutes, of course, until the lights went back off again.

It was incredibly frustrating to Ward that Lincoln and Daisy were refusing to stay in containment. He wasn’t _trying_ to hurt them; he was just trying to keep everyone safe. But they kept breaking out! And why? Because they couldn’t last five minutes without seeing each other? It was driving Ward nuts.

Prior to meeting Daisy, Lincoln had followed more rules. Well...that wasn’t quite accurate. As Deke’s obvious favourite, Lincoln had had much more leeway than the rest of the team. That wasn’t to say that he broke every single rule he encountered, far from it. Miles was the biggest rule-breaker of the team. Well, Miles and Hunter. Lincoln, like Ward, Trip and the rest of the team excluding the aforementioned two, typically obeyed Deke’s commands. However, now, since he had encountered Daisy, Lincoln’s reckless nature was coming to the fore. Or at least, that was how Ward saw it, seeing as they kept breaking out of lockup! 

Ward wasn’t denying that he thought Daisy was good for Lincoln. While he and Hunter had been in the cockpit of Zephyr One, Hunter had shamelessly watched the video feed of them in containment and Ward was guilty of having snuck glances at the screen. He had also seen how protective they were of each other when he had been on video with them, Deke, Kora and Trip back at the Playground. He _was_ happy that his friend was clearly in love and was also happy that she evidently loved him back. 

But he was annoyed that trying to keep them in containment was like playing Whack-A-Mole. 

Ward was halfway back to the elevators when he rounded a corner and walked smack into Miles. Miles was holding a working tablet and carrying a screwdriver in his teeth and a torch in his armpit.

“Miles! What are you doing here?” Ward demanded; as far as he knew, Miles was still recovering from Katya’s influence. The last time he had seen the guy, Miles had been getting treatment from Doctor Johnson in the lab. 

“Lights,” Miles mumbled around the screwdriver. “Gotta fix the lights. Someone’s tampering with the system.”

“Yeah, it’s those wretched Inhumans,” Ward said. “Come on, Miles, we have to -”

He cut himself off when he realized that if Miles could fix the power, it would probably help with Hunter’s surgery. Only problem, seeing as the lights had gone off, then on, then off again, it was highly likely that Lincoln and/or Kora were turning the lights off and Lincoln and/or Kora were turning them back on. Or maybe both of them were repeatedly trying to keep the power off and someone _else_ was fixing it. Ward had no clue. Either way, there was at least one deadly Inhuman whom they had to sneak around in order to figure out how to fix the system.

“Okay,” Ward said, grimly. “Come on, techie. Let’s go kick some alien butt.”




Lincoln knew perfectly well that holding the door closed was a futile gesture. They were in the labs, not containment; Kora could blast through a wall in a second, which was much stronger than a door. Likely the only thing keeping her out was her desire not to kill or hurt him because of Daisy.

“Use this on the door!” Trip tossed him a heavy metal bar, which Lincoln shoved over the door handle. 

He backed away, and not a moment too soon. Kora’s energy blast ripped a hole through the door; Lincoln and Trip dove in opposite directions to avoid the debris from the explosion. 

“Kora, don’t do this,” Lincoln said, rising to his feet and stepping forward so that he could take the brunt of any of Kora’s blasts instead of Trip. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

Lincoln really didn’t want to hurt her. He was already struggling to keep his emotions under control after finding out that Raina somehow had an immunity antitoxin and she had only used it on him. He had seen in Kora’s memories that Raina had interacted with all the other Inhumans under Hive’s control, but she hadn’t saved them. She had only chosen to keep him immune. 

Raina had been the first Inhuman whom Lincoln had met. While there had never been any romantic undertones of their relationship, they still had a bond that was unbreakable. Lincoln had always known that Raina had struggled with being shunned by human colleagues, but he hadn’t realized it was as bad as all that. It made him feel incredibly guilty, as though he might have been able to help her more. Maybe if he had, she wouldn’t have been so inclined to keep such a precious creation to herself.

While Lincoln was now aware that Raina had made him immune, he was still uncertain about Raina’s true agenda. Kora herself didn’t know what Raina was up to or that Raina was immune. The only reason Lincoln had figured out that Raina had made him immune was because Trip had confirmed it first. This was solid tangible proof that Kora did not know everything about the future. She was still in the dark as to Raina and her immunity. 

But the vision about his and Daisy’s children and their wedding...Kora _was_ right about how it was a possibility that was growing stronger every minute. When Lincoln next had a chance to speak to Daisy, he would have to tell her some of the things he knew she had not realized and still couldn’t, because she didn’t know this timeline as well as he did. There were some things that he had recognized in the visions...things that had made him realize that Kora really was not fabricating the visions and that they were actually _real_. 

But he couldn’t think about that right now. He had to focus on Kora and not getting blasted into smithereens because he was distracted about his and Daisy’s possible future together. 

“Hurt me?” Kora demanded. “You really think you can hurt me?”

Lincoln didn’t really know what effect his electricity would have against Kora’s energy blasts. He knew perfectly well that he could not dissipate Kora’s blasts like Daisy could. But what he _could_ do was probably cause a freeze-up of their powers in the middle of the room. That would...probably cause an explosion, which was _not_ good. Not to mention that Trip’s only defense was his two guns full of drugs. If Kora decided that her feelings for Trip weren’t enough to keep him safe, Trip would be as good as dead. 

“Maybe not,” Lincoln said. “You certainly don’t need protection, that’s for sure. But having a power is not the same as being able to take care of yourself.”

Kora snorted with laughter. “Seriously, Lincoln? Daisy already told me that once, remember?”

Lincoln shrugged. “Can’t hurt for you to hear it twice.” 

Kora scowled at him, but Trip started laughing, despite it clearly not being an amusing situation. 

“You three are really impossible,” he said. 

Trip was referring to the two of them and Daisy; they who knew the future and knew what was going to happen before it did. However, Trip’s words distracted Kora; her gaze flitted over to Trip momentarily and her eyes softened. Lincoln and Daisy’s prediction about them not being willing to hurt each other physically was apparently right. Lincoln doubted that Kora was going to hurt Trip, even though he was carrying two guns of power-removal drugs, possibly one of the only things in the world that could non-lethally stop Kora at the moment. 

“Walk away now, Trip,” Kora warned. “I don’t want to hurt you; this is just between Lincoln and I.”

Trip shook his head. “Sorry, girl, you know me better than that,” he said. “That’s not happening.”

Kora tightened her hand into a fist. 

“Fine,” she said. “Give me back the cross necklace first and _then_ walk away. If you care about me at all, you won’t make me hurt you.”

Lincoln jumped in. He knew perfectly well how much it hurt to have a swayed Inhuman take advantage of a relationship and the last thing he wanted to do was for Trip to get hurt the same way he had. Trip had done him and Daisy so many favours earlier - switching places with Ward so that Daisy would be with someone she trusted, offering her the alternative of inhibitors instead of drugs, defending them to Ward when they had broken out of containment - that Trip was currently the last person Lincoln wanted to be thrown under the swayed Inhuman bus. Lincoln and Trip had always been good friends, especially since Lincoln was training Trip to become more than just a field medic, but he was even more grateful to him than usual right now.

“Kora, you know exactly what I would do to protect Daisy,” Lincoln interrupted. “If you threaten Trip again, I will do to you what I did to Alisha.”

Lincoln was lying. He wasn’t planning on torturing Kora; not only would Daisy kill him, but he also really didn’t want to hurt her. He liked Kora and was grateful to her in over a hundred ways; she had given him back his memories of Daisy, she had set herself up to be swayed so that he wouldn’t be; she had even shown them the vision of them with their children in the future because she knew that there was a high possibility of it coming true, regardless of Hive. But Lincoln also knew that she was not herself right now and if he had to lie and threaten her with said lie to get her to leave Trip alone, then he would do it. 

Kora turned to him, glaring at him with dark, angry eyes. “You wouldn’t dare,” she said. “Daisy would never forgive you.”

Lincoln looked at her. 

Kora amended her statement. “Okay, she would be really mad at you for a while, but she would forgive you.”

“That’s more like it,” Lincoln said. 

Truth be told, he _hadn’t_ been sure that Daisy would forgive him if he tried to hurt or torture Kora. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t bluff it. Kora had told them all multiple times that she didn’t know everything about the future. So Lincoln was calling her fake. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Lincoln,” Kora warned. “But I will if I have to.”

Lincoln shook his head. “You won’t do that.”

Kora snarled. “Don’t tell me what I will and won’t do!” 

“Just like you didn’t want Daisy to tell you what you believed?” Lincoln asked, referring to Daisy and Kora’s fight when Kora had been under Nathaniel Malick’s spell. Daisy had told Kora that Kora didn’t truly believe that their mother was a monster and Kora had reacted more or less the same way. 

Kora hissed under her breath. “Don’t use the memories I gave you against me!”

Trip grinned wryly. “Now that is how all of us feel when you Inhumans who know the future use that against us,” he said in a mock-cheerful voice.

Both Lincoln and Kora glanced at him, Kora gritting her teeth in irritation. 

“Trip, don’t do this,” she warned. “This is your last chance to give me the cross necklace and walk away. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.” 

Trip shook his head. “I can’t do that, Kora. You know I can’t.” 

They were at a stalemate. None of them wanted to hurt each other, but all of them knew that Kora would eventually, because she was under Hive’s sway. Lincoln had thought that he’d seen it bad when Daisy had been swayed, but this was a whole other realm of crazy. At least Daisy had never threatened him. Betrayed him, yes. Broken his heart, definitely. More than once. But never had she ever physically threatened him like she had with Mack and Fitz. He briefly wondered if Kora’s threats were because she hadn’t yet developed stronger feelings for Trip or if this would have happened anyway if he had come face-to-face with Daisy while she had been swayed.

“Kora, you’re going to have to go through both of us to get to Daisy,” Lincoln said. “I know you love her. Are you going to hurt her just to get to her?” He paused. “You and I both know that the future you just showed us can come to pass without Hive in control.”

This was not a bluff. Kora had shown them the vision at the moment in an attempt to persuade them to join Hive but Lincoln knew that the vision could become a reality regardless of Hive being in control, provided that both of them lived. The only vision that was truly in flux was that of the wedding. Kora had shown them the one that was most likely to come to pass, but Lincoln had caught sight of other glimpses of the wedding, each with a different person missing. The person who was going to die in the Quinjet in space. 

Kora’s eyes flashed with anger. “What did you see?” she demanded. “You went rooting around in my head?”

Kora’s eyes were starting to glow with her power; she was going to detonate if Lincoln didn’t do something to defuse the situation.

“You were the one who opened that door in the first place,” Lincoln said. “You were trying to manipulate us by showing us that vision, so I just turned the tables on you.”

Maybe that wasn’t the best defusion technique that Lincoln could have tried, but regardless, it worked because Kora kept talking instead of attacking either him or Trip. 

Kora laughed darkly. “You’re one sneaky guy, I’ll give you that,” she said. She paused. “No wonder Hive wants _you_.”

Lincoln and Trip turned to slowly stare at each other.

“What?” Trip voiced what both of them were thinking.

“I don’t need Daisy,” Kora said. “Well, that’s not true. I do need her, but even more than Daisy...Hive wants _you_.”

Lincoln was in shock. Not literal shock, or shock because of his powers, but just...he was shocked. Stunned. How could he have missed that? When Kora had told them “you”, they had all assumed that she had meant Daisy. But in reality...he had been the last one to speak before she had mentioned that she wanted one of them. She wanted him, not Daisy….

Trip’s eyes widened as he put two and two together. “Go!” he yelled at Lincoln. “I’ll hold her off!”

Now they were really going in circles. Kora might not hurt Trip, but Trip really couldn’t hold her for more than five seconds, max. Just as Lincoln was about to insist that he stay, Flint came barrelling into the room hurling rocks that came out of seemingly nowhere towards Kora; she started blasting them out of the way. 

“Run!” Flint yelled. “Find Daisy! I’ve got this!”

Lincoln had no idea where _Flint_ had come from. But despite being an Inhuman, the guy was really just a kid. A teenager. Lincoln couldn’t leave a _kid_ to protect Trip! Not because he doubted Flint’s abilities, but because he knew how in control Kora was of her powers. If Kora kidnapped Flint, Lincoln would never be able to forgive himself for fleeing to save his own life. 

“Oh, good, it’s you,” Kora said, pleased. “You’re coming with me too.”

“Bring the ceiling down!” Trip yelled at Flint. “And go!”

Flint yanked his hand toward the ceiling; it came crashing down in, blocking the three guys off from Kora. All three of them turned and fled. At this point, seeing as Hive wanted everyone apparently, it was best just to run. 




At the same time as Lincoln and Trip were trying to reason with Kora, Ward and Miles were in the lab next door, trying to fix the electrical system. Miles wasn’t functioning as well as he had prior to Katya’s influence; he was using Ward as his hands. Unbeknownst to both of them, a similar thing had happened to Fitz and Hunter in the original timeline when Fitz had been trying to get Hunter to fix the Bus from exploding and could not do it on his own thanks to his brain damage. 

“And put those wires together,” Miles instructed, shining a torch on the panel.

“These?” Ward asked, holding up two wires.

“No! Not those, those!” Miles said agitatedly.

“ _These_?” Ward asked, picking up a different two.

Miles had never given very good instructions in the first place - Sousa had learned that when he, Miles and Kora had been trying to navigate the communications on the Quinjet - but now it was harder than ever. Thankfully Ward was more concerned about Miles’ state of being than his terrible instructions, otherwise he would be very frustrated at the moment. 

“ _Yes_ ,” Miles said, stressing the word. “Now those two panels go in that bank-”

An explosion in the room next door threw both guys flying backwards, just as Ward obeyed Miles’ instructions. As they landed heavily on their sides, dust flying everywhere, Ward accidentally brought two wires close together, literally causing a spark between them.

At that moment, the lights flickered back on.

“We did it!” Miles said triumphantly, a tad louder than he should have done, given that it was highly likely that Kora or James, the two explosive Inhumans whom they had met and were swayed, had caused the explosion. “We did it!”

“And now we likely have Inhumans on our tail, so we gotta go,” Ward scrambled to his feet, yanking Miles upright. “Go!”

They booked it down the corridor as fast as they could go - which was not very fast, seeing as their reflexes were both dulled by the explosion - but as they rounded a corner, they heard the unmistakable ding of the elevator coming down towards their floor.

Oops. Fixing the power meant that the elevators were now functioning as well.

The elevators were the closest way up. Either Kora or James was blocking their way to the west side staircase; the elevators were in between them and the east side staircase. 

“Get in there, move!” 

Ward shoved Miles into another lab to get out of sight. They flattened themselves against a wall, Ward pulling out two guns from his holsters.

“Those are real bullets,” Miles said. “Not ICERs.”

“Yeah, well, on the way over, Simmons told us that ICERs don’t work on swayed Inhumans,” Ward said. “And we don’t have any powers, so I don’t see any other options, do you?”

Miles shook his head, but didn’t say a word, making Ward concerned. Miles was usually snarky and constantly teasing, but since Katya’s influence, he had become much more docile and less jokey. Ward had never once thought that he would miss Miles’ constant innuendos, but he actually did. When Ward next encountered Katya, he was going to make sure that she paid for every rotten thing she had done to Miles, Hunter and even Sousa and Kora. He could only hope that Hunter would recover better from Katya’s powers than Miles was currently doing, provided that Hunter survived his surgery with the constant electrical fluctuations. 

“Okay then,” Ward said. “I’ll hold them off; you run for the stairs. Kora - or James - is taking the west stairs; you can get to the east ones, while I distract them.”

Miles shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Seriously?” Ward demanded. “Just go, Miles! You’re still recovering! Get to...I don’t know, get to Deke or somebody!”

“We’re teammates,” Miles insisted, pulling out his own gun. “And teammates look out for each other. I might not be a kick-ass specialist like you, but I’m every bit the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that you are.”

Ward clenched his jaw. Miles was a lot of things, an annoying git, a rule and law-breaker who would be in jail if Deke hadn’t recruited him for S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was at moments like this that Ward knew that Deke had done right by bringing him into the team. Miles had a lot going for him.

“God dammit,” Ward hissed under his breath. He knew Miles was not going to leave after that speech. “Just be careful and follow my lead. We don’t even know what powers they have and what they’re capable of.”

Miles gave him a mock salute. “Yes sir!”

For once, Ward was glad that his sense of humour was back. Maybe it was a sign that he was recovering.

“Miles, I’m going to deny I ever said this,” Ward said, “But I’m glad you’re yourself again. Teasing and all.”

Miles smirked. “I love you too.”




Deke might have thought that fighting a guy with a missing leg gave him the automatic upper hand, but it really didn’t. Whatever Katya had done to Sousa had apparently given him the impression that he couldn’t be hurt. Because every time Deke landed a punch on him, Sousa didn’t even flinch. It was worse than fighting a Chronicom because at least Deke knew that whacking a Chronicom in the face with a saucepan wouldn’t hurt them permanently. Sousa, on the other hand, would end up with a broken nose, but would keep coming at him regardless.

“Sousa, get off!” Deke tried to kick him between the legs - a literal low blow, especially since Sousa was missing _one_ leg - but Sousa slammed his neck and head against the floor, causing Deke to groan in pain. “Get off!”

At that moment, the lights clicked back on for the second time, causing both guys to blink at the sudden return of light to their retinas. Taking advantage of Sousa’s distraction, Deke managed to thrust his elbow at Sousa between the neck and the head, causing him to release his grip on Deke’s shoulders, but at this point, Deke was struggling to see straight. That last blow had been a hard one.

“Sousa, it’s Deke!” Deke tried again, although at this point, he knew it was futile, scrambling to his feet and away from Sousa. “You don’t want to kill me!” He paused, realizing that it was highly possible and probable that Sousa _did_ want to kill him because he had orchestrated Lincoln’s return into Daisy’s life, and amended his statement. “You don’t want to kill me any more than usual!”

Sousa frowned suddenly, as though Deke had struck a nerve. But apparently a good one, because he did not move to strike Deke. 

“Did I say something?” Deke asked. “Did Daisy ever say something like that to you?”

Sousa’s expression tightened at Deke’s words. 

“Okay, maybe not Daisy,” Deke amended. “Some other girl somewhere out there?”

Sousa reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. A real gun with real bullets.

“Okay, no!” Deke yelled, flinging himself around the corner and back into the lab with Giyera, Bobbi and Jemma. Gunshots rang out behind him; the bullets hit the wall where Deke had been a second earlier.

“Deke, ICER!” Jemma tossed him one; the ICER would not work on Giyera, but it _would_ work on Sousa, if Deke could only land a shot. 

Deke caught the weapon in midair, spinning to face the door frame. Poking himself a little out from his cover, he pulled the trigger. Bang, bang, bang! Deke landed three shots in rapid succession; Sousa crumpled to the floor, out cold. 

“Thank God,” Deke muttered, but at the moment, he felt blood trickling down his arm. Sousa had hit him after all.

“Deke!” Jemma screamed, but Deke was already slapping a hand to the wound in his arm. 

Jemma raced towards him, Bobbi driving Giyera back and away from the door with her batons. He was now wielding a pipe against her, countering each blow from her with his own makeshift weapon. 

“It’s just a flesh wound, Nana,” Deke said, gritting his teeth against the pain as she grabbed bandages off a nearby table and pressed them against his arm. “I’ve had some before...it’s not serious.”

“Regardless, we need to get out of here,” Jemma said, frantically tying a tourniquet above the wound. “I’m betting that Kora, Giyera and Sousa aren’t the only ones out there.”




Daisy reached the top of a staircase and hissed in pain as the inhibitors around her wrists seemingly tightened. In the craziness of everything that had happened, she and Lincoln had completely forgotten that she was still wearing them. Trip had switched them off like he’d said he would, but now they were on again. And locked, apparently. She couldn’t remove them on her own. It hadn’t even been five minutes between her being back in her cell and escaping again; Trip - or Miles, really - had set up the camera feed before Trip had switched off the inhibitors, so when they had deactivated, she hadn’t even been thinking of them. Now, however, someone had turned them back on and, given that Trip had just saved her from Kora, she doubted it was him. Unfortunately, she had a sneaky suspicion of who the culprit was. 

Prior to her and Lincoln finding the power source, they had seen Trip with Flint and Doctor Johnson, her father. It stood to reason that her dad had turned on her inhibitors. She wasn’t sure if her father knew that she was immune; while Trip obviously knew, it was possible that they had been split up before the test results had come back, hence why her inhibitors were now activated. 

The fact that her father was the one who had activated her inhibitors would actually be hilarious in an incredibly painful way if she wasn’t in such a dangerous situation. Her mum had been the one who had originally made her wear inhibitors when they had been on board the Iliad and now it was her dad. She really needed to stop getting into these parallel situations. The only thing that would make things any more complex would be if she were to run into Alisha Whitley and her army of Ginger Ninjas.

Speak of the devil…or maybe the one-woman army. Because Hive was the devil and the person whom she had just seen was not Kara Lynn Palamas. 

Daisy spotted one red-headed clone ahead of her and hastily ducked into a side room. Despite not having her powers, she still had her fight skills, spy tactics and her hacking abilities; she could find a roundabout way to get back up to Deke and Jemma. Wherever they were. She had a pretty good feeling that Deke would know how to deactivate her inhibitors; it was Deke, after all. Fitzsimmons’ grandson.

She ducked through another room and found herself back at the area that housed the containment modules. Only this time, since she was taking a different route, she found herself in a different corridor than the one she and Lincoln had been kept in. While all the containment rooms appeared similar, this time, she found the body of a fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on the ground outside one of the containment rooms. He was still breathing, but was clearly unconscious. He wasn’t the one whom they had encountered outside Lincoln’s room, but someone else. There was only one reason why there would be a guard outside an empty containment room that had an open door. 

Someone else had escaped and Daisy had a sneaky suspicion that that person was Yo-Yo.

They were screwed. Kora, Alisha, Yo-Yo. There might even be more whom Daisy hadn’t seen yet. For some reason, Hive _really_ wanted them. Couldn’t Hive just get Raina to create more GH.325 if that was why he wanted her? Weren’t there other Inhumans who were easier to sway? It was incredibly frustrating that despite knowing the future, they still didn’t know enough.

Daisy was about to keep moving when she spotted something that made her heart sink. She ducked her head just barely into the containment room - she didn’t want to get caught and trapped in there _again_ \- and grimaced when she realized what had been done. 

Someone, presumably Alisha, since she was the last Inhuman whom Daisy had seen, or James, because of his talent as a demolitions expert, had rigged up explosives, primed and ready to detonate with ten minutes on the clock. 

Ten minutes before the Academy went boom. 

Ten minutes to find bombs that Alisha could have placed anywhere; there were at least five Alishas and this was one bomb. One bomb out of at least five that could be anywhere. Not to mention that the very fact that Alisha wasn’t guarding said bomb meant that each clone had more than one bomb to place. If each had two bombs, that made ten bombs to find and disable in ten minutes.

There was no way that they could do it. Yo-Yo might be able to find them in time, but Yo-Yo was swayed; Daisy could prevent an atom bomb from exploding, but that was one bomb, there were likely ten minimum and her powers were currently suppressed by inhibitors; Deke could probably disable them, but ten bombs in ten minutes? 

They were screwed.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the third fanart!!! I hope you guys are enjoying them!!! Let me know if you are! 😊
> 
> Link to fanart: https://www.instagram.com/p/CHwztdGF-Il/
> 
> As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 37**

The second Flint brought the ceiling down, Lincoln, Trip and Flint were forced to split up. The force of the ceiling collapsing had caused the floor to cave in as well, which resulted in Lincoln heading in the same direction that Daisy had gone in and Trip and Flint going in the other. Lincoln hoped for Trip’s sake that Kora was following him, although he had no idea if she was or who was more important. If Trip still had the cross necklace, did Kora value the necklace over him? Did she value Flint over him? It was difficult to tell at this point. At least Trip and Flint had each other for protection.

Lincoln took the stairs two at a time, narrowly avoiding a run-in with Alisha. It was fortunate that Lincoln had a lot of experience with fighting her (or at least he did in his memories). If one of them found her, all of them would know where he was. He stepped into a side room to hide, before continuing his journey back up to where he hoped Daisy had gone. 

He had just reached the containment module area when his skin prickled and he automatically covered himself with a thin sheen of electricity.

Not a second too soon.

The sort-of dart infused with the power-removal drug that was shot at him was completely fried thanks to his makeshift electricity shield; Lincoln whipped around, holding a ball of electricity aimed at Doctor Johnson, Daisy’s father, and his former mentor.

“Doctor Johnson?” Lincoln demanded. “What the hell was that?”

Ordinarily, Lincoln would not threaten his superiors, but these were clearly crazy times. He braced himself for another shot, not sure if Doctor Johnson was about to shoot at him again; the doctor appeared to be a strange combination of terrified and bravery. He was holding another of those power-removal guns that Trip had and was aiming it at Lincoln, even though he was not even half-a-step away from him. Doctor Johnson was no field agent; even without his powers, Lincoln could have the gun in his own hand in a second.

“Lincoln,” Doctor Johnson said, backing away slowly. “It’s you.”

The hand that was holding the gun was shaking.

“Whoa, slow down, I’m not going to hurt you,” Lincoln said, defusing the ball of electricity, but prepared to cover himself with it again, in case Doctor Johnson attacked. “I haven’t been swayed. I’m immune. The tests - you ran them, remember?”

Even as Lincoln spoke, he wondered if Doctor Johnson was aware of the test results as well. Seeing as he and Trip had split up, it was possible that the doctor _didn’t_ know that he was immune. Which could result in Doctor Johnson deciding to shoot him with real bullets instead of just power-removal drug darts. As good as Lincoln was with his powers, he definitely wasn’t bullet-proof, unlike Joey. 

Doctor Johnson took a deep, shaky breath and, much to Lincoln’s relief, lowered the gun. He didn’t want to fry the doctor, especially since they were both on the same side. Doctor Johnson still looked stressed and nervous, who wouldn’t, really, given the circumstances? Lincoln was surprised he hadn’t run into any terrified science cadets as it was, considering that none of _them_ were trained for the field.

“I thought you were that red-headed chick,” Doctor Johnson said. “She stole some of my prototypes from the lab and headed to the carpark. I barely got away. I don’t know where Trip and Flint ended up.”

Well, that didn’t sound good. Any prototype of Doctor Johnson’s was dangerous.

Lincoln sighed. “I do,” he said, referring to Trip and Flint. “I ran into them downstairs. They’re probably on the run from Kora. She’s either after them or me.”

“Kora?” Doctor Johnson asked. “How many Inhumans does this _Hive_ have? And who in the world named him?”

Lincoln suppressed another sigh with difficulty. General Talbot had asked a similar thing when he had found out about Lash and Hive. To be fair, most Inhumans went by their human names and only had their ‘power’ names as nicknames. Daisy used her birth name except when the public addressed her as ‘Quake’ or when one of them called her that; he went by ‘Sparks’ or ‘Sparky’ or whatever Daisy, Hunter, Miles and Deke primarily decided to call him; and Kora didn’t even have a nickname, excluding Hunter’s recent moniker of the two of them, Daisy and Sousa. 

“What did Alisha take from the lab?” Lincoln asked, more concerned about Alisha than who had named Hive. “Power-removal drugs? The immunity drug? Your research on the vaccine? GH.325?”

The labs had a lot of stuff that was dangerous in the wrong hands. If Hive got hold of any of the things that Lincoln had mentioned, they would be in serious trouble. He didn’t know how much of that scientific research Doctor Johnson kept active at the labs, but seeing as this was his research site, chances were very high that all of them had been there. 

“Wait, there’s an immunity drug?” Doctor Johnson asked, confused, and Lincoln gritted his teeth. He didn’t know a lot about it either; he hadn’t had time to sort through what he’d seen in Kora’s head. He had already gotten six years’ worth of memories tossed into his head and now he was dealing with a whole new onslaught from the timestream, although admittedly he had opened that can of worms when he had started going through Kora’s head, especially without her guidance. He was well aware that the first infusion had been as smooth as it had been because Kora had been showing him a specific stream of memories. Even that had ended up with him highly confused; this second batch hadn’t been mediated by Kora and it was going to require some serious compartmentalizing. 

“It’s a long story,” Lincoln said. “I’ll explain later. Did she get the other stuff?” 

Lincoln was honestly surprised when Doctor Johnson answered him without insisting that he explain about the immunity drug. Up until now, Lincoln had always been Doctor Johnson’s subordinate, which made sense, seeing as he _had_ been his student. But now, Doctor Johnson was treating him more like an equal, which was a surprising, yet welcome change of pace. However, Lincoln suspected that this treatment was thanks to the dangerous situation they were in; Doctor Johnson knew that of all the Inhumans swarming the Academy, Lincoln and Daisy were the only two he knew of on his side. To make matters even more stressful, Doctor Johnson barely knew Daisy, hence why he was putting so much trust in Lincoln. 

“All of them,” Doctor Johnson admitted. “And then some.”

Lincoln cursed under his breath. “Okay,” he said, although he wished he didn’t have to hunt for Alisha and could look for Daisy instead. “I’ll go after her.”

He turned on his heel, but before he could take two steps towards the carpark, Doctor Johnson called after him.

“Wait, Lincoln!” Doctor Johnson called.

Lincoln turned impatiently at the sound of his name. “Yes?”

“Two things,” Doctor Johnson said hastily, seeing how impatient he was. “First one, that red-head you mentioned - Alisha - has been setting up bombs all around the Academy. We’ve got about ten minutes before they explode.”

That was unwelcome news to Lincoln, but he was glad that Doctor Johnson had told them. Like things weren’t stressful enough already. Ten minutes for the whole team to get out of there. Ten minutes for the doctors to finish Hunter’s surgery and safely transport him to one of the Zephyrs. Lincoln didn’t even know where anyone else on the team was. Daisy was hopefully with Deke and Simmons, who were presumably with Bobbi and Hunter; Trip and Flint were on the run from Kora; Ward was...somewhere; and Miles should have been with Doctor Johnson, but that was clearly not the case. How in the world was Lincoln supposed to warn them that there were live bombs all over the Academy? 

It was taking all of Lincoln’s willpower not to run after Daisy. He was the only Inhuman who knew where Alisha was headed with all of Doctor Johnson’s research; he needed to go after her. He had to put the mission before his personal feelings, something that the Lincoln from Daisy’s timeline had struggled immensely with. He too, was struggling with it. But he was not completely him, as he had told Daisy before. He could and would put the mission first, especially because he knew that Daisy was more than capable of taking care of herself. 

“You need to find some way to contact the others,” Lincoln said urgently. “Including the cadets. Where are they, by the way?”

“Already on their way out through the service tunnels,” Doctor Johnson said. “I contacted some of the students in the bunkers when I first saw the bombs. They should be evacuating right now.” He paused. “There are still some doctors in one of the surgical rooms. Apparently there’s a fight going on in there. I heard a ruckus over the coms.”

It didn’t surprise Lincoln. Hive’s Inhumans had probably gone after the team; Hunter was in surgery and if Lincoln had to guess, he would have presumed that Bobbi at the very least was with him. Most likely Deke and Simmons as well, which set them as perfect targets for any of Hive’s Inhumans. 

“Thank God for that,” Lincoln said, heaving a sigh of relief. “And the second thing?”

“Is Daisy your girlfriend?” Doctor Johnson asked. “For real? And not for fake?”

Lincoln was completely taken aback. Of course Daisy was currently on his mind, but Doctor Johnson was no telepath. And of all things that Doctor Johnson could ask him at the moment. In a potentially life-or-death situation, Doctor Johnson was asking about his relationship status?

“Um, yes,” Lincoln said, deciding that that was the simplest response, even though they hadn’t really defined their relationship yet. He was under the impression that they were more than that, but they hadn’t had the whole ‘talk’ yet. “Why?”

Doctor Johnson eyed him. “Well, I’m glad I know you,” Doctor Johnson said. “Because my daughter could do a whole hell of a lot worse.” 

Lincoln was speechless. He and Daisy had both realized that Doctor Johnson would eventually find out that he was her father, but these were really not the circumstances that any of them had anticipated him finding out in. In fact, Lincoln had presumed that either Daisy or Deke would tell Doctor Johnson; none of them had predicted such a dramatic turn of events that he ended up finding out the truth through blood tests. 

“Um….” Lincoln began, not sure what to say.

Doctor Johnson waved his hand at him. “Go! Stop Alisha! I’ll find my daughter.”

“She went after Deke and Jemma,” Lincoln said, hoping that Doctor Johnson would, like Jiaying, now that he knew the truth, do whatever it took to protect Daisy. “The surgical ward, I think.”

Doctor Johnson nodded. “Thank you.” He paused. “Now go! Stop that red-head chick!” 

Lincoln raced through the door to the stairwell after Alisha, his mind in a whirlwind. Like he hadn’t had enough bombshells today as it was. First Kora being after him, not Daisy; then Alisha having stolen everything from vaccines to possible immunity drugs to GH.325; to the bombs all over the Academy; and now Doctor Johnson figuring out that he was Daisy’s biological father. When this was all over, everyone seriously needed a holiday.




“Stop hiding!” 

Trip and Flint were crouched behind a giant lab counter in another one of the seemingly endless labs on the ground floor. Kora was blasting lab counter after lab counter out of the way with her powers; she was going to reach them any time soon.

“Got any plans?” Flint whispered.

“Shoot her with these,” Trip replied, holding up his drug-removal guns. It was his only strategy at the moment since Kora had apparently chosen to go after them and not Lincoln. Why, he did not know, but he had a pretty good feeling that Kora was not the only Inhuman there. Which meant, if she had chosen to go after him and Flint, that someone else was after Lincoln.

Not good. 

“Nice, nice,” Flint said nervously, wiping his hands on his pants.

Trip looked at him. “Hey. We got this, okay? No need to be nervous.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Flint said. “It’s just...well, I’ve been training for this, you know? May has been teaching me at the Academy. Just never expected this to be my...first official field assignment, you know?”

Trip did know. While he didn’t know much about Flint - in fact, aside from knowing that he was Inhuman and that he had come from another timeline, Trip knew nothing about him - he did know what it was like to be thrown off the deep end with little to no field experience. The poor guy was clearly having a hell of a first day.

“Just stick with me and I’ll get you out of this,” Trip said, patting him on the shoulder. “Before you came, did Bobbi or Jemma warn you about the sway?”

Flint nodded. “Yep. So it would probably be best for me to not go off on my own, right?”

Trip sighed. “Right.” He paused. “Okay, then. We’re going to have to run for it. I think we can make it to the west stairs if we take a different route. Follow me.”

Trip peeked out from behind the counter, ready to run if Kora blasted him, but at the moment, she caught sight of him. The glow in her eyes and palms faded.

“Trip,” she said. “Trip, give me the cross necklace.” She was walking towards him as she spoke and Trip felt something inside him recoil at the sight. At the sight of the parasite controlling Kora. 

“Flint,” Trip muttered. “Flint, you need to run.”

Flint looked at him. “You sure, man? We just kinda had this discussion about how we should like, you know, stick together.”

“Yep, you need to run,” Trip said confidently. “Go!” 

But even as Flint scrambled in the opposite direction, Trip was not sure at all. He was hoping that Kora would not hurt him, but he knew that that protection would not extend to Flint. Hive wanted Flint and Kora would definitely do whatever it took to get him. She had no feelings of any kind for Flint. She barely knew him. Trip’s only hope was that Kora had not yet realized that he didn’t even have the cross necklace anymore and that he had given it to Deke. Because if she did...well, then Trip had just set Flint up to be hunted down by Kora. 

And if she didn’t...well, then Trip was going to find out just how strong the feelings Kora had for him were. Because if she didn’t care for him the same way that Daisy and Lincoln obviously loved each other...well, Trip was going to find that out the hard way. Literally. 




“Okay,” Ward whispered to Miles in a low voice. “We have no idea what these Inhumans can do. So this is what we’re going to do. I’ll be the distraction; you come in after me. If they have powers like Lincoln or Kora because that would be bad, but hopefully they aren’t aiming to kill us. If I end up seriously injured, you book it out of here. Yes?”

“No sacrifice plays,” Miles warned him. “I know you’re grieving for Kara, but Kara wouldn’t want you killing yourself over what happened.”

Ward looked completely taken aback. Since when did Miles care this much? Miles had always been snarky and teasing, but he was being seriously nice right now. He was the first person to truly acknowledge what Ward was going through...and ironically, he was the last person whom Ward had expected would empathize with him. Miles was not a feelings kind of guy. What had Katya done to him? 

Lincoln and Daisy had told him that Katya could manipulate the senses, but had she done something permanent to Miles? Made him empathize with people more or something? When he next got the chance, he would have to ask the Inhumans if that was possible. 

“Miles, are you feeling alright?” Ward asked, genuinely concerned at this point.

Miles rolled his eyes. “Alright, that’s the last time I try to be nice,” Miles began, making Ward crack a smile for the first time that day. 

Maybe Miles was okay. Maybe he was just growing up. 

“We make it out of this, I’ll let you get me as wasted as we were that one time at Hunter’s bachelor party,” Ward said. “Deal?”

“Deal,” Miles said, holding out his fist for a fist bump. “Let’s do this.”

Ward frowned at him. “You channelling Deke now?” he asked, as he peeked around the corner; the elevator had just landed on their floor.

“Hey, Lincoln’s not the only one whom he’s mentored,” Miles reminded him.

That was a fair point. Although Miles had definitely gotten the innuendo gene from Deke. 

“Yeah, well, you definitely got the awkwardness from him,” Ward muttered in response. “Okay, here we go.”

Ward flung himself out from around the corner of the door and pulled the triggers on his guns without hesitation. He was confronted with two different Inhumans, just as the elevator doors opened. He recognized one of the Inhumans in the split second that he saw her - he and Trip had put Yo-Yo in containment at the same time as they had transferred Lincoln and Daisy - but the other man was a mystery. Ward had never seen him before in his life, but he had a pretty good feeling if he was with Yo-Yo, he was hostile. 

The next second, Ward was flat on his stomach; he had been upended - literally - by Yo-Yo. He landed flat on his belly, the air completely knocked out of his lungs. 

Damn.

The next second, there was another whoosh! of air and another loud thump as Miles landed next to him, groaning from the contact he had made with the ground. 

So much for back-up.

The male Inhuman said something to Yo-Yo, something in Spanish. Thankfully, Ward was skilled in that language, although Miles was not. The two Inhumans were wondering if they should take Ward and Miles with them to become Primitives...or at least that was the translated Spanish word in English. 

Whatever that meant.

If he and Miles got out of this, he had a pretty good feeling that Lincoln, Daisy or Simmons would be able to tell him. While he hadn’t spent all that much time with any of them lately, thanks to it being ‘just another day at S.H.I.E.L.D.’, he knew that they knew much more about the future than almost anyone in the timeline. Excluding Raina and Kora, of course. 

Ward was not about to go down easy. He scrambled to his feet, grabbing for his gun, but the next second, he was flat on his back this time, the gun gone. 

Ouch.

Ward leapt up for a third time, only to be knocked off balance again, this time, with overpowering tape securing his wrists together. He cursed under his breath, grimacing in pain. Payback sucked. He and Trip had made Daisy wear inhibitors on his wrists and now he was the one with his hands cuffed together. As far as he knew, the overpowering tape was S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment and how these Inhumans had gotten their hands on it, he did not know. But either way, it sucked.

“Stay down,” the man snapped at Ward in English as he and Yo-Yo approached them at a more measured pace. “Or we’ll be forced to do something much more lethal.”

From having seen Yo-Yo in the containment module and watching her fighting techniques, Ward knew that she ‘bounced back’ like a yo-yo to where she started. It was something he could use against her...but only if he could stop getting his butt handed to him on a platter. And maybe get his hands on a weapon. 

Like the knife that was lying a foot away from him. 

Just then, a loud boom! sounded as something near them made a sound like a mini explosive going off. It threw all of them off-balance; Yo-Yo turned to the man - Joey, Ward heard her call him - and Ward leapt to his feet, grabbing a knife off the floor and shoving it towards her abdomen. 

The knife melted in his hand.

So that was what the guy could do. Manipulate metal.

“Seriously?” Miles demanded. “We’re facing Quicksilver and Magneto here? I thought Quicksilver was a guy? And this guy does not look old enough to be her father.”

Miles needed to shut up. 

Apparently Ward was not the only one who thought that, because the next second, there was a gag around Miles’ mouth. 

Ward shook his head in disbelief, even as Yo-Yo tossed him upside down for the fourth time that day. It seemed as though he was not the only one who thought that Miles talked too much. 




Deke and Jemma half-carried, half-dragged Sousa’s unconscious body between them back into the lab. Bobbi and Giyera were still at it, knocking over equipment and scattering medical supplies all over the place as they fought. Thanks to Bobbi’s combat training with Lincoln - they were sparring partners and she used her batons whenever he wanted to practise using his powers on someone - Bobbi had experience with fighting Inhumans. She was more than holding her own, but Deke definitely did not want to abandon her to the crazed telekinetic Inhuman.

“Help Sousa,” Deke told Jemma. “I’ve got Bobbi.” 

He reached for the closest weapon he could find - Sousa’s handgun which he had shot Deke with - and ducked away before Jemma could scold him for jumping back into a fight with a bullet wound in his arm. 

He aimed his gun at Giyera, but the telekinetic Inhuman waved his hand, yanking the gun out of Deke’s grip and re-aiming the gun at his head. 

“Move!”

Bobbi dove at him and they both slid behind a counter, barely making it out of the way in time. In a quick move, Bobbi ducked out from behind the counter, hurling her batons at Giyera. She launched herself back over the table to catch them, slamming him in the face with a scissors kick. 

Jemma appeared behind him, swinging a pipe at him. Giyera kicked it out of her hands and she leapt out of the way, sliding behind the counter near Deke, who had grabbed Sousa’s abandoned gun that Giyera had dropped when Bobbi had attacked him. 

Deke was about to pull the trigger at Giyera, when a red-headed woman rounded the corner.

“Giyera, time to go!” she called. 

Giyera turned and Deke aimed his gun at the woman. His gun went off, once, twice, and the woman fell like a stone. But Giyera didn’t appear to show any kind of remorse for her death and Jemma groaned next to him.

“That’s Alisha!” she said. “She can create clones of herself; that’s obviously not the original!”

That was...news to Deke, and not good news at that. Fighting a telekinetic was bad enough. Now he was facing the prospect of fighting a woman who could create copies of herself as quickly as Deke could fire a gun. 

Bobbi had taken advantage of Giyera’s distraction to roundhouse kick him in the face. Giyera went down, but only for a second before he brought one of the counters crashing towards Bobbi; she narrowly avoided being hit by it by a hair.

Apparently Giyera had been a distraction. Kora had wanted Daisy and/or Lincoln, Alisha had wanted...something and Giyera had just been a means of waylaying them while the others went about their missions. 

Jemma figured out the same thing because while Deke tried to attack Giyera from behind, she ran over to Alisha’s body and started searching her pockets.

“She has a detonator for a bomb!” Jemma shouted. “Alisha can make at least four copies of herself; that plus the original means at least five bombs around the Academy. We have to get out of here!”

Bobbi kicked at Giyera again, but the latter was not going down without a fight. He landed a kick on her jawline, sending her staggering backwards. Deke leapt on his back, using his entire body weight to slam him into a counter. 

“Jump, Deke!” Bobbi shouted, her batons crackling with electricity. 

She thrust them into Giyera’s chest at the same moment as Deke sprang free. He landed awkwardly on his side, but Giyera ripped the batons from her hands, sending her stumbling forward, into Deke, who caught her before they could both go down. Giyera also lost his footing, already shaking from the pain of the electrical blast. Then he gasped.

Jemma stood on the other side of him, holding a pocketknife in her hand. She had stabbed him in the neck; he crumpled to the ground, putting his hand over the wound, in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood.

“Nana?” Deke asked tentatively, even as Jemma lowered the knife. 

Jemma gave him a grim smile. “It’s a good thing I carry this around with me,” she said. 

Deke looked at Jemma’s weapon and his heart swelled. It was a pocketknife. Fitz’s pocketknife. But it wasn’t the one that Fitz had had. It was the one that Deke had brought back from the future with him. The one that he had left behind at the Lighthouse. Jemma had evidently carried it around with her after Deke had been left behind in the alternate timeline, just how Deke had cherished it because it had been his grandfather’s, long before he had known who Fitz and Simmons were. 

Jemma dug in her pocket. “That was the other thing I had for you,” she said quietly. “Not just the photos. Fitz and I wanted you to have this too.”

She held out her hand. In it, was Fitz’s version of the same pocketknife. How fitting it was, that Deke would now get the new knife...until it was as old and worn as the one that Jemma had just used to stab Giyera. The fact that Fitz had given it to Jemma to give to him meant the world. It wasn’t just Jemma who loved and cared about him. Fitz did too. 




Trip ducked around the side of the counter and moved silently to the next one. Kora was on to him, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t delay while he gave Flint time to get away. Hopefully Kora would see him as the biggest threat. He didn’t know if Hive was at the Academy; if he was, well, obviously he couldn’t have gone after Lincoln or Daisy since they were immune, but Flint could still be swayed. Trip just hoped that he hadn’t sent Flint off into a death trap.

Trip slid around the side of the counter and Kora was standing right there, behind him, holding her glowing palm to his head.

“Don’t make me do this,” Kora warned, but her voice wasn’t as even as it was when she had been threatening Lincoln. “Trip, walk away right now. _Please_.”

Trip shook his head. “Kora, you aren’t going to hurt me,” he said, confidently.

“Maybe I won’t,” Kora said. “Maybe I can’t. But I’ve seen the future. Someone on the team is going to die. You were there when we were discussing spacetime. I don’t want that person to be you.”

Trip couldn’t see her face; his back was to her, but he kept his voice even as he responded. He was a trained spy and keeping cool under pressure was spy tactic 101. 

“I would have thought that Lincoln or Daisy are the ones most in danger,” Trip said evenly. “Seeing as Lincoln died in the original timeline to save her.”

Trip didn’t know a whole lot about the future, but he did know that much. In fact, out of all of the members of Deke’s team excluding Deke and Lincoln, he probably knew the most. 

Kora laughed harshly. “Bucharest, Trip! The singularity! They’re themselves, but they’re also Fitzsimmons. You know that Daisy was swayed in the original timeline. Look at what’s happened to me!” Her voice cracked. “You know what that might mean for _you_.”

Trip turned slowly to look at her, realizing all at once what she meant. She let him, although her hand was still alight with energy. 

“You think I’m going to die because I could be Lincoln in this timeline,” Trip said quietly, putting two and two together.

“You died once for Daisy - Skye - at the time,” Kora said. “And you didn’t even love her romantically. You two were just friends. I know you care for me. I know the future. And I wish you didn’t. Didn’t care. Because if you didn’t, there would be so much less of a chance that you would end up in the Quinjet with the warhead.”

There were tears shining in her eyes now; Trip wanted to reach out to her, but he couldn’t. She was swayed. He knew that she was telling him the truth - he knew her future-predicting abilities better than almost anyone in the timeline - but he also didn’t want the first time he admitted something real to be while she was under Hive’s sway. 

“Kora -” Trip began, not even sure of what he was going to say.

“If you care for me at all, don’t stay,” Kora pleaded. “Walk away right now. You know I deal with possibilities and probabilities. Don’t let your death become a reality.”

“Is that the most likely future?” Trip asked. “That I die?”

Kora closed her eyes slowly and then opened them again to look at him. “It is one of the higher possibilities,” she admitted. “But you can change that by leaving now. The future isn’t set in stone.”

Unless, of course, they were dealing with spacetime. Because creating an alternate timeline didn’t appear to be a possibility. 

“If I leave, who will die?” Trip asked. “Daisy? Lincoln? No, you wouldn’t choose me over them. You love your sister. She means everything to you. And you wouldn’t let her lose Lincoln again. Deke? Sousa?” When Kora didn’t say anything, Trip realized, all at once, what she was hiding from him. “ _You_? Kora -”

“I told you about the equilibrium of the species,” Kora said quietly. “Lincoln and I shouldn’t co-exist -”

“And you also told me that there are versions of the future where both of you live!” Trip insisted, grabbing her hand; she let him take it away from his head. “Kora, do you honestly think that I could walk away now and let you die instead of me? Aren’t there versions of the future where neither of us - or Daisy or Lincoln - die?”

He couldn’t fathom the possibility of walking away and letting Kora die for him instead. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did. He cared about her - a lot - but even if he didn’t, he was not one to back down from a fight. Not even when the fight’s outcome was already predicted. 

“Do you want to choose?” Kora challenged him. “You asked me not to pick a team member to die back in South Dakota. Sousa, Hunter, Miles, Kara. Can you choose now? Because if you don’t want one of the four of us to die, who does that leave? Deke, Sousa, Hunter, Bobbi, Miles, Ward. Even Simmons and Flint now. Do you want to choose, Trip?”

Trip shook his head. “Kora, don’t make me -”

“Then how can you blame me for choosing to save the people I care about?” Kora demanded. “I couldn’t pick one then; I can’t pick one now!” She paused. “I’m going with the future that most likely saves the people I love. I swear I’m not setting up one sole person to die in space. That is something I cannot do. But I can and will choose the future that will protect the people I love. The same way I wanted to save Sousa in South Dakota because I know what he means to Daisy. I can’t choose someone to die, but I _can_ choose who I want to live.” 

“How can you do this when you’re swayed?” Trip demanded. “You are swayed; you’re working for Hive. How can you still manipulate us all like this?”

It didn’t make sense to him. How could Kora, swayed, still be choosing whom she wanted to live and whom she wanted to die? The sway was so confusing! 

Kora shook her head. “I still have to obey him. I still am working for him. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own desires and wants and emotions. The bond I have with Hive exists. It’s...a connection. It makes me feel whole. Complete. I know you don’t understand. But after this...Hive will limit my free will even more. Trip...give me the necklace. Now.” 

They were back at it again. Trip didn’t know how much longer he could delay. 

“You just said you don’t want me to die,” he reminded her. “You won’t hurt me to get it.”

Kora shook her head. “Maybe I won’t,” she said. “But Alisha will. And if I fail, she _will_ kill you. She’s already after Lincoln and Daisy. Trip, Hive knows what’s happening to us. We tell him everything. We’re all connected. If I fail, she won’t be nearly as nice.”

Trip didn’t say anything. He didn’t even have the cross necklace anymore, but he couldn’t tell Kora that. However, he didn’t need to. The look in her eyes...she had finally caught on to the timeline they were in.

“You don’t have it,” Kora said, her eyes wild as she flitted through different possibilities, in pursuit of the right one. “You gave it to...Deke.” 

Trip didn’t need to confirm or deny it. She knew. 

Kora lifted her hand to mouth and spoke into her coms. “Alisha, Giyera, it’s with Deke. Get the necklace.” She paused. “Alisha? Giyera?”

Trip caught her hand. “Kora, don’t do this -” He began.

Kora twisted, maneuvering herself out of his grip, at the same moment as Alisha responded. 

“Giyera’s down. I’m closing in on both Lincoln and Daisy. You need to go after him. Yo-Yo and Joey are planting the duplicates.”

“Copy that,” Kora said. “On my way.”

She switched off her coms at the same time as Trip stared at her. 

“Duplicates?” he asked. “Duplicate what?”

Kora hesitated. “Trip, get out of here. There are bombs rigged about to explode in less than ten minutes. Get out of here now before you get killed.” She paused. “After this, Hive won’t let me near you. He won’t trust me to get the job done. He won't let me do a lot of stuff. I’ll have to prove to him that I’m on his side. Including doing whatever it takes to create the Primitives. If you don’t walk away...the next time you see me will be on the Zephyr. When one of the team is going to die.”


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

“We have to get out of here,” Deke said; he ran over to where Bobbi was pulling up a gurney for transporting Hunter, who, while alive and breathing, was still unconscious. “Is there a timer on that detonator?”

Jemma had the detonator in her hand and was quickly searching Alisha’s body for anything useful. “We’re down to eight minutes,” she said, her voice tense and worried. “We’re running out of time.”

“Dammit,” Deke said; he and Bobbi lifted Hunter off the hospital bed and placed him on the gurney as carefully as they could while still being as quick as possible. “Where the hell is everyone else?”

That was a question to which none of them had an answer. For all they knew, the others didn’t even know that there were bombs at the Academy, much less that they had to get the hell out of Dodge in eight minutes. Jemma pulled an earpiece out of Alisha’s ear and stuck it in her own ear. She was lucky. Very lucky. For at that very moment, Kora’s voice came in over the coms. 

“Alisha, Giyera, it’s with Deke. Get the necklace.” There was a pause. “Alisha? Giyera?”

There was only one necklace that Kora could be concerned with; she rounded on Deke, anxiety making her voice spike. 

“You have the cross necklace?” she demanded. “Deke, ditch it now!” 

Before Deke could respond, Alisha spoke over the coms. “Giyera’s down. I’m closing in on both Lincoln and Daisy. You need to go after him. Yo-Yo and Joey are planting the duplicates.” 

The response came immediately from Kora. “Copy that. On my way.”

The coms switched out after that, but Jemma had heard enough.

“Kora’s on her way back up here,” Jemma said, even though her mind was racing with worry about the wretched cross necklace of death. “We need to go. Now!” 

She tried to haul Sousa up off the floor, but the man was much heavier than she was; there was no way that she could lift him on her own. They were sitting ducks. Two unconscious and heavy men with three people to move them, one of whom was in his sixties and the other two of whom were women. This was not going to go well, or fast enough.

“Alisha’s chasing down Daisy and Lincoln,” Jemma said, as Deke dashed to her side to haul Sousa onto a second gurney. “I don’t know where they are, but Yo-Yo and Joey are planting some sort of duplicates somewhere.”

“Duplicates? Duplicate what?” Deke asked, thoroughly confused as they dumped Sousa rather unceremoniously on the gurney. His wounded arm ached and although Sousa hadn’t been himself when he’d shot him, Deke was still feeling a little sore, literally, towards him. Quickly, he dashed back over to Bobbi to take over pushing Hunter’s gurney; Bobbi was the best fighter of the three of them, so it made the most sense if her hands were free to fight any Inhumans. 

“I don’t know!” Jemma said, at the same moment as the door banged open and all three of them looked up, Bobbi readying her batons, Deke aiming Sousa’s gun and Jemma gripping her pocketknife. 

It was Doctor Johnson. The last person whom Deke had been expecting to see. He had been hoping for one of the team - any or all of them - but had not predicted the arrival of Doctor Johnson. 

“Deke!” Doctor Johnson said, breathlessly. “Agent Morse! Wait...Jemma Simmons?”

This was the first time that someone had actually recognized Jemma in this timeline aside the obvious - those being Daisy, Deke, Sousa and Kora - and Lincoln and Bobbi, both of whom had very good reasons for knowing who she was. She blinked in surprise, turning to stare at Deke.

“What are you doing here?” Doctor Johnson said, utterly confused. “I thought you and Leopold Fitz were in Scotland! I spoke with both of you two days ago!”

“Oh hell,” Deke said. 

Well, that made things supremely messy. Deke had pulled strings to ensure that both Fitz and Jemma met, but he had tried his best to keep them far away from the dangers of the field S.H.I.E.L.D. teams. They were both working in one of his Academies in Scotland; Deke had figured that keeping them out of the States would be the safest option for them. In the chaos of all that had happened, Deke had forgotten that Doctor Johnson, of all people, would know Jemma because of the professional medical field. There was only so much overlap after all.

“It’s a long story,” Deke said. “We don’t have time to explain. There are -”

“Bombs around the Academy, yes,” Doctor Johnson said, hastily moving to Jemma’s side and shoving the gurney carrying Sousa to move out of the surgical room; he was stronger than she was. “Where’s Daisy? Lincoln told me she was likely with you!”

“You met Lincoln?” Bobbi asked; they were moving at breakneck speed out of the surgical ward and towards the elevators. Thank goodness the power was back on, otherwise there was no way that they were going to get out of there in time, since they would have to take the stairs, carrying two limp bodies. “Where is he?”

“Is he swayed?” Deke added. “Is Daisy? Are their results back?”

“They’re both fine,” Doctor Johnson said. “Both are immune. I don’t yet know how or why, but they’re both completely sway-free.”

An overwhelming feeling of guilt crashed down on Deke. He had betrayed both of their trust to drug them both and put them through emotional hell, all for nothing. Daisy being immune he could understand, but how in the world was Lincoln immune? And would either of them forgive him for having drugged them? He had done it for the right reasons, but seeing as both were completely fine, would _they_ see it that way? 

Apparently Jemma had the same confusion about Lincoln’s immunity that Deke did, because she said, “ _Lincoln_ ’s immune? How did that happen? Did he already encounter Lash?”

Now was not the time for questions and answers. All of them were playing catch-up still and with presumably seven minutes left before the bombs exploded, it was really the worst time to try and figure out what in the world was happening. If they survived, there would be time for that later. 

“Where’s Lincoln?” Bobbi repeated; she was the only one who wasn’t as concerned about the sway. It made sense, unlike Jemma who had lived through this once and Deke, who was feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt at having drugged two of the people whom he loved the most, Bobbi was the one least burdened with other worries. 

“He headed after Alisha,” Doctor Johnson said as they waited impatiently for the elevator. “She has a whole bunch of research from my lab.” He hesitated. “Including nanothermite vests, the activator for Daisy’s inhibitors, the Inhuman enhancer drug and the Inhuman power-removal drug.”

“What?” Jemma and Deke said at the same time, but for very different reasons. 

“There’s an Inhuman enhancer drug?” Jemma gasped; Deke simultaneously spluttered, “Murder vests? The activator for Daisy’s inhibitors? Power-removal drugs? How the hell are Daisy and Lincoln supposed to protect themselves if their powers are gone? And why is Daisy wearing inhibitors?”

This was a disaster. An absolute disaster. When Deke had first heard from Ward and Trip that Daisy and Lincoln had broken containment, he had been worried; now he was a hundred times more stressed. Kora, Alisha, Joey and Yo-Yo were out there and apparently Daisy and Lincoln were as powerless as the rest of the humans. 

“Trip took them from me so that she wouldn’t have to be injected with the power-removal drug again,” Doctor Johnson explained. “Where is Daisy? She’s supposed to be with you! That’s where Lincoln said she’d gone!”

“Wait, they aren’t together?” Deke demanded. “How the hell did that happen? They’re as inseparable as Nana and Bobo!”

Deke took it back. This was the worst news yet. He could not fathom what had happened that would have required them to split up. The only other time he was aware of them having split up was back at the Playground out of necessity and once on Zephyr Three. To hear that they had split up, were powerless _and_ there were powered Inhumans swarming the Academy, hunting them, was absolute hell. 

“I don’t know!” Doctor Johnson said, at the same time as Deke continued speaking, saying, “I’ll go after them-”

“No, she’s my daughter, I’m going-” Doctor Johnson interrupted.

And along came the latest bombshell. Not a literal one, of course, but it might as well have been. Doctor Johnson now apparently knew that Daisy was his daughter. When they got out of this crazy situation, Deke knew that each and every one of them was going to have a _lot_ to process. 

“Oh hell, you know that one too!” Deke said; Bobbi spoke over him before he could continue.

“What about the others?” she asked. “Ward, Trip, Miles, Flint - Ward went after the power source for the defibrillator and didn’t Trip go after you, Doctor Johnson?”

Those were all good questions, to which there was no time to answer. 

“There’s not enough time,” Jemma said anxiously, checking the timer in her hand. “We’re almost down to six minutes. We can’t just go running all over the Academy trying to find them! We need a specific location!” 

At that moment, the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Thank goodness they were not greeted with Kora, who was undoubtedly already on the way. If they had been, they would all be screwed. As it was, they were seriously running out of time. 

“I’ll go to the communications hub,” Deke said; it was his fault that Daisy and Lincoln were out there, possibly powerless against Inhumans who most likely wanted to take them to Hive. He had put them in containment in the first place, which they had broken out of when the power had gone off the first time. If he hadn’t drugged them, they wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place. Or maybe they would be, because they would have had to be tested for the sway anyway, but still...Deke was feeling immensely guilty. “There are cameras there. I’ll be able to find wherever they are. You three go and get to the Zephyr.” 

Regardless of guilt, it was still the best plan. Out of the four of them, Deke had the most experience with communications and controls and they needed two people to push the gurneys and at least one person for protection. With two injured people, it was also best that the doctors remained with them. Deke’s logic made sense, even though both Jemma and Bobbi didn’t look like they liked the fact that their grandson was going back into the thick of things. 

Deke pushed Hunter’s gurney into the elevator, hesitated for a split second and then turned to Bobbi. 

“Bobbi, take this,” he said, shoving the cross necklace into her hand as he stepped back to let the others in. “Only for now, I promise; I’ll take it back later. But if Kora thinks that I have it...I can’t protect it from her. I’m not Inhuman. You’ve trained with Linc-”

“There’s no need to explain,” Bobbi said, clasping the necklace around her neck. “Go! Find them!”




Daisy ran for the communications centre. She was under no illusion that she could disable the bomb in time; Fitz and Deke she was not. But what she could do was warn everyone about it. She was lucky. The layout of the Academy was the same as it had been in her timeline and even though it had been eight years since she’d been there, she still remembered. She ran down a corridor...and ran smack into none other than Alisha Whitley, who was tampering with said communications system. 

Alisha looked up, her eyes glowing white as copies of herself started appearing.

Great.

On the bright side, the fact that her eyes were glowing white meant that she was the prime. If Daisy could take her out, all of her copies would fall. Wherever they were. Hopefully not all of them had activated their bombs yet. 

“You must be Daisy,” Alisha said, eyeing the inhibitors around her wrists. “Lincoln’s precious girlfriend.”

Daisy had no idea how Alisha knew that, although admittedly, if Kora was swayed, Kora would have told Hive everything. As far as she knew, Lincoln and Alisha hadn’t met in this timeline prior to Bucharest. Alisha hadn’t had her powers for long; Lincoln had mentioned that she had yet to undergo Terrigenesis way back when they’d been on Zephyr One and were trying to figure out the next step in Hive’s plan. Hive had likely triggered her powers with a Terrigen crystal and then swayed her. Which was exactly what he had done with James in the original timeline.

“Where are the bombs?” Daisy demanded, tightening her hands into fists at her side. “You know you’re going to die too if we don’t get out of here in time!”

“I’m happy to make the sacrifice to Hive,” Alisha said, as her fourth copy appeared. “We want you to join us.”

Why in the world did Hive want her? There were other Inhumans out there who were much easier to sway. Hive had sent both Kora and Alisha after her and she had a pretty good feeling that they weren’t alone. She’d seen Joey and Giyera in Bucharest; Katya and James had been in South Dakota; Yo-Yo had also been swayed and had now been freed by someone, presumably Alisha, possibly someone else. There was even Raina. That made seven hostile Inhumans; why in the world did Hive want more? Why was she so important that Hive was sending out his army of Inhumans into a place where there was possibly some immunity drug that prevented Inhumans from being swayed? If, of course, that was what had given Lincoln his immunity. 

“Yeah, been there, done that, it’s no fun,” Daisy said grimly. “What is so important about me that you want me? I swear, if it’s because of my blood-”

“Hive didn’t tell us,” Alisha said. “But seeing as he wants you….we obey.”

When Daisy had been a part of Hive’s swayed Inhumans, out of all of them, Alisha had been the most obedient. Both Daisy and James had demonstrated their original personalities a lot; even Giyera had maintained his sadistic nature. Alisha, on the other hand, had been the most compliant. Daisy wasn’t sure if it was something to do with her own hive mind; the prime had power over her clones. It was also possible that since her duplicates were so accustomed to following the orders of the prime, that that had made her more susceptible to Hive. 

Daisy gritted her teeth as the clones started walking towards her. She needed to access the communications system in order to warn all the agents around the Academy about the bombs. On the bright side, if she could take down Alisha’s prime, then all the copies of Alisha around the Academy would also fall. Although, for some strange reason, there were four copies of Alisha right here. Did that mean that there were no other clones anywhere else around the Academy? Or had Alisha somehow been able to make more copies of herself in this timeline? All these changes were confusing, especially since Daisy’s thoughts were a mess from the visions of the future that Kora had shown her, bher worry about the bombs and her concerns about Lincoln and the rest of the team. 

As Daisy launched herself at the prime clone, she inwardly cursed the presence of the inhibitors. Why, oh why, was she stuck fighting Alisha and her clone army without her powers _again_? At the rate things were going, if she had money to bet, she was going to put money on the clones eventually overpowering her and Lincoln rescuing her. Which...altogether wouldn’t be a too bad thing because that would mean that Lincoln was safe. 

The last time Daisy had seen Lincoln, he had been preparing to fight Kora. Daisy knew all too well how powerful Kora was; she hated herself for abandoning him. Not only had they promised that they wouldn’t split up again, but Daisy was worried about him seeing the timestream in Kora’s head. The future with their children and their peaceful life had felt so _real_. It was worse than the Framework; at least she had known that the Framework was pixels of data on a computer screen. What Kora had shown them was one of their possible futures. And the visions that Daisy had seen were minor in comparison to what Lincoln had seen. If he had had a war inside his head from six years worth of memories, what had it been like to get a whole influx of new ones, simply from rooting around in Kora’s brain? Daisy didn’t know, but more than anything, she wanted to be there for him, helping him get through all this confusion. She wanted and needed to be there for him as much as he needed her. 

But first...she had to defeat the clone army...who were, in her opinion, more dangerous than an army of Jango Fett clone troopers.




As Lincoln climbed the stairs two at a time, he slipped an earpiece into his ear. He had taken it from the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent whom he had knocked out after he had gotten out of containment; he hoped that it might alert him to anything that was going on, anywhere in the Academy. He wasn’t even sure if the Inhumans were communicating via coms, but it was worth a shot. Additionally, if any S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were using any of the channels, hopefully he could get some information like how many hostile Inhumans there were and if everyone was evacuated.

The problem was, there were so many stories of the carpark that Alisha could have gone to. On each floor, he had to pause, look through the glass panel in the exit door for a second, make sure that he didn’t see any red-head doubles, and then keep going. Every second he delayed was another second that was ticking away on the clocks on the bombs. He knew perfectly well that he could not survive an explosion. Well...maybe he could survive a small explosion. A nuclear one was out of the question.

On the fourth floor, Lincoln caught sight of the red-headed Alisha loading things into a car. She had a _lot_ of things from the lab; as far as Lincoln could see, she had murder vests (whoever had invented those was going to get Deke’s wrath on his head), a giant case full of Terrigen crystals, another huge case of presumably potential Inhuman vaccines, immunity drugs and/or GH.325, and several other inventions which Lincoln did not recognize. Nothing good, that was for sure. 

Lincoln aimed a bolt of electricity at her, but she whirled around, hearing the crackle of electricity. Alisha narrowly avoided his blast, which hit the car instead. She responded by shooting at him with a gun; he dove out of the stairwell and behind the nearest car to avoid getting hit. He had no idea of the damage he had done to the car, but one thing was for certain, he had fried the controls and that car was going nowhere. 

“Put this on and come with me or we’ll kill Daisy!” Alisha shouted and Lincoln tensed up at the mention of her name. 

He glanced around the side of the car; a second Alisha was dangling a murder vest that had survived his electrical blast of the car at him. In her other hand was its detonator, along with the device that controlled Daisy’s inhibitors. Well, that wasn’t good. Of all things for her to want him to wear. _Honestly_. 

“I’m with her right now!” Alisha said. “And she’s going to lose! I’ve already activated her inhibitors!”

It appeared that he had destroyed a lot of the supplies in the car. When he had glanced at Alisha, he had seen the wreckage left behind; the cases full of drugs were destroyed. On the bright side, it meant that Alisha likely had lost the GH.325, immunity drugs (if there were any) and potential vaccines. On the down side, it meant that in order to take him in, she was resorting to the more lethal option, which made zero sense to him. 

As far as Lincoln knew, Hive wanted him. For whatever reason. Even if he put on a murder vest, Alisha wasn’t going to push the trigger because Hive apparently needed him. 

“Why do you want me to put on a murder vest?” Lincoln demanded, even as he was inwardly panicking about Daisy. If her inhibitors had been activated, she would be fighting against Alisha without her powers. Daisy was one of the best, if not _the_ best fighter Lincoln knew, but she would be facing at least three clones of Alisha, seeing as he was dealing with two. Depending on the day, Alisha might be able to defeat Daisy if Alisha had her powers and Daisy did not. Alisha had beaten May once and May had been Daisy’s S.O.; not to mention that, in Daisy’s timeline, Daisy had been defeated by five replicas of Alisha. Admittedly, that was closer to when she had first become a field agent and her fighting skills had definitely kicked up a notch or twenty since then, but still…she was in danger. The last time, Lincoln had saved her, siding with S.H.I.E.L.D. against Jiaying’s Inhumans. He had saved her then, he could save her now. Losing Daisy was not an option. Never an option. He would do anything to keep her safe. As himself, not because it was what his other timeline version would have done. He needed, wanted, desperately, to keep her safe. But first...he had to take out the clones. 

He edged around the side of the car cautiously. While Alisha had a gun, his electricity blasts were faster than her bullets. He had trained against ICERs; Bobbi had shot at him with them and it had been his job to take out the bullets before they hit him. 

“Hive wouldn’t be too happy with you killing me, that’s for sure!” he called. 

“We want you to join us,” Alisha said; unbeknownst to either Lincoln or Daisy, other clones of Alisha were saying the exact same thing at the same time to Daisy.

It wasn’t a good idea for Lincoln to let her know that he and Daisy were immune. Apparently she had no idea that he was; he had a pretty good feeling that Hive did not share his plans with anyone, not even his swayed minions. Come to think of it, Lincoln wasn’t even sure if _Hive_ knew that he was immune. That would be an ironic twist of fate if Hive wanted him for something but didn’t know that he couldn’t control him.

Alisha continued speaking. “Hive wants you, but if you die here, then Hive would be happy with that result too. Either you come with us or you die. That is our mission.”

And...that made no sense to him. Kora had said nothing about that...but admittedly, seeing as she had wanted more than anything to keep Daisy and him, through association, safe, it made sense that she hadn’t mentioned the possibility of killing them. Alisha, on the other hand, had no qualms about killing them. Apparently Lincoln was useful to Hive dead or alive. Although that made even less sense to him than Hive wanting _him_ of all Inhumans, in the first place. 

Lincoln wished he had time to sort out the complex influx of potential futures from the timestream that he had gotten from Kora. Maybe the answer was in there somewhere. But as it was, it was taking all his concentration to focus on the here and now; the fight with Alisha, given how desperately he wanted to run and find Daisy. At least by focusing on those two things at the moment, he wasn’t about to lose control with his memories. Later, possibly, yes. Now? No. 

The Academy was huge. There were bombs all over it. Lincoln knew perfectly well that in order to find Daisy before the bombs went off, he would have to get the answer out of Alisha. He couldn’t run all over the Academy to find her without knowing where she was first; there was no way that he could do that in however many minutes they had left before the bombs exploded. 

“Put on the vest and come with us or Daisy dies,” Alisha said.

The clock was ticking. Lincoln had no idea how much time was left on the clock, but he doubted that Alisha would bluff about killing Daisy or about how Hive either wanted them dead or with him. He knew how straightforward Alisha was when presented with a task. Unlike Kora, she was not one for mind games. He didn’t have time to think. Time was not on their side. At least if he put on the nanothermite vest and stepped out from his cover, he would have a better opportunity of defeating Alisha. The longer he waited, the higher the chance that Daisy would be defeated by the other clones. Alisha’s weapons were her fighting skills and clones, not lethal powers like his or Kora’s. Daisy could stand her own against Alisha, at least for a while even without her powers. Not to mention that the longer he waited, the less time they had before the bombs exploded. None of the options were good. Wearing a murder vest didn’t inhibit his powers. And if it would save Daisy, then it was worth the risk. He would risk his own life, but he wouldn’t risk hers. 

“Toss it here,” he said; Alisha threw the vest towards him and he put it on, grimacing at the familiar feeling. Well, they were certainly in for it if they had reached the time of murder vests and separation. At least the predictability meant that they knew what was going to happen next, as opposed to being in the dark. The only thing that would make the day any weirder would be if May and Coulson spontaneously appeared out of nowhere and helped him take on the clones. 

“I’m coming out,” Lincoln called. “Don’t shoot!”

“There’s no reason for you to stay loyal to humans,” Alisha said, edging around the side of the car, aiming her gun at him.

At that moment, the Alisha holding the detonator for his vest and the device that controlled Daisy’s inhibitors was kicked in the head. Hard. 

“You idiot, Lincoln!” Ward yelled, wrestling the detonator away from Alisha and sliding it across the floor of the carpark to Miles, who startled dismantling it as quickly as he could; he was crouched just barely in sight behind a car. “A murder vest? Are you kidding me?”

Lincoln didn’t have time to respond, nor would he have if he did. Ward was every bit as reckless as he was when Kara's life had been in danger; he had gone to Maveth to get her back, diving through a portal when the technology holding it open had been older than Sousa. But now was not the time to bring it up, especially since Kara was now Hive's host. He sent a bolt of electricity at the Alisha closest to him; it missed and hit the wall. As she regained her stance to fight back, Lincoln ducked out from behind the car and elbowed her hard in the face. 

“You’re safe, Lincoln!" Miles shouted, saving him from responding, and from being blown to smithereens. He had disabled the detonator and stomped it to pieces. "Ward, inhibitor device!”

Ward was fighting with the other Alisha. He ducked under her leg, but something was wrong with him. He appeared to be injured; he was moving slower than normal. She roundhouse-kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling on the cement ground. Alisha whipped out a gun, but by this time, Lincoln had his Alisha in a headlock and a bolt of electricity at her head. 

“Gun down!” he yelled; the Alisha duplicate looked up from where she was aiming the gun at Ward. 

“Where’s Daisy?” he shouted, increasing the voltage of his electricity; the Alisha whom he was holding in headlock let out a shrill scream. “Tell me now or I swear to God I'll make her suffer!”

Alisha had the gun aimed at him by this time. “We can’t. Hive won’t let us,” she said. 

As she spoke, Lincoln was struck with an eerie sense of déjà vu. Hive was a pain in the ass in whatever timeline he was in. He knew what was going to happen. If Ward or Miles didn’t get the gun off Alisha, she was going to shoot herself in the head.

A loud bang went off and Lincoln almost expected Alisha to go limp in his arms. However, the Alisha that crumpled wasn’t the one he was holding. It was the one holding the gun near Ward. 

Trip was standing at the top of the stairs, a sniper rifle aimed at her.

“What is this?” Trip demanded. “‘Attack of the Clones’?”

“That wasn’t the prime!” Lincoln shouted. “Alisha, where is Daisy? Tell me NOW!” He jolted her with another blast of electricity; she let out another scream. 

By now, Miles had dug a computer out of his bag and was typing frantically onto the screen. 

“Miles has it!” Ward called to Lincoln, getting to his feet. “Security cams!” 

Gritting his teeth, Lincoln tightened his grip on Alisha’s neck; she went limp as he cut off enough oxygen from her that she slipped into unconsciousness. 

“I got her,” Trip said, jogging over as Lincoln lowered her to the ground. “We already have one Inhuman in containment.”

That itself was news, but Lincoln didn’t have time to worry about it. Or worry about how the guys had found him, when he had last seen Trip with Kora and Flint and didn’t have a clue where Ward and Trip had come from. Daisy was his top and only priority at the moment. Fortunately, Miles was good at his job.

“Communications centre,” he said, looking up from the screen. “Five clones. Bad.”

“Thanks.” Lincoln turned on his heel, but Ward was yanking the murder vest off of him as he moved. 

“I’m coming with you,” he said.

“What?” Lincoln was completely taken aback as he sprinted to the stairwell, Ward hard on his heels. Ward had spent all day trying to keep him and Daisy in containment and now he was defending them? It made literally no sense to Lincoln, but he didn’t have time to argue. He needed to get to Daisy. 

“That red-headed Inhuman is obviously swayed and you’re obviously not,” Ward said as they ran for the stairs. “Besides, I know exactly what it’s like to have the girl you love in danger. You were there for me and Kara throughout everything with Maveth and even before that. It’s high time I repaid the favour.”


	39. Episode 11: Pieces Solving a Puzzle - Chapter 39

**Episode 11: Pieces Solving a Puzzle**

Chapter 39

The fight was  _ not _ going well. Presumably in order to protect herself and her duplicates, the prime Alisha had gone up to the balcony to oversee the fight. While she had originally started out with four clones, for some reason, this Alisha was able to generate more of them. After the first two had fallen, Daisy was stunned to see that three had more appeared. There were now seven clones and the prime. It made no sense whatsoever because in the original timeline, Daisy was pretty sure that Alisha could only create four copies of herself, but it didn’t matter at the moment. Either way, she had more clones to fight. 

It had been a while since Daisy had been so disadvantaged in a fight. The last time she’d had her butt kicked this badly was also when she hadn’t been able to use her powers; she’d been fighting Sinara, who was a Kree. This time, she was dealing with a seemingly endless flood of red-headed ninjas. 

When Daisy had first been attacked by the clones, they had all swarmed her from one side, which was to her advantage. The prime was Alisha’s weakness and the duplicates had known that, so they had all attempted to protect her. Also knowing that, Daisy had taken advantage of the duplicates’ vulnerability and taken two out with a violent kick, sending one staggering into the other before both fell over a table. 

Now that Daisy was fighting the five remaining duplicates and the original Alisha was on the balcony, she was struggling. Each slap or punch she landed on one of the Alishas was countered with an equally violent blow in return; sometimes the duplicates would deliberately open themselves up for a kick or punch from Daisy so that she would be vulnerable to an attack from another different clone. The fight was going so quickly that Daisy hardly had time to think; the punches, kicks, blocks and counterattacks were automatic at this point. 

Daisy leapt onto one of the tables to give herself a higher vantage point. She wasn’t sure what would happen if she was still in the building when the time came for the bombs to explode. Was she important enough to Hive that he would make Alisha stop the bombs? Would that save the others? Daisy had no idea where any of them were; aside from Lincoln, she knew that, at the very least, Trip, Ward, her father and Flint were in the building. Beyond that, though, was anyone’s guess.

Alisha came at her again, from various angles, this time, but at least with the advantage of height, Daisy was able to take out two more with well-placed punches before two more dragged her off the table. Alisha was a  _ skilled _ fighter. Even though there were only three clones left standing, the others were starting to pick themselves up off the floor; they never stayed down long. One of them did an aerial off the table that Daisy had just been pulled off of, landing on her feet. Like May and Bobbi, Alisha could incorporate gymnastic tricks into her fighting style; one clone had cartwheeled out of Daisy’s grip when she had almost pinned her earlier. Still, it wasn’t the first time that Daisy was taking on the clones. 

Unfortunately, the duplicates that Daisy had first knocked out got back to their feet, appearing no worse for their beatings. Within a minute, two tops, Daisy was surrounded by a circle of Alishas, punching and kicking her from one to another like a Ping-Pong ball. 

The prime Alisha spoke from her vantage point on the balcony. “We have Lincoln already,” she said. “Stop fighting and you’ll be reunited with him. We know you love him.”

Daisy didn’t have the breath to respond, not that she knew quite what to say if she did. Was she in love with Lincoln? She had very strong feelings for him, she  _ had _ been in love with him all those years ago, but now? She knew she wanted to be with him, but did that equal love? Whatever it was, apparently Hive understood when she was in love with someone. He had known last time; this time, apparently he had told Alisha. 

But more pressing was the concern that Hive had Lincoln. Daisy didn’t know what she would do if he had been taken. An acute pain started growing in her stomach, so sharp that she thought she wanted to curl into a ball to nurse the injury. It wasn’t a physical wound, but it was an emotional one. It reminded her of the agony she’d been in when he’d been trapped in the Quinjet, heading up into space to certain death; it had been torture of the worst kind. Misery, desperation, heartbreak, despair, all rolled into one. Pain so intense that it took her breath away. In that instant, she knew that she couldn’t lose him again. No matter what. It had almost killed her the first time; she wouldn’t be able to take it if he died again. 

The duplicates threw Daisy to the floor. Two of them started kicking her; one was punching her repeatedly in the stomach. 

“He’s in love with you too,” the prime Alisha said. “You can join us together.”

At that moment, Daisy heard Lincoln yell, “STOP!”

There was a crackle of electricity and Alisha was flung aside, landing in a heap on the floor. And then Lincoln was there, reaching for her, pulling her to her feet. 

“You good?” he asked, his voice much gentler than it had been when he had been addressing Alisha.

Daisy nodded. “I am now.” 

She wasn’t all too sure where that response had come from. It wasn’t like her to be dependent on others or extremely vocal about her feelings. Sure, she kissed guys, had had boyfriends, had fallen in love, but for her to actually voice those things...she was always afraid of doing that. But when Lincoln met her gaze, it was like the world faded away momentarily; they might be in a building about to explode, but all that mattered was that they were together.

Several loud bangs of a gun interrupted their moment; Ward had entered the room behind Lincoln. All around Daisy and Lincoln, duplicates of Alisha fell like stones before they could hit either of them. Lincoln turned, grabbed the railing and sent a jolt of electricity up to the balcony where Alisha stood. She flew backwards away from the railing and the remaining duplicates who had not been shot dropped where they stood.

Lincoln turned back to her, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands towards him. “Might help if we lose these,” he said, channelling electricity into the inhibitors. 

“Great,” Daisy said, still breathless, trying not to let her speech hurt her injuries even more. But more than the pain of her beating was the intense relief that Lincoln was alright. He hadn’t been taken by Hive; he was here, with her, safe. Even though, irony of all ironies, Ward was the one who had just prevented the Alisha duplicates from attacking them. 

“Why is Kara after her?” Ward asked; as he spoke, Daisy felt a wave of sympathy for him. For him to still be using Kara’s name instead of Hive’s…. It was hard for him to accept that she was gone. Daisy understood, probably better than almost anyone, how painful it was losing someone to Hive, but part of her still felt sore at Ward for the disaster of a morning in containment. Although he  _ had _ just shot a whole bunch of Alishas who were hell bent on taking them to Hive.

“It’s a long story,” Lincoln said as her inhibitors fell to the ground with a loud clatter. 

Ward looked between them, then glanced at the watch on his wrist. Whatever time he saw there was not to his liking. 

“Come on, we need to get out of here,” he said. “We’re down to three minutes.”

Apparently some of the others knew about the bombs. Which was good, because if Ward did, then it stood to reason that some of the others did too. Regardless, Daisy ran back over to the communications command centre and punched the big red alarm button, triggering a loud wailing alarm to start sounding all over the Academy. 

“That should warn the others,” Daisy said, glancing at Lincoln. “Do they already know about the bombs?”

Before Lincoln could respond, however, Ward yelped. He had already backed out of the room and now both Daisy and Lincoln ran after him, worried that he had encountered yet another Inhuman who was hellbent on killing or capturing them all. 

“Ward!” 

The voice that spoke was extremely familiar to both of them. They skidded to a halt, almost ramming into Ward from behind, exchanging glances as they recognized the voice. 

“Are Lincoln and Daisy with you?” Deke asked Ward frantically, before he caught sight of them behind him. 

The relief on Deke’s face was so obvious that it took away Daisy’s anger at being lied to and drugged. He couldn’t fake that kind of emotion. It was obvious how much he cared about them. And it wasn’t like any permanent harm had been done...technically. They were alive...for now.

“Stare later, we gotta go!” Ward said, pushing Deke’s shoulder so that he was facing the right direction. 

Although Daisy was loath to admit it, Ward had a fair point. 

All four of them sprinted down the corridor and almost tripped over Joey, who was lying flat on his stomach, out cold.

“Wait, what about Joey?” Daisy gasped, halting again, but before the others could do or say anything, Kora appeared at the end of the corridor, Giyera hot on her heels. There was blood all over the side of his jacket, but he was alive. 

Deke swore. “Kora can heal people,” he said. 

That was the understatement of the year. She had saved Daisy from dying in space and although Daisy didn’t know that she had healed Hunter and now Giyera, it was pretty obvious that Kora was extremely powerful. 

“Run!” Ward shouted.

All four of them sprinted down the hall. They skidded around the corner just as Giyera ripped a door off its hinges and tried to hit them with it; it smashed into the wall just behind Lincoln, who turned on his heel, to release a stream of electricity. As Lincoln stopped running, Daisy did too, a quake pulse already forming on her fingertips.

“No, no time for heroics!” Deke shouted, grabbing Daisy; Ward dragged Lincoln along with him. “We’re almost out of time!” 

The watch on Ward’s wrist read that they had one minute left before the bombs went off. There was no way they could make it to wherever the Zephyr was; Daisy suspected the roof or a hidden hangar, but honestly was not sure where it was. 

“This way!” Deke shouted, pulling them towards containment.

“Where are we going?” Lincoln demanded. “The Zephyr’s not this way!”

“Trust me!” Deke yelled back.

All four of them tore into the first containment room that Deke spotted; Deke punched several buttons on the panel next to the door. The doors zipped shut, just as Giyera slammed a fist into the door. Just behind him were Kora, Joey and Alisha; the latter two had either regained consciousness on their own or Kora had healed them; all four Inhumans were after them.

The containment module started rising; Giyera grabbed it with all his telekinetic powers. The shuddering of the module in place caused all of them to stumble. 

“Open the door, Deke!” Daisy shouted; Lincoln grabbed her hand. 

“I got you,” he said, seemingly reading her mind. 

Deke hit the button for the door to open and Daisy sent a quake pulse straight at Giyera, knocking him off his feet and backwards into the other three. As the containment module skyrocketed, released by Giyera’s hold, Ward and Deke stumbled over backwards, but Daisy and Lincoln remained rooted to the spot, thanks to the electricity that Lincoln was channeling into the floor. Daisy hit the button for the panel on the door with her free hand and it slid shut.

“Okay,” Ward said, slumping into a seat. “So that’s what you guys did...was it yesterday?”

It actually had been only the previous day that they had destroyed another containment module and flown back up to the Zephyr. So much had happened over the last 48 hours that it felt like a lifetime ago. It was so ridiculous that it was funny. Lincoln burst out laughing and Daisy cracked a smile as they both sank into seats near the door while the module continued to rise. 

“You okay?” Lincoln asked, sobering up and gently touching a cut on Daisy’s cheek. “Looks nasty.”

“No worse than your arm,” Daisy reminded him, gesturing to his arm that had gotten a knife wound from Radcliffe’s LMD. “How is that, by the way?”

“It had the best doctor,” Lincoln said; Daisy couldn’t help smiling at the reminder of that morning. It was definitely better than thinking about Kora being swayed, Deke drugging them and the overwhelming visions of the future that Kora had shown them. The first opportunity they had to speak in private, the better. Daisy still wasn’t sure what the vision of the wedding meant. Who was going to die? Lincoln had obviously been there, but aside from the two of them, she had definitely seen Deke, Simmons, Bobbi and Hunter. Did that mean that they were safe? 

Daisy was about to respond when she saw Ward and Deke exchange awkward looks that read something like “You talk to them!” and “No, you talk to them!”. She hid her blush by nudging Lincoln with her foot and nodding slightly towards Ward and Deke. He got the message.

“Are you both okay?” he asked; Deke looked extremely relieved at the olive branch that Lincoln was extending. All three of them knew that there was a massive elephant in the containment module that needed addressing. 

“Yeah,” Deke said and Ward nodded. 

“I’ll live,” he said. “Thanks, Lincoln.”

Lincoln nodded in response, but there was obviously some tension going on between the two of them. Daisy suspected that it was something to do with Ward being extremely intense about keeping them in containment. He had been doing what he had thought was right, but that didn’t make it any easier, seeing as both thought that they had been doing what was right. 

The tension in the module was rising. Daisy was immediately struck with the great irony of having to play mediator between Lincoln and Ward; the only thing that would make the whole situation worse was if she had to prevent Lincoln and  _ Sousa _ from getting into a fight. That would be...hell. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how they viewed the situation, the Academy beneath them exploded at the very moment. Daisy could feel the heat through the containment module walls, which was saying something because the module was designed to keep the occupants inside and their powers contained. All of them crowded the sides of the module to look down; clouds of smoke were obscuring their vision. Even as the module continued rising towards the Zephyr that was circling above them, Daisy caught sight of another aircraft emerging from the smoke, heading in the opposite direction. 

While she didn’t have any proof whatsoever, she felt it in her bones that that aircraft was carrying Kora. Back to Hive. 

Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder and she exhaled in a long sigh. He knew as well as she did that just because they’d technically won that day, didn’t mean that the fight was over. It had just been postponed.

She turned around to look at him and as their eyes met, Daisy immediately knew what he was thinking of. Now that they were both safe, Kora’s vision was all either of them could think about. Daisy instinctively touched her cheek, right where he had kissed her in the vision that they had shared. Her other hand moved towards her stomach, Lincoln’s eyes following her movement. He stepped closer, catching her hand and shielding her from Deke and Ward’s view; if Deke caught sight of her movement, he would freak out. While neither of them thought that she was pregnant now, Deke would certainly think so. 

“You know what this reminds me of?” Lincoln asked her, a more jokey and slightly flirtatious tone in his voice in an attempt to cover up their actions. 

“What?” Daisy asked, genuinely appreciating the distraction. “Wait, I’ve got it, when you saved me from Alisha on the Iliad.” 

That had been back when they had just been friends, although Daisy had already been harbouring a crush on him. When he’d believed her that Jiaying was misleading the Inhumans and helped her, she had been incredibly relieved. She had hated him thinking that she had betrayed him and the rest of the Inhumans and when he had saved her from Alisha, it had meant so much to her; Alisha was also his friend and he had known Alisha longer than he had known her. 

“Oh, I didn’t actually think of that one,” Lincoln said, a smile crossing his face. “Although you  _ are _ right. I was thinking more along the lines of post-Maveth. When you and Mack saved Fitz and Coulson.” 

Daisy smiled. “Oh yeah, containment modules floating up from exploding buildings,” she said. She took a half-step closer, almost too close for what was appropriate, given that Deke and Ward were still in the module with them. “And I suppose you liked the reunion.” 

Lincoln grinned mischievously at her. “Hey, you kissed me in front of  _ your _ father figure,” he reminded her. 

“Excuse me?” Daisy teased in mock indignation. “ _ You _ were the one who kissed me!”

“Well, then it’s apparently your turn,” Deke interrupted dryly. “Seeing as I’m here.”

Lincoln turned and Daisy couldn’t help the smile that was still on her face, despite the embarrassment at being called out by Deke for their flirting. 

“Don’t think you’re forgiven yet,” Daisy warned Deke, but there was no vehemence in her voice. “For that stunt you pulled with the drugs. I think you owe us...I don’t know, vacation time or something.”

It took Daisy a moment to realize why the guys had all fallen silent. Lincoln turned to her, a mixture of curiosity, incredulity and surprise on his face.

“You...you want to stay?” he asked. “Because we’re not getting vacation time until Hive’s gone and after that….”

She immediately realized what he meant. Did she want to stay? Or did she want to go back to her timeline? What did Lincoln want? What did  _ she _ want? She had settled so comfortably into a routine here that she could totally imagine staying. Having more mornings like the one she had just had with Lincoln, working with him and with the rest of Deke’s team, going to sleep next to Lincoln...even the family that Kora had shown them….

Daisy was saved from answering by the containment module rising into the Zephyr and the doors opening. However, the second the module hissed into place, all four of them knew that something was wrong.

Very wrong. 

In the lab next to the module, Jemma, Bobbi and Miles were wrestling with Yo-Yo, trying to pin her down onto the table of the healing pod. Her eyes were wild, blood was seeping out through her nostrils and she was shrieking, a mixture of screams and whimpers. As the module doors opened, Yo-Yo broke free from Miles’ grip, kicking him so swiftly that he spun in a circle and fell over, quite literally. Next to the catatonic mass of limbs, both Hunter and Sousa were trying to get out of their respective gurneys, despite Hunter still being weak and pale and Sousa missing one leg; Doctor Johnson was doing his best to restrain them. 

“Yo-Yo!” Daisy, Lincoln and Deke shouted in unison, scrambling out of the module as the doors slid open.

“What’s wrong with her?” Daisy demanded, the shock at seeing her in such a terrible state overwhelming every other emotion, from the fact that Hunter was apparently healed, Sousa was back and her father was now with the team. 

“Lincoln, get a sedative!” Jemma shouted, speaking over Daisy. 

Even before Jemma spoke, Lincoln had already been scrambling in one of the medicine cabinets. He withdrew a needle and syringe, but before he could jab the sedative into her arm Doctor Johnson grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing so.

“Don’t give her that!” he protested. “You’ll kill her faster!”

Lincoln looked down at the syringe in his hand. “What did you do to her?” he demanded. “This works on Inhumans only; it’s what Deke used on me and Daisy!”

“He won’t tell us!” Jemma shouted. “I don’t know what he did, but it’s making her crazy!”

At that moment, Yo-Yo wrenched her arm free from Jemma and she swung it. Jemma staggered back from the table, Deke catching her as she fell. Yo-Yo kicked out at Bobbi, who alone was barely able to maintain her hold on her. 

“Don’t, Ward!” Daisy yelled. 

Ward had pulled out his gun, aiming it at Yo-Yo. Unlike the majority of those in the room who knew that she was a good person outside of Hive’s sway, Ward didn’t. Ward, Hunter and Miles didn’t know her; Bobbi only did through Jemma and the other timeline. Ward saw her as the obvious swayed Inhuman threat; of course he was going to take her down. 

Daisy flung up a hand; Ward flew backwards from her quake pulse, hitting the containment module and slumping to the floor. He was out cold, but Daisy didn’t feel guilty about it in the slightest. Yo-Yo was swayed and wasn’t responsible for her actions. When Ward woke up, well, they could tell him that. Plus...a tiny part of her couldn’t help but feel glad that she had done that since he had been extremely antagonistic that morning while she and Lincoln had been in lockup. There had been other ways to keep them contained; Trip was proof of that. 

Meanwhile, Lincoln had dropped the syringe on the counter and leapt to Bobbi’s aid. Fashioning electrical restraints, he pinned her arms down with a suspended electrical charge from each hand, the same way that he used them to toss people upside down and to suspend himself and Daisy aloft. The strain was getting to him, though, since she was fighting very violently against him; beads of sweat stood out on his forehead.

“What did you do to her?” he asked Doctor Johnson, his voice strained. 

Doctor Johnson shook his head. “She’s a hostile and besides, I didn’t have a choice! She broke containment when Trip was putting Alisha in and she went crazy! She smashed all the power-removal drugs on board and almost killed Bobbi!”

Doctor Johnson was telling the truth about that at least. Bobbi’s exposed neck was bright red with scratches that looked like fingernails upon it. Despite her near brush with death, she was still trying to keep one of Yo-Yo’s legs pinned; Miles threw his entire bodyweight on top of her other leg. 

Next to Daisy, Deke paled.

“Bobbi, the necklace, where is it?” he demanded. 

“I have it,” Hunter said, holding it up. “Well away from the fray that’s going on there.” He nodded to the battle on the table. 

Daisy had no idea how Bobbi had even gotten the wretched cross necklace. The last she’d heard of it, it had been with Trip. Somehow it had gone from him to Deke - seeing as he had asked Bobbi where it had been - to Bobbi and now to Hunter. All she knew was that none of them should be around it; it was a talisman of death. 

“Worry about that later!” Lincoln gasped. “Doctor Johnson, tell me what’s wrong with her! She’s one of Daisy’s best friends back in the timeline that Daisy came from. You just told me that you care about Daisy’s happiness and wellbeing because she’s your daughter regardless of what timeline she comes from. Well, tell me how to save Yo-Yo; do it for Daisy!”

Daisy gasped, looking in between Lincoln and Doctor Johnson in shock. Somehow her father had figured out the truth; maybe it was the blood tests, maybe something else, but either way, he knew. Doctor Johnson glanced at her, his eyes confused and concerned.

This was not how she had imagined breaking the news to him. At least she knew that Lincoln hadn’t told him; his words had made it clear that Doctor Johnson had figured out the truth first. But she was still facing the horrifying realization that her father had done something to Yo-Yo that had resulted in her maniacal situation. 

“Tell Lincoln how to save her,” Daisy said, her voice as stable as she could make it, staring at her father from another timeline. “Please! He’s right; she’s one of my closest friends! Don’t let us watch her die when we can do something to stop it!”

Daisy couldn’t imagine losing Yo-Yo. Even though it was a different timeline version of her who didn’t even  _ know _ Daisy, losing her was not an option. While there was still Yo-Yo in the original timeline, Daisy didn’t want to lose her doppleganger either. She would be a hypocrite if she allowed her to suffer and die after being willing to do anything to save Lincoln. 

“I don’t know how to fix it,” Doctor Johnson said, his face a mess of confusion and guilt. “I injected her with an experimental antitoxin-”

Lincoln and Jemma reacted in surprise; his words meant something to them although it clearly meant nothing to anyone else in the room. 

“Why is it making her crazy?” Jemma demanded, asking both Doctor Johnson and Lincoln. “When Lincoln took the antitoxin, it knocked out his immune system, but-”

“I fried half the computers in the lab first,” Lincoln reminded Jemma, his voice strained with the effort of talking with her at the same time as keeping Yo-Yo bound. “And all the servers. Maybe this is Yo-Yo’s version of a similar reaction? And the internal bleeding; maybe there are too many germs here. We need to isolate her. Maybe it’s us. We’re all killing her.”

“Naloxone,” Jemma said, hurrying to the medical cabinet where Lincoln had found the sedative. “If we stick her with it, it could hopefully counter the effects of the antitoxin.” 

“Worth a shot,” Lincoln agreed; as he spoke, Yo-Yo broke his hold with one of her flailing limbs. She lashed out at Bobbi, who wasn’t quick enough to avoid Yo-Yo’s blow. She stumbled backward into Miles, who wasn’t stable enough to balance them both. They both went crashing down, taking Jemma with them, knocking over an entire counter of equipment and Sousa’s gurney, and leaving only one of Yo-Yo’s limbs restrained by one of Lincoln’s electrical restraints. 

Both Daisy and Deke moved towards the quartet on the floor, but before they could reach them, Lincoln spoke up. 

“Daisy, help me,” he gasped. “I can’t hold her much longer!”

Hating that she hadn’t thought of it sooner, Daisy flattened a vibrational pulse on top of her to prevent her from moving upwards; Lincoln kept her arms and legs restrained with cords made of literal electricity. 

“Get the Naloxone!” Lincoln snapped at Doctor Johnson. “Do it, or she’s going to wreck the whole plane!” 

Lincoln was not wrong. The lab was a mess. Tables were overturned, computers were shattered, Ward was unconscious and four of the seven humans had just been knocked over by one blow from Yo-Yo. Daisy and Lincoln couldn’t keep her pinned forever. If she broke free, the whole plane would go down. 

Doctor Johnson hesitated. 

Daisy knew why. He didn’t know what was the right thing to do. The antitoxin was killing her and it  _ was _ wrecking the plane, but she was a swayed Inhuman whom he didn’t know. If they took her out, it would solve the problem more than the Naloxone would; it was a hypothetical theory on Lincoln and Jemma’s part that the Naloxone would be effective against the antitoxin. They hadn’t tried it since Lincoln had insisted on testing the antitoxin and this version of the antitoxin was at least slightly different. Daisy or Lincoln could kill her in a heartbeat, even though neither of them would. Doctor Johnson was weighing whether it was worth it to try and save her, seeing as she was a swayed Inhuman on Hive’s side. 

“Dad!” Daisy shouted and he looked at her, his eyes wild with a myriad of emotions. His face was a mess of confusion, not knowing what was the right thing to do, but the look on his face when she called him ‘Dad’ was enough for Daisy to recognize the same man underneath the skin. 

“You might not know me,” Daisy gasped, struggling to breathe; she could see where Lincoln’s battle was with Yo-Yo’s ever fluctuating powers. It was like someone was punching her again and again in random and unpredictable places. Lincoln had been holding Yo-Yo down longer than her; she could only imagine how difficult it was for him, especially since all she had to do was fashion a shield. He was doing most of the work by pinning her limbs. “But I know  _ you _ . No matter the timeline we’re in, we don’t change. We’re still the same people we are underneath. As my father, you spent 26 years trying to find me, to put our family back together again. You killed the woman you loved because you were protecting me from her. You loved me so much that you were willing to destroy everything you’d ever wanted for 26 years, just to protect me. I got that heart from you! I was in love with a man long dead for almost four years because I couldn’t let him go. And when I got him back…” She paused, unable to finish her sentence. “I know you don’t care for Inhumans in this timeline. But you still have the same heart of the man that I knew as my father in my timeline. You care so much. You might not always have the right way of showing it, but your heart is always in the right place. Save her. Please!”

Doctor Johnson’s face was resolved when Daisy finished speaking. He grabbed the Naloxone from the medical cabinet and approached the table with a needle and syringe. 

“Lincoln, I’m letting go,” Daisy warned. “Okay?”

“Do it,” Lincoln said, his voice hoarse. 

Daisy released her quake shield on top of Yo-Yo’s body so that Doctor Johnson could have access to Yo-Yo’s body. In order to spread it around her system faster, Doctor Johnson stabbed her in the chest with the needle, just above the heart. He pushed down the plunger. Yo-Yo gave one more bucking flail and then stilled, her chest rising and falling with each slow breath. 

“Thank God that worked,” Lincoln said, releasing his hold on the electricity cords. He pushed back from the table, but stumbled as he did so; Daisy and Deke caught him simultaneously, lowering him to the ground, with Daisy supporting his back so that he could sit up straight.

Daisy looked around the lab. It was a  _ mess _ . Bobbi, Miles, Jemma and Sousa were still picking themselves up off the floor after having played the world’s worst game of Twister; Ward was unconscious near the containment module; Hunter was sitting up in his gurney now, leaning against the wall and holding the cross necklace; and she, Lincoln and Deke were barely holding it together. Doctor Johnson was essentially the only one left standing. Trip was flying the Zephyr and Flint was watching an Alisha duplicate. This had been the work of  _ one _ crazed Inhuman. 

Hive had at least seven other swayed Inhumans. The Naloxone might have counteracted the antitoxin in Yo-Yo’s system, but when she woke up, she would still be swayed. There was something that would make Inhumans immune out there - Lincoln was proof of that - but what it was or how to make it was not something any of them currently knew how to do. 

Seven more swayed Inhumans, not to mention that Alisha could create duplicates of herself. They were in some serious trouble. 


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

“I think ‘worked’ is the wrong word,” Jemma said tensely, picking herself up off the floor. “The Naloxone would have counterattacked the effects of the antitoxin, but -”

“But she shouldn’t be unconscious,” Doctor Johnson finished, putting down the syringe on the table. “And it does nothing for her internal bleeding.”

Lincoln looked up from where he was still half-sitting, half-lying on the floor, being supported by Daisy. “It’ll also have a different reaction on her than it did on me. Because she’s infected with Hive’s parasites and I wasn’t.” 

“We need to run some tests on her,” Jemma said anxiously. “But in quarantine, because of the germs.” 

Doctor Johnson nodded his agreement. “We should clear the lab.”

While the doctors had been talking, the others had been picking themselves up out of whatever disaster they were currently in. Bobbi and Miles between them had managed to get Sousa to his foot, although Miles was moving slower than he really should have been. Deke remained crouched on the floor next to Daisy and Lincoln; Lincoln was breathing hard and sweating profusely, even though he was still managing to communicate with Doctor Johnson and Jemma. 

“We should check on Ward,” Hunter said, drawing all their attention to where Ward was stirring next to the containment module. He started trying to get to his feet. “I can -”

“Lie back down,” Bobbi scolded him. “You just died! Moving around now would be stupid!” 

“You’re the one who’s pregnant!” Hunter retorted. “The fight you just got in, now _that_ was stupid!”

No matter the timeline they were in, Bobbi and Hunter didn’t change. The constant arguing, bickering and fighting were as much a part of their lovelife as constantly being separated was part of Fitzsimmons’. 

Bobbi winced. “Uh, about that, Hunter, I already gave birth.”

Wow. Daisy was surprised by how brutally honest she was being, in front of everyone. She really wasn’t pulling any punches with that one. Daisy would have tried to break any news like that in private, not in public. But in a way, it made a lot of sense. If Bobbi had tried to tell Hunter that she was fine because she was no longer pregnant, he might assume that she’d had a miscarriage, which would definitely be worse than telling everyone in one go that she had already given birth. 

“What the bloody hell?” Hunter demanded. “Since when? Where’s the baby? What the hell happened?” 

While it was pretty obvious to everyone on board that something screw-y was going on with time and place - both Lincoln and Bobbi had disappeared, only to reappear with strange new people in tow - this was pretty much confirmation that some really big things were messed up with all their lives. 

Doctor Johnson interjected. “I hate to interrupt the family drama but we really need to run some tests on this Inhuman now and figure out what is causing her internal bleeding. Could you all please leave the lab so that Doctor Simmons and I can get to work in a more sterile environment?”

Of all the people in the room, Doctor Johnson was one of the few whom Hunter would have listened to at that moment. From Daisy’s big speech earlier, it was clear to everyone that he hadn’t known that she was his daughter up until recently, so of all people, he understood how overwhelming it was to get a child literally dumped in his lap. Ironically, he knew _Lincoln_ better than he knew Daisy at the moment. 

Hunter fumed for a second or two, before gritting his teeth and saying, “Fine.” He shot a ‘you’d better explain ASAP’ look at Bobbi. “But Bob, you’d better explain _fast_.”

“Don’t worry, I want to,” Bobbi reassured him. 

She started pushing Hunter’s gurney out of the room; the others could hear the low murmur of Bobbi’s voice explaining something to Hunter as they went. Deke stood up. 

“I’ll get Ward,” he said, addressing those remaining in the room. “Lincoln, you good? Is Daisy enough or do you need my help walking too?”

“I’ll be fine,” Lincoln said, waving him away. He rose to his feet slowly, with Daisy’s support; he was leaning on her shoulder and she had her arm around his waist. 

“Lincoln, lie back down,” Jemma snapped. “You look terrible and pushing yourself is not going to make things any better. I haven’t seen you look this exhausted since _your_ entire immune system was compromised.”

While Lincoln did look pretty bad, he wasn’t _that_ bad. He looked at her, puzzled, even Daisy and Deke, who had more reason to be concerned than Jemma, weren’t pushing him to lie back down.

“I really am fine, Jemma,” Lincoln said. “And I’m not lying or trying to make a grand gesture or anything.”

Jemma’s expression tightened, but before she could speak, Miles, of all people intervened. 

“Well, if you really are fine, then _I_ need help,” he said. He was still supporting Sousa on his good side, which was a weird kind of three-legged race...literally. “I can’t transport Sousa on my own. Lincoln, Daisy, would one of you help me?”

Oh hell. That was going to be a disaster in the making. Miles wasn’t teasing - he was deadly serious for once - but it was not a situation that Daisy or Lincoln or Sousa wanted to be in. Daisy and Lincoln traded glances, but before either of them could respond, Ward groaned aloud, “You quaked me? What the hell was that about?”

And Ward was awake and remembering things too. Fantastic. 

“Yeah, I need some help here with Ward too,” Deke said grimly. “And preferably not Daisy.”

“Or Lincoln,” Ward muttered darkly. “He’ll probably electrocute me. Those two are worse than Romeo and Juliet. Quite literally star-crossed lovers.” 

That was probably the worst thing Ward could have said at the moment. In his defense, he _was_ still dealing with a possible concussion, but he was right. They _had_ traversed timelines to be together, _were_ lovers and well, the reference to the stars...the stars in the sky…. The only thing either of them could think about at that moment was their future kids. Their eyes locked, so much passing between them without speaking.

“And...that meant something,” Deke said, also seeing the byplay. “Which means that -”

“That I am helping Miles and Doctor Johnson is helping you,” Jemma intervened, her face a little frustrated. “Daisy, Lincoln, watch Yo-Yo while we’re gone, okay?”

God bless Jemma. Despite her earlier troubles with Lincoln, she was still being practical and straightforward. There was no other solution that would have worked. Ward was furious with Daisy for tossing him literally into a wall and having either Daisy or Lincoln help Sousa was something that none of them was ready to deal with. Especially because Daisy hadn’t told Sousa her choice, nor did either Daisy or Lincoln know that Sousa already knew. 

“Sure,” Daisy said as Doctor Johnson ducked under Ward’s other arm and Jemma stepped under Sousa’s. 

The two awkward trios shuffled out of the room and then Daisy heaved a sigh, stepping free from Lincoln and leaning back against one of the destroyed counters. 

“I can’t believe that just happened,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Which part?” Lincoln asked; he wasn’t joking. So much craziness had just happened that it was a perfectly legitimate question. 

“All of it,” Daisy muttered, tracing her fingers along the smoothest section of the shattered glass on the table. “But before the others come back...we should talk. About the vision. The future...my sister...a family….”

For once, Daisy was putting herself out there. She was not one to broach deep and emotional stuff about love and families with anyone and the fact that _she_ was addressing the elephant in the room meant a lot. It was a testament to how serious the situation was and how much she wanted it. 

Lincoln’s face smoothed out. “Daisy, what Kora showed us….”

“Is it going to happen?” Daisy asked quietly. “What are the chances of it happening? Do you know?”

Lincoln took a deep breath. “Do you want it to happen?” he asked, his eyes boring into hers.

Daisy almost shivered from the intensity of his gaze. “Do...do you?” Her voice came out as little more than a whisper.

Lincoln stepped towards her, taking her hands in his. “Yes,” he said, the honesty in his voice apparent. “I do. But only if you want it too. I won’t and can’t force you into anything you don’t want. I’m here for you, no matter what. Even if you decide tomorrow that you don’t want me, I’m still going to be here for you. I care about you -”

Daisy reached up and kissed him. Honestly, she just wanted to, but it was also a good way to get him to shut up. At first, he resisted, as though he wanted to keep talking, but after a moment, he relaxed into the kiss, hands going to her waist and hers winding around his neck.

“Don’t for a second think that I’m going to change my mind about us,” Daisy said fiercely. She wanted to say more, but even to Lincoln, she felt vulnerable opening up. “I...I will never stop wanting you.” She couldn’t look him in the eyes as she said the last sentence, her gaze drifting down to his chest instead. 

But at least she had gotten the words out. 

Lincoln lifted her chin so that her eyes met his. “And neither will I,” he promised. 

He kissed her again, soft, slow and lingering. Daisy melted into the kiss, wanting, needing more. She needed to know that they were going to defeat Hive and that their future was going to turn out in a similar way that they had seen. She needed to know that he would be safe, that he would come home, that he wasn’t going to die for her again. 

Lincoln pulled away. “Daisy,” he said, his voice lower than usual. “We can’t, not here, not now.”

Daisy knew that. It didn’t stop her from wanting it though, of needing the reassurance that they were going to be okay. She reached up and hugged him instead, one hand around his neck, the other around his waist.

“Do you want that future?” Lincoln asked quietly, his lips at her ear. “I know you said you want me, but the rest….”

Daisy pulled away. “Lincoln, the...the wedding,” she said slowly. “Who wasn’t there?”

Lincoln winced; he knew what she was talking about. “Daisy, that was the only vision that was in flux,” he said. “When I glimpsed the timestream in Kora’s head, there were many different versions. She showed us the one that was most likely to pass, but there was a version with every person missing. The person who would be in the Quinjet with the warhead.”

Daisy sighed. “I was hoping it might give us some clarifications about what might happen next,” she said, looking down and toying with her fingers.

Lincoln also sighed, stepping back as well. “About that...there are some other things I need to tell you,” he said. “Well, tell the whole team really. It’s about my immunity.”

Daisy looked up. “Yes, how _did_ that happen?” she asked.

Lincoln shook his head. “I’m not 100% sure myself, but it’s something we need to talk about with the team,” he said. “I just want to make sure we’re good before we talk to the others.”

Daisy frowned. “Why wouldn’t we be good?” she asked, genuinely confused. They hadn’t fought or anything; she was pretty sure they were good.

“I don’t know,” Lincoln said, sighing and raking a hand through his hair. “Everything, I guess. Seeing Kora’s visions, Yo-Yo’s situation, your dad finding out that you’re his daughter - I didn’t tell him that, by the way, he figured it out on his own - Sousa’s return…. I guess I wasn’t sure how you were coping with everything.” He paused. “And I am aware that that makes me sound insecure -”

“Hey,” Daisy caught his hand before he could stress out even more. “I’m glad you told me. Remember what I once said about not showing me Mr Perfect all the time? I want to know your troubles as much as you want to know mine.” 

Lincoln smiled wryly. “I remember that,” he said. “Not my finest moment, I will admit.” He paused. “I just don’t want to lose you. And I’m not talking about other guys, by the way, I’m talking about Hive and all his insanity -”

“I’m _here_ ,” Daisy said, stepping closer to him. She paused. “Besides, you were the one who died the first time round. Shouldn’t that be my line?”

Lincoln smiled, but his eyes were sad and worried. “I’ll never stop worrying about and for you,” he said. 

Daisy smiled. “That feeling is mutual,” she whispered, stepping in to kiss him again.

In the doorway, someone cleared their throat.

Both of them looked up. Deke was standing there, studiously staring at Yo-Yo’s body on the table. 

“They voted for me to come and get you guys,” he said. “Not one of them was willing to bet that I wouldn’t walk into this very scenario. Which is...probably bad, considering Miles and Hunter sometimes like to play devil’s advocate.”

Daisy shook her head, but she couldn’t suppress her smile. She glanced at Lincoln; he too was smiling. 

“Guess we’re that predictable?” Lincoln joked as they made their way towards the door.

“Apparently to everyone,” Jemma said dryly, appearing behind Deke, Doctor Johnson in tow. “Daisy, we need to talk. Not now, because I need to help Yo-Yo, but we really do need to talk later, okay?”

Daisy nodded. They did need to talk about a lot of stuff, but she was just glad she had her sister back. She tackled Jemma in a hug as they approached each other; Jemma hugged her back just as fiercely.

“I was worried about you,” Jemma said. “Fitz and I were working the problem the second you went out of contact. Bobbi can tell you some details, if you want to know anything while I’m helping Yo-Yo, but we still need to talk afterwards, okay?”

“Of course,” Daisy said, letting go and stepping back. “Us against the world.”

Jemma smiled. “Regardless of men,” she agreed. “Us against the world.”

It was so good to have Jemma back. Daisy hadn’t been on a mission with her in over a year and it felt wrong not to have her sister at her side. Even though she _had_ had Kora and Sousa with her. Jemma was every bit, if not more, her sister as Kora was. Neither could replace the other in Daisy’s eyes. 

Daisy stepped around Jemma and headed for the door again, halting when she saw that Doctor Johnson was speaking to Lincoln in a low voice. He looked up and met her eyes, then looked back at Lincoln and said something else. Lincoln nodded, his response just as swift and quiet. Then Doctor Johnson stepped aside, letting Lincoln pass him and turning to Daisy.

Even though Daisy was incredibly curious as to what her father was saying to Lincoln, now was not the time to ask. She gave him a faint smile instead. 

“Thanks,” she said sincerely. “For helping Yo-Yo. It means a lot. I know you’re not too fond of Inhumans -”

“I think I might have to revise my stance on that a little,” Doctor Johnson said. He paused. “You seem very...kind. Willing to do whatever it takes to keep your loved ones safe.”

“That’s what Daisy does,” Jemma said. She shot Lincoln a stern look as she spoke and as she did so, Daisy realized, all of a sudden, why Jemma was being so hard on Lincoln. She didn’t want Daisy to get hurt and Lincoln was literally the only one who could hurt her that way. He was the only one who had ever stopped her from doing something when she’d put her mind to it, including dying for the team. He would die for her again and Jemma didn’t want Daisy to get hurt losing him.

Lincoln realized it too. “Jemma, I’m not going to die,” he said. 

Jemma shook her head. “I really really hope not,” she said. “Now go, all three of you. We need to cut her open.”




Daisy, Lincoln and Deke walked into a warzone. Quite literally. People were yelling at each other all across the room. Even Trip and Flint were there; Alisha was chained up and unconscious in a corner. Daisy wasn’t even sure what they were arguing about, but whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“HEY!” Deke yelled, louder than all the voices in the room. “What’s going on here?”

Everyone fell silent. Bobbi had been arguing with Sousa, Trip and Ward had been one step away from being at each others’ throats and Hunter and Miles had been jumping back and forth between the arguments. Even Flint had been dragged into the mess; he had been sticking up for Bobbi.

“Someone explain!” Deke said. “What’s going on?”

At first, none of them appeared inclined to speak. Then, finally, Ward spoke up. 

“I don’t trust Trip,” he said. “He was the one who let that crazy Yo-Yo Inhuman loose on the Zephyr and he was the only one who escaped the aftermath. He was flying the plane! _And_ he’s in love with Kora! I don’t think he’s on our side anymore.”

“And I’m telling you, that’s crazy!” Trip said. “Yes, I let Yo-Yo loose by accident, but that’s because you and Lincoln were going after Daisy! Who else was going to put Alisha in containment? Miles?” 

“Where _is_ that module?” Deke asked, needing a little clarification; the Zephyr could only hold one module at a time and it was currently holding the one that Daisy, Lincoln, Deke and Ward had escaped the Academy in. 

“We released it,” Trip said shortly. “So that I could let you four in.”

“Just because he has feelings for Kora doesn’t mean that he’s going to obey what she wants,” Lincoln defended Trip. “I was there when Kora came after us; he’s on our side, Ward.”

“Right, and that’s totally reassuring when Daisy just knocked me out for attempting to take out the swayed Inhuman, who, by the way, is still swayed and still on the Zephyr!” Ward retorted. “How do we know that you guys aren’t playing double agents this whole time? Maybe that’s why you wore the murder vest, Lincoln, because you knew that that red-head wasn’t going to kill you!”

And things were going from bad to worse. 

Daisy rounded on Lincoln. “You put on a _murder_ vest?! Lincoln!”

“Alisha threatened to kill you!” Lincoln objected defensively. “And she might very well have done; if I’d gotten to you any later, who knows what Alisha would have done?”

Lincoln had a point, but by now, Sousa had entered the fray. “Daisy wouldn’t want you acting so recklessly to save her.”

Lincoln’s eyes grew dark and angry. “You are not Simmons, Sousa, who knows Daisy better than anyone else on this plane, so don’t you dare say that to me.”

Daisy had no idea what Jemma had said to Lincoln, but judging by their earlier conversation, it was one that she had not been privy to. Regardless, things were going from worse to terrible, with all the tension in the room, of course both guys were going to start arguing.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sousa demanded. “Go on, explain it to me, I’m a big boy!”

“It means that Simmons already told me that and even Fitz agrees that he’s glad that that decision is not up to her!” Lincoln snapped. “I will not be chastised for making the right damn decision!”

“The right decision!” Sousa scoffed. 

“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing for Daisy,” Lincoln retorted. 

“You’re right,” Sousa responded, catching Lincoln completely off-guard. “But the difference is, she _can’t_ lose you again. All of us know it. Every last one of us in this room. You have been and always will be the one she wants. I know what she chose. I know the future. Kora -”

Daisy gasped, causing all of them to turn and look at her. She had remained silent for most of the argument, not wanting to make things worse. She might have been able to get them to stop arguing, but she had been hoping not to turn it into a love triangle war. Actually, she’d kind of been hoping that Deke might intervene. But now she finally spoke. 

“Kora showed you the future?” she asked, horrified at how cruel Kora had been. Even swayed…showing Sousa the visions of her and Lincoln’s future together with kids was incredibly malicious. “Kora showed you that...that vision?”

Sousa stared at her, looking at her properly for the first time since they had been in the same room. She didn’t like meeting his gaze; she could see the hurt, the sadness that he was trying to suppress under either anger or stoicism. 

“What vision did you see?” he asked, his voice more calm now.

Daisy could have kicked herself. He hadn’t actually seen it. And now she’d opened the door to the worst possible thing that she could possibly tell him. 

“Kora can’t show anyone the future, Daisy,” Lincoln reminded her. “She could only show it to us because of my powers -”

“You saw it too,” Sousa realized as Lincoln spoke. “Wait...how the _hell_ did Kora get close enough to both of you to show you the future? I know how that process works, I’ve seen it! Why were you two _holding hands_ with Kora?”

“I told you, they’ve been swayed!” Ward interrupted and all hell broke loose once more.

“They’re not swayed, their tests came back clean and they’re immune!” Trip spoke up.

“Says the other guy who could be working with Hive!” Miles interjected.

“Are you kidding, Miles?” Lincoln demanded. “Trip saved us from Alisha -”

“And let Yo-Yo loose on the plane!” Hunter pointed out.

“Trip wouldn’t betray us like that,” Bobbi interjected, but by now Deke had really had enough.

“ENOUGH!” he bellowed, causing all of them to subside. “We’re supposed to be a team! So act like it!” 

None of them said anything, although some of them, namely Ward, were still fuming. Deke turned to Daisy and Lincoln.

“Tell us about this vision,” he said. “What did Kora show you?”

Daisy shook her head, unable to say the words aloud. It wasn’t that she wanted to hide her relationship with Lincoln. But she couldn’t bring herself to hurt Sousa. Not like this. Not when she hadn’t told him about her choice. He might know what she had chosen, but she still wanted the chance to explain to him why and how and to make him understand that it wasn’t him, it really wasn’t his fault. It was all on her. She had fallen for Lincoln; his return had changed everything. Most importantly, she needed to tell Sousa that everything she’d felt for him had been real. But Lincoln’s return had changed that. Lincoln was and always would be her first choice. She didn’t need to tell him _that_ , but it was true. Either way, she couldn’t explain the vision that Kora had shown them first. She couldn’t hurt him that way.

“Deke, don’t make me do this,” she said, desperation obvious in her voice. “Please don’t.”

To Deke’s credit, he didn’t push her. He could see how emotional she was; he turned to Lincoln instead.

“Tell me.”

“I can’t, Deke,” Lincoln said. “I can’t and won’t hurt Daisy that way by telling you, as much as I care about you, I’m sorry -”

“I’ll tell you,” Sousa spoke up.

Daisy and Lincoln swivelled to look at him, shock mirrored on both of their faces. 

“What?” they stammered in unison. 

“You weren’t there, Sousa, you don’t know what Kora showed us,” Lincoln said, confused. “And I sure as hell didn’t show you the visions that Daisy and I saw.”

As much as Sousa had been his rival, Lincoln would never be that cruel. He was kind and compassionate; he might have a temper sometimes, but showing Sousa that vision was not something he would ever do. 

“You didn’t have to,” Sousa said grimly. “Because Kora as good as told me when we were in the Quinjet with Katya and James. And later, when we were held prisoner by Hive’s Inhumans. There’s only one thing that Daisy would not want to tell me about, given that she already knows that I know about you two being together. Kora showed you both your future together. A peaceful life, kids, growing old together...something along those lines. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Damn. Daisy knew that Sousa was a good detective, but to figure out that from the little bits and pieces of their lives that he had been told...he was observant and clever, she had to give him that. 

Neither Daisy nor Lincoln could deny that he was right. They looked at each other and then back at Sousa, unable to find the words. Everyone in the room was listening to the byplay, but for once, everyone was remaining silent. On the bright side, Deke finally had the silence that he’d wanted.

“Sousa, I didn’t want to hurt you,” Daisy began, trying to pacify the situation, but Sousa spoke over her.

“And that’s why _I’m_ the one telling Deke,” Sousa said. He sighed. “I know you wouldn’t want to tell him because you were afraid of hurting me.” He paused. “Don’t worry. I don’t want you to feel guilty or anything. When Lincoln returned...I could already see what was happening, even before the team split up. And Kora already told me what your choice was when it happened. You admitting that you’re in love with him earlier was not you breaking the news to me that you two are together now.”

Daisy was completely taken aback. She hadn’t even put that together in her head; the fact that she had finally, _finally_ admitted, in front of Lincoln, that she had been in love with him before he’d died. She’d told Deke, she’d told Sousa...but she hadn’t even realized that she’d said it in front of Lincoln. Which ironically made a lot of sense, the first time he’d told her he’d loved her, they hadn’t realized it either.

He turned to look at her and it was clear that he was thinking the same thing. 

“You’re not going to die,” he insisted.

“Where the hell did that one come from?” Deke asked, voicing what everyone in the room apart from them was thinking. 

Daisy closed her eyes. She could still remember the words in her head, as clear as when he had first spoken them to her.

_I can’t just...I can’t just say goodbye. I...I have too much I want to say._

_Me too. Come to think of it, I just did. I mean, I tried. We didn’t even realize it._

_Realize what?_

_A moment ago. It’s the first time I said I love y-._

“Daisy.” Lincoln’s voice recalled her to the present. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Daisy didn’t say anything. She just wrapped her arms around him, unable to deny herself the comfort of his touch. She couldn’t fathom the idea of losing him again, not now, not again. He folded her into his arms, one hand stroking her hair in a reassuring manner. 

“Still confused here,” Miles said, raising his hand.

“And Miles is back!” Ward said wearily. “Guess that’s a good thing.”

That broke the tension in the room. 

“So…,” Deke said. “This, uh, vision that Kora showed you...that’s good, right? It means neither of you will die?”

“It’s not that simple,” Lincoln said as Daisy let go of him, although her arms ached from the absence. “Kora showed us a future that has a high possibility of passing, but no guarantees.” He paused. “I _did_ root around in her head to see the timestream while she was showing us this vision and...that’s the important thing that we really need to discuss. Not Daisy and my future. It’s...it’s Raina. She made me immune. With a drug or something.” 

There was silence for a moment.

“Are you sure?” Sousa asked. “You couldn’t have gotten your immunity from say that Inhuman Lash or from Daisy or something?”

Lincoln shook his head. “It’s complicated to explain, but when Trip told Daisy and I that we are immune, it was the only future that made sense. As far as I know, Kora doesn’t even know that Raina made me immune.”

“The only way…,” Deke said slowly, putting pieces together out loud. “For Raina to have made you immune is if she did it before you left the timeline. Which means before we found out about Hive’s sway. Which means that she knew all along that Hive could sway Inhumans and _she did nothing about all the other innocent Inhumans who are now suffering under his control_.”

“It’s worse than that,” Lincoln realized. “I didn’t have time to think about it until now...but Raina had to have known that Hive was Kara way back when we brought her back from Maveth. She can predict the future. She would have made herself and me immune _months_ ago. She had to have known. She would have had to work on the immunity drug even more months in advance of Hive’s return. There’s no other explanation.”

Lincoln was right. There really was no other logical explanation. Raina had to have known for over a year now that Hive was going to come back. The realization of her betrayal was stinging more and more. The horror of it all was starting to dawn on everyone’s faces, the realization that someone whom they had trusted and who had been their friend had betrayed them so viciously. 

“How did she even make the drug?” Daisy asked, still trying to wrap her brain around everything that was going on. “Lash’s DNA or something?”

As far as she knew, Lash was the only one immune to Hive. Lincoln _had_ been working on an immunization for Hive’s sway with the help of Andrew’s blood, but apparently one had already been created.

“I think so,” Lincoln said, his eyes faraway as he tried to chase down the memories from the timestream. “Yeah, I think so.”

Deke gasped as realization struck. “Oh my God. If you’re right...the accident that made Andrew undergo Terrigenesis in the lab. Raina was there. What if...what if it wasn’t an accident?”

And...that was a startling revelation that none of them had been prepared to deal with either. Bobbi bit her lip, reaching for Hunter’s hand. Miles rubbed a hand over his face; he really wasn’t making any jokes for once. Daisy also reached for Lincoln’s hand, knowing he needed the comfort to find out that his transitioner was so manipulative and borderline evil. Deke started pacing, his fingernails digging into the palms of his clenched fists. There was dead silence for a moment, only broken by the sound of Deke’s shoes on the floor. 

Finally Ward spoke. He swore violently. “That psychotic bitch! She _orchestrated_ Andrew’s Terrigenesis? She had to have known how much that would hurt May! Christ!”

“Wait, hang on, this doesn’t make sense,” Bobbi said, confused. “Why would she turn Andrew? Why not prevent Hive’s return altogether? Raina must need Hive for something. Why?”

At Bobbi’s last words, Daisy realized something else. Something that she’d forgotten since it had been five years since they had first encountered Hive.

“Hive has a connection with us,” she said. “He knows when we’re connected to him and when we’re not. If Raina is immune to him, he’ll feel it. They must be working together.”

Deke swore a mixture of curse words from the future and the past all rolled into one. 

“You’re saying that Raina brought back Hive,” Ward said.

Trust Ward to say all the hard stuff. 

“Oh my God,” Lincoln realized. “Daisy, remember what happened the first time? Raina saw the Monolith. Gordon brought her there, remember?” 

“And Simmons got swallowed by the Monolith,” Daisy whispered. “In the original timeline, Raina died before that happened, but she might have gotten a vision of it if she had lived. Her last vision was of her own death, but that was because of Jiaying. In this timeline, Jiaying was already gone. Raina could have had a vision about Hive through the Monolith. She would have known that sending Kara through would bring back Hive. Because Ward would do whatever it took to get her back.”

It was making way too much sense at this point...sense in the worst possible way. Ward yelled suddenly and kicked a chair. It sailed across the room and smashed against the wall. All of them jumped, but none of them could do anything to comfort him. What could they say? _I’m sorry Raina orchestrated your girlfriend’s murder?_

“But why?” Trip asked. “It doesn’t make sense. What does Hive have that Raina wants? Why does Hive and/or Raina, for that matter, want you, Lincoln?”

That was news to Daisy and the rest of the team, excluding Lincoln, Trip and Flint. 

“Wait, what?” Daisy asked, turning to look at Lincoln. “Hive wants _you_?”

“Kora told us,” Lincoln explained. “After you had left. We both assumed Kora was after you, but she apparently wanted me more than you. Why she wants me, I have no idea. That’s another reason why I was willing to risk wearing the murder vest. Alisha wouldn’t have pushed the trigger unless there was really no other option.”

Daisy was struggling to comprehend the situation. “So Hive wants you, but wants you so badly that he’d rather kill you than let us have you? What does he _want_ with you?”

And that question was finally one that none of them could answer.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Ward left the room after that latest bombshell. They could hear him in the training room next door, slamming his fists into the punching bag as hard as he could hit it. From the sound of it, he hadn’t even put on protective gloves or padding for his hands. 

“I’ll go after him,” Trip said after they had listened to the never-ending wallop of the bag for almost a whole minute straight. “Maybe it’ll help him to take his aggression out on someone who isn’t the punching bag.”

Deke looked sceptical. “You sure about that? He sounds like he’s ready to kill someone.”

Deke was not wrong. The sound of his fists hitting the bag was erratic and violent; from what Daisy could hear, it sounded like he was also kicking the bag. It reminded her all too well of the time after he’d touched the Berserker Staff and had taken all his aggression out on the punching bag...and May. Only this time, there was no May for him to vent his frustration out on. 

Trip shrugged. “It’s me or Lincoln or Bobbi and something tells me Ward wouldn’t be too happy to see Lincoln right now. Even though he knows what it’s like to lose someone to Hive too. Lincoln has Daisy now. Ward will never get Kara back.”

Trip headed for the door, but Bobbi held up a hand.

“Let me,” she said. “Kara was my friend too. And out of everyone...I was the one running all her tests. This is on me.”

“That’s not true,” Hunter argued. “You couldn’t have known; Raina was manipulating the results behind your back!”

Bobbi shook her head. “Hunter, I spent the most time with her after Maveth. For months, I didn’t know that she was an ancient Inhuman from another planet? I should have realized something was off with her, other than Will and her recovering from that whole ordeal. You guys, especially Ward, were counting on me to help her through it. We all assumed that she was more comfortable going to me than Lincoln because I am a female human, not a male Inhuman, but it was probably because Hive figured that Lincoln, as an Inhuman, would suspect something was up. This is on me.”

“Bobbi, it’s not your fault,” Daisy said. “In my timeline, Fitz didn’t know that Will was Hive until he saw his wounded leg. You couldn’t have known.”

“Don’t blame yourself,” Lincoln added. “Out of everyone, I’m the doctor. I should have pushed to actually be there for the tests, not just observed from another room because of her comfort level. If you want to blame someone, blame me, Bobbi.”

Bobbi shook her head. “You were trying to do what was best for Kara,” Bobbi said. “Ward would never have let you in there; you know how protective he was of her once he got her back. And anyway, let me go to Ward. Trip’s right, Lincoln, he won’t want you there.” She paused. “Unless you let him beat you to a pulp, and we all know that Daisy and Deke aren’t going to let that happen, even if you _are_ willing to become his personal punching bag. At least he’ll let me spar back against him.”

“Don’t die out there,” Hunter called after her as she left the room. The second she was gone, he angrily punched the gurney that he was sitting on. “This is wrong,” he growled. “It’s not Bobbi’s fault. It’s that stupid bitch in the flower dress. This is all on her!”

“We know that, Hunter,” Deke said wearily, sitting down in one of the last remaining unbroken and unoccupied chairs in the room at one of the tables. “We know that. But that doesn’t stop us all from feeling guilty all the time.”

He was not wrong. Everyone was feeling some amalgamation of guilt and responsibility for the situation. Deke, for not realizing Raina’s true colours, letting her into the Playground and asking her to mentor Lincoln; Lincoln for having spent so much time with Raina and not realizing either; Bobbi for not recognizing that Kara was no longer Kara; and Ward for that same reason _and_ for inadvertently bringing Hive back. Even the others, who hadn’t spent as much time around either Kara or Raina, were feeling guilty for not realizing the truth sooner. 

In the silence that hung from the end of Deke’s speech, they could hear Bobbi speaking to Ward in a low voice and then the sound of the punches against the bag stop. This was followed by the grunts and thumps as Ward and Bobbi started sparring. 

“At least she got through to him,” Trip sighed. “Poor Ward.”

Poor Ward was one of the understatements of the year...which was really saying something. Daisy knew, thanks to the Framework version of him, that when he cared for someone, he really did love them. He would have died for the Framework version of Skye; he would have died for Kara. But there was nothing that any of them could do to bring her back. 

“Wait, hang on…,” Deke said suddenly. “Are you Inhumans able to tell when someone is Hive? Is that why Kara avoided Lincoln?”

“Kara would only have avoided Lincoln if she knew he was immune,” Daisy said, sitting down at the same table as Deke and interlacing her fingers. “Which confirms that Raina would have made Lincoln immune from the beginning.”

Lincoln joined her at the table, sitting next to her. “And you were able to tell when something was off with Anon in Bucharest,” he reminded her. “I wasn’t...or at least, I didn’t notice it until after you did.”

“Does that mean that Daisy can detect when someone is Hive?” Sousa asked curiously. “And Lincoln can’t?”

Daisy and Lincoln traded glances.

“I don’t know,” Lincoln said at last. “When Bobbi said that Kara avoided me after Maveth, she wasn’t kidding. I don’t think I spent more than two minutes in Kara’s physical presence after her ordeal. I spoke to Ward a lot and I helped out with prescriptions and stuff, but that was via video. Bobbi would speak with her, check her vitals and run all the tests, and I would watch via the cameras and then prescribe medicine. It definitely isn’t the normal way we do things, but both Ward and I thought she was traumatized by Death on that planet. Since the Monolith that she went through was related to Inhumans, we just thought that I was a constant reminder of her fears, so after that, I went out of my way to avoid her so that she might recover better.”

“And I just sensed that something was...off,” Daisy explained. “Anon was different when she returned. She had been flirtatious and charming when she was first with us - well, to Lincoln, not so much to me - but when she returned...she just seemed different. And I’ve spent a lot more time in Hive’s presence than Lincoln has...in either timeline.”

The crux of the problem was that Lincoln _hadn’t_ spent a lot of time in Kara’s presence. If he had, maybe they would be able to tell, but as it was...things were not that simple. 

“I don’t get it though,” Miles said suddenly. “If Hive wanted Lincoln all along, why wait so many months? Lincoln and Andrew/Lash were at the Playground for months. If Hive had wanted Lincoln all along, why not take him then?”

“Hive came back weakened from Maveth,” Daisy said. “He spent a while recovering with Malick when we were in my timeline. Months. I think Kara didn’t want to risk exposing herself to Lash while she was still in a weakened state. Plus, if Lincoln was immune, she would have had to build her Inhuman army first, which, well, I don’t know, how many Inhumans are at the Playground on a regular basis?”

Deke drummed his fingers on the table. “Only three,” he said. “Lincoln, Raina and Andrew. And Andrew’s was a secret one that we didn’t know about until he accidentally gave it away a day or two before Lincoln left to get you. After his identity was revealed, we found out about the accidental Terrigenesis in the lab. Raina explained that she had kept his secret because she was working on a vaccine with Doctor Johnson and trying to reverse the effects so that he could go back to his normal life with May. And like an idiot, I believed her.”

“It’s not your fault, Deke,” Daisy said, turning to him. “I know Raina and she lies like there’s no tomorrow. She tells the most plausible ones too, possibly because she believes _everything_ that she’s saying.” She paused. “Plus, well, Doctor Johnson _is_ working on an Inhuman vaccine. The best lies are those wrapped in a core of the truth.”

Lincoln remained silent. Daisy caught on to his silence, he who also knew Raina very well. The perplexed look on his face made her turn to him. 

“Lincoln? What is it?” she asked. 

“What I don’t understand,” he said slowly. “Is why she told me about you. Deke would never have given me the time-travel device to find you and Kora and Sousa if she hadn’t told me about her vision. If she hadn’t, Bobbi and I would have gone to Hydra’s base alone. As good as Bobbi is, there’s no way that we would have been able to rescue the team, get the Zephyr and capture Malick on our own. That was a three-person job at least.”

Trip tapped his fingers against his arm. “Kora did say that Hive wants Daisy too,” he reminded them. “You’re the most important, apparently, Lincoln, but she does still want Daisy. Maybe that’s why she had you find Daisy in the other timeline.”

“Or maybe it goes beyond that,” Deke said bitterly. “Lincoln, you didn’t know Raina before her Terrigenesis, but I did. She loved being beautiful, loved being a scientist in the spotlight, loved being revered and honoured by the public. After her Terrigenesis, things were never quite the same for her. I always suspected that she wanted to come to the Playground because of the change of the public’s perception of her, but I never once thought that this bitterness against humans would grow so deep that she would want Hive to return to kill all of mankind. When you first came to us, I thought that you were the perfect person to help Raina out of her funk. After Daisy first told me about you, I looked you up. I wanted to know how and why Daisy was still in love with you after so many years and what kind of person you were. I even asked Nana about you - not my finest moment, I will admit - but I did. She told me how you helped Daisy through her Terrigenesis, helped her accept who she was, how you helped her view her powers as a gift and not a curse. I’ll be honest, when I first started looking out for you, it was because I knew how much you meant to Daisy. I knew that Jiaying and Gordon had been responsible for saving you and I knew that they were already dead in this timeline.” He paused. “It may have started out that way, but after that, I promise, I wasn’t just looking out for you because of Daisy -” 

“Don’t worry, Deke,” Lincoln interrupted, turning to his father figure. “I know. You’ve been like a father to me. I know it wasn’t fake.” 

Deke looked immensely relieved. “Thank you for understanding,” he said. He paused. “When I found you, I thought that the transitioning could go both ways. Raina did improve with you as her mentee. She likes you a lot. I think...I think it’s possible that she told you about Daisy because she knew what was going to happen. She knew that you two were going to fall in love.”

There was a long silence following Deke’s speech.

Daisy turned to Lincoln. “Do you think...is that possible?” she asked. “Would Raina have done that for you, for us?”

Lincoln raked a hand through his hair. “I...I don’t know. I...I think so? God, that’s messed up.”

His eyes were dark and haunted, but Daisy put a hand on his arm. “Lincoln, don’t think about it that way,” she said urgently. “It doesn’t matter what brought us together; we already discussed how we chose each other regardless of the past, regardless of your memories.”

“And it’s no weirder than how Jiaying set you two up in the original timeline,” Trip spoke up from where he was leaning against the wall. 

Daisy and Lincoln turned to stare at Trip. “What?” they said in unison.

Trip frowned. “Wait, you guys didn’t know?”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and then back at Trip. “No,” they said simultaneously. 

Miles snickered. “Are you sure your guys’ superpowers aren’t mind-reading? Because the unison is getting a little ridiculous.”

Both of them ignored Miles. 

“What _are_ you talking about?” Daisy asked Trip.

“Kora figured it out,” Trip said. “This was before she got swayed. Ward and I were both with her; he can vouch for me if you don’t believe me. Kora said that Jiaying chose Lincoln as your transitioner and took him out of his human life to return to Afterlife because she wanted you to have someone whom she - Jiaying, that is - trusted. She saw a lot of Kora in Lincoln when he first came to Afterlife. Something about their similar powers, how both of them almost burned down Afterlife, but most importantly, how she succeeded with helping Lincoln where she failed with Kora. Kora committed suicide, but Lincoln...you lived.” He paused, looking at Lincoln now. “You were comfortable with your powers, happy, adjusted. So she chose you to be Daisy’s transitioner because she wanted Daisy to have the best one, her success story. After losing one daughter with powers similar to Lincoln’s, she wanted Daisy to have the transitioner whom she had succeeded with. The one whom she trusted and cared for. And...that’s why she was happy with you guys...connecting.”

Daisy felt like her brain was exploding. She glanced at Lincoln and saw equal shock on his face. Neither of them had put two and two together, although Kora obviously had. 

“Jesus Christ,” Daisy said at long last. There was really nothing else she could say. “No wonder Jiaying sent you to protect me when I left Afterlife with Cal. She could have sent anyone. Gordon. Alisha even, who was Jiaying’s regular protector. But she chose you.”

Lincoln hit his head with his palm and slowly dragged it down his face. “Oh my God, what _is_ it with my Inhuman guides turning out to be manipulative psychopaths and setting me up with Daisy?” 

“Don’t think of it that way,” Trip said, joining the trio at the table. “Jiaying may have chosen you as Daisy’s transitioner, but did she force you guys to connect? Was she even alive when you guys started dating? Did she - or Raina for that matter - make you choose each other again and again?” 

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and chorused, “No.”

“Well, there you go,” Trip said, shrugging. “You guys may have been set up by them, but they didn’t force you to choose each other. You two did that on your own.” 

“And,” Deke added. “If everyone including two murdering psychopaths think that you guys should be together, I think it’s pretty clear that you guys _are_ meant to be together.”

Daisy’s lips curved into a faint smile, but her eyes were still locked on Lincoln’s face. After a pause, he sighed and reached for her hand, thumb rubbing soothing circles on her skin. Relief flooded through her; despite everything they had been through, they still were in agreement that they belonged together. 

“Great!” Hunter interrupted in a faux bright tone. “Now that we’ve settled that our two favourite Inhumans are eternally destined for each other, can we get back to the problem at hand? What about Malick? How does he fit into the puzzle?” 

The conversation had rotated between the four of them - Daisy, Lincoln, Deke and Trip - for so long that all four of them had forgotten that Hunter, Miles, Flint and Sousa were still in the room. Daisy felt a wave of guilt at Sousa having to hear all that, but what could she do? What _could_ she have done? The bombshells had come from Deke and Trip, not either her or Lincoln, so it technically wasn’t their fault. But that didn’t make it any easier for him to hear the hard truth. 

“Malick must have been working with Raina too,” Lincoln said quickly, allowing the change of subject; he too had forgotten about Sousa’s presence. Relief and appreciation washed through Daisy; he didn’t want to hurt her or Sousa either. She squeezed his hand appreciatively before letting go; he gave her a faint smile of understanding in response before he continued. 

“Malick was the one who knew all about Hive,” he said. “She must have gone to him. Maybe she had a vision of him too.”

Sousa spoke up, jumping on the train that had changed the subject, even though Lincoln was the one opening that door. “That last day, when we were talking with Malick,” he remembered. “Deke, didn’t he say he wanted to know about the days that Daisy and Lincoln died? Do you think he wanted that information for Hive or Raina? Did he even think he was going to get that information to them before he died?”

Daisy rubbed her face with one hand. “Raina has always been curious about death,” she said. “That’s what she wanted out of Coulson when she put him in the memory machine. Granted, it was for John Garrett, but still...I don’t understand why Raina would need that information. What is so important about Lincoln and me that Hive wants us? Regardless of whether Raina brought me back just for Lincoln, there has to be some reason that Hive and/or Raina wants us. ”

“Your immunity?” Miles suggested, but even as he said it, he sounded doubtful. “Surely if she made an immunity drug once, she could make it again.”

“Maybe she doesn’t have enough because we now have Lash’s body,” Daisy offered, but her tone didn’t sound convincing, even to her. “But she had plenty of opportunity to get all that she needed much earlier.”

“The same thing goes with the GH.325,” Deke muttered. “She was the one who saved you with that drug in the first place, Lincoln.”

“Maybe something to do with your powers?” Hunter offered. “What’s the craziest thing either of you has done with said powers?” 

Daisy and Lincoln frowned at each other, both lost in thought, trying to decide, but before either of them could figure it out, Trip spoke up. 

“Wait, hang on a second,” Trip interjected, causing all of them to look up at him. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Lincoln, but aren’t some Inhuman powers biologically linked?”

Lincoln’s frown grew a little deeper. “No,” he said. “Well, not really. I mean...powers aren’t random. They fill the evolutionary need in the species at the time. Some biologically-related Inhumans’ powers _are_ linked, like Charles and Robin Hinton, and Jiaying and Kora. But that could just be a coincidence. Jiaying and Daisy, for example; their powers aren’t related in the slightest. Although there are some very minor similarities in Daisy and Kora’s gifts. But Kora and I have much more similar powers, as you just noted, Trip, and we’re not related, aside from our relationships with Daisy. The same thing could be said about James - he can create explosives out of everything he touches - and Kora. Why?”

“I don’t know,” Trip said, still clearly pondering the entire situation. “I was thinking...the reason Kora might have shown you about your kids is if they play a part in this battle. Time is screwed up enough as it is. Bobbi was four months pregnant like two days ago and now she’s already given birth. I mean...I suppose it doesn’t matter that we don’t know what powers your kids would have, because they’d definitely be Inhuman anyway. Maybe Raina foresaw something about your kids’ powers that she wants or needs. Maybe that’s why she wants you two.”

That was...yet another bombshell that Daisy was not prepared to deal with. She stared at Lincoln, her eyes wide with shock. 

Deke swore. “Daisy, for the love of God, please tell me that you took the morning after pill earlier,” he said. “If this is what Raina wants -”

“I took it, I took it,” Daisy said, too overwhelmed with everything that was going on to feel embarrassed that they were discussing her and Lincoln’s sex life in front of half the team. 

“That was suitable for Inhumans?” Deke pressed, glancing at Lincoln for confirmation.

“I gave it to her, it was,” Lincoln confirmed, massaging the temples of his head. “If that’s what Raina wants, she’s not getting it. Not because of yesterday, that’s for sure.”

Well, that was a small consolation in and of itself. 

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Hunter interrupted. “I mean, not you guys having sex, that makes perfect sense, but what I mean is surely Daisy would be more important to Hive than Lincoln if its the kids that she’s after. If Daisy were knocked up right now, Hive wouldn’t _need_ Lincoln anymore. Surely they’d be of equal importance.”

It was a testament to how much babies were on everyone’s minds at the moment that Hunter, of all people, was thinking of this. 

Daisy slumped back in her chair. “Well, I guess that means I’m not pregnant,” she said, sighing. “Although that definitely wouldn’t be the craziest thing that has happened to us over the last few days.”

She was not wrong. 

Flint spoke up for the first time. “Um...I have something to say,” he said. 

All of them looked at him, some of them with surprise, as though they had forgotten that he was still in the room. He hadn’t spoken up till then; he might as well have been a stone gargoyle for all the noise he made.

“Your kids…,” he began. “That might be why Hive wants me too.”

“What?!” Daisy and Lincoln spluttered simultaneously.

“Holy freaking Kree!” Deke leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair. “Are you their flipping grandson now? Cuz I mean, it’s one thing for me to have Fitz and Simmons and Bobbi and Hunter as grandparents, but you too?”

“Wait, what now?” Hunter spluttered and all of them whirled on him.

“Wait...Bobbi didn’t tell you?” Deke demanded. 

“She was going to say something else to me, aside from the fact that our kid has been born, but you four and the two docs came in before she could,” Hunter said, his face nearly apoplectic with rage. “BOBBI!”

He stormed out of the room before any of them could think to stop him. 

“Oh no,” Deke groaned. “What have I done?”

Outside, the sounds of Bobbi and Ward fighting on the training mat ceased as Bobbi and Hunter started arguing. The sounds of Ward hitting the punching bag resumed; the remainder of the team inside the room looked at one another grimly. 

“That wasn’t your fault, Deke,” Lincoln said. “You couldn’t have known that Bobbi hadn’t told him yet. Although, yes...your family tree is definitely unique.”

Deke groaned, picked up his chair and slumped back into it. He banged his head down on the table. 

“Besides, Bobbi and Hunter argue as much as Fitzsimmons seemingly get separated,” Daisy said in an attempt to console him, although her mind was in a whirl. 

“Yeah, and Hunter himself said that he and Bobbi are 100% compatible 50% of the time,” Trip added. “They were bound to fight soon anyway. They’ll make it up in a short while. They always do.”

Deke heaved a sigh and looked up at Flint. “So...you’re Daisy and Lincoln’s grandson?” he asked helplessly. “Are your other grandparents Mack and Yo-Yo then?”

“Wait, what?” Miles said, confused. “Mack and that swayed Inhuman outside? What about Nicole and Hope?”

“It’s a long story,” Lincoln muttered at the same time as Flint said, “No! That wasn’t what I was trying to say!”

“Oh, thank God,” Daisy said, the relief on her face palpable. “Sorry. I mean, you’re awesome, but to find out that I somehow have a grandson in a timeline where Lincoln had already died...now that’s weird, even for S.H.I.E.L.D..” She glanced at Flint and then at Lincoln. “No offense. To both of you.”

“No worries,” Flint said, waving his hands. “I’m not offended.” 

“Same here,” Lincoln said wearily. “I don’t even know how that would work.”

“It would,” Deke muttered, looking up from his hands. “Because we can travel between timelines. You don’t have to be from a timeline to live there.”

Well, Deke, Kora and Sousa were certainly proof of that. 

“At the rate things are going, we should take blood tests,” Miles muttered. “All of us. All these weird and convoluted family trees.”

“Hey, I mean, my grandfather was a Howling Commando who was friends, or at least acquaintances, with Sousa, so them all are not the only ones with messed up family trees,” Trip said, waving his hand towards Daisy, Lincoln and Deke. 

“And you’re with Daisy’s sister,” Miles said, shaking his head. “Good grief.” 

Good grief was right. 

“Okay, so then why does Hive want you?” Sousa asked Flint, speaking for the first time since the topic had revolved around to Daisy and Lincoln’s future children. 

Daisy felt a crushing wave of guilt. Poor Sousa. First he’d found out about Daisy’s choice through Kora, then he’d learned of Daisy and Lincoln’s children being a pretty inevitable conclusion, followed by the lovely revelation that Raina had set them up to be reunited and now he knew that she and Lincoln had had sex the day before. God, she was handling this all wrong. It technically was out of her control, since she wasn’t the only one steering the conversation, but she couldn’t help thinking that they should have figured out a better way to talk this all through. It was such a mess. She glanced at Lincoln and knew that he was thinking the same thing; he looked grim and apologetic at the same time. 

“Because I can transport people between the timelines,” Flint said, drawing all of their attention to him. “I created the Monolith that brought Daisy’s team back from the future; I created the new Monoliths that enabled the team to travel to the past. I’m the contingency plan for Jemma, Bobbi and Hunter to get back to their kids. Even if they couldn’t travel via the tether in the timeline, I came so that I would be able to send them home.” 

Deke swore again. Daisy started chewing the skin on one of her fingers, the other arm resting on the table; Lincoln sighed heavily, drumming his fingers on his thigh. Trip grimaced, leaning back against the table that Daisy, Lincoln and Deke were sitting at. Miles banged his head back against the wall he was leaning on and Sousa raised his eyebrows into his forehead. 

“So what you’re saying is…” Deke said slowly. “If Daisy and Lincoln decide to go back with Jemma, Bobbi and Hunter, if Hive gets Flint, they’ll just be plucked back out of the timestream, wherever and whenever they are, either for them or for their kids. Freaking hell!”

“And no other tether in the timestream would work,” Lincoln muttered. “Jemma and Bobbi are not leaving Alya and Owen.” He paused. “Unless...wait, where is Owen?” 

Deke grimaced. “He’s the tether in the timeline for Jemma, Bobbi and Flint to come here.”

“What?” Daisy and Lincoln said, turning to look at him.

“Bobbi let Owen become the tether?” Daisy gasped. “He can’t ever leave that timeline!”

“Yeah, that was my reaction too,” Deke muttered. “They didn’t have a choice. The only way to come and get you three was through the connection existing between Lincoln and Bobbi’s previous jump. Either Bobbi or Owen had to come, so Bobbi did and brought Jemma because she knew that both of them would do whatever it took to get back to their kids.”

“That’s just...wrong,” Sousa said, shaking his head. “That’s so messed up. To use a baby like that….”

“There was no choice.” Deke defended Jemma and Bobbi. “Besides, they did it not just for Daisy, but for you and Kora as well, Sousa.”

Sousa shook his head. “They shouldn’t have come. Kora and I are from here and Daisy…. Do you even still want to leave?” 

He addressed her, but he wasn’t quite meeting her eyes. Daisy winced. All eyes in the room had fallen on her.

“It doesn’t matter either way,” Lincoln said quickly, jumping in to take the heat off her back before she could attempt to answer, not that she knew what her response was going to be. “Bobbi wouldn’t have left Hunter on his own here.”

Thank God for Lincoln. She reached under the table and squeezed his hand, out of sight of everyone; he squeezed back just as reassuringly. 

“But Flint just explained how he’s a contingency plan for them to get home,” Sousa argued. “Surely that means that he could have transported Jemma, Bobbi and Owen here without using a _baby_ as the tether in the timeline!”

“That’s because I left a piece of the Monolith back in the original timeline,” Flint explained. “To power the machine. There’s no piece here. Now that I _am_ here and there’s a piece back there, I can send them home. But it doesn’t work without a remnant of the Monolith in either timeline.”

Well, that made a lot more sense. 

“So basically, Daisy and Lincoln could leave the timeline and get back to it because Flint’s here now?” Deke asked. “If they went back with Jemma, Bobbi and Hunter, Flint could always draw them back because of Monolith pieces in both timelines.”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Flint said. “We set up lots of contingency plans so that there would be lots of ways to get home.”

“Oh hell,” Deke muttered. 

Flint looked apologetic. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Unfortunately, he was right. It had been. Up till now. 

“Still doesn’t make total sense though,” Daisy said at long last, turning to Lincoln. “It still doesn’t explain why we’re so important to Hive. And even if it is because of our future kids, Hunter’s right. You wouldn’t be more important than me. We’d be equally important until I get pregnant.”

After she finished her sentence, she realized that she had spoken as though her pregnancy and their future children was an inevitable conclusion. Which...was really not what she should have been saying, although at this point, all of them had pretty much accepted it as something that was going to happen regardless of whether they survived this battle with Hive. Even if they left the timeline before he was killed, they could still be drawn back into it at any point in time. Daisy winced again, but Trip had spoken up by this point.

“Well, you could still be plucked out of wherever in the timeline you are if Hive needs you though,” Trip muttered. “Leaving the timeline doesn’t make you safe anymore if Hive gets Flint.” He paused. “Unless you sever the connections between the timelines altogether, which doesn’t sound safe for either Deke or Owen.” 

“Yeah, and that would be a disaster for all that we did against the Chronicoms in the past,” Daisy said. “I don’t even know what the ripple effects would be if we destroyed that connection.” 

“I...I’d need to talk to Fitz,” Deke said finally. “I have no idea either, what the consequences would be, or how to go about preventing or causing it. This is crazy.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, the only sounds in the room being from outside, where Ward was now yelling at Bobbi and Hunter. Everyone inside the room exchanged grim looks. It seemed as though Ward was scolding them for being mad at each other when they should be cherishing the time they had together. Given all that he had been through, he was not wrong. 

“Ah, hell,” Deke said at long last. “Any more bombshells to which we have no solutions or answers, guys?”

Trip spoke up. “One more,” he said, turning to look at Deke and Deke cursed again.

“What is it this time?” he asked wearily.

“Something’s wrong with Kora,” he said. “And I don’t mean the sway. She still has some sort of...degree of control over what she does and doesn’t do. She didn’t want to hurt Daisy or Lincoln or me when she encountered us earlier. She genuinely is doing her best to keep them alive even though she’s been swayed. I don’t get it.”

“She would be trying to get us swayed,” Daisy said in an equally exhausted voice. “That’s what I did with Lincoln that time. I never hurt him. Not physically. Kora would want to turn you too.”

“Trip’s human, Daisy,” Lincoln reminded her. “We know that for a fact. In your timeline -”

“I know,” Daisy said, guilt creeping up on her again; Lincoln squeezed her hand again under the table. 

“That wasn’t your fault,” he said. “That’s on Raina.”

Daisy grimaced, but didn’t say anything. Then she remembered something else.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What now?” Deke said, looking like he wanted to be anywhere other than where he was at the moment.

“The Primitives,” Daisy said. “Hive has Radcliffe now and if Raina’s working with Hive, she’ll have given him all the GH. he needs. If Kora has been completely taken over by Hive, she’ll want to turn Trip into a Primitive.” 

Lincoln’s head snapped upright. “Daisy, what Kora said earlier...she said that you two have the same blood. We thought that she was talking about you being biologically sisters, but what if it’s more than that? What if Raina chose Kora as her GH. guinea pig? What if Kora already has the GH. in her system?” 

It was Daisy’s turn to swear. 

“That actually makes sense,” Sousa said, causing all of them to look at him.

“Why?” Trip asked.

“Because of Hydra experimentation,” Sousa said. “Kora and I were chained up in a room and the parallels were really similar to what had happened to me and Daisy and presumably Lincoln and this Mike guy. If they drain Kora for her blood -”

Lincoln swore this time. “First Whitehall, then von Strucker and List, then Hive, then Nathaniel, now this….God!”

Daisy felt sick to her stomach. The very idea that Kora was going to get experimented on the same way that she had….

“Daisy, it’s okay,” Lincoln said, placing a soothing hand on her back, calming her down. “We’ll get her out of there.”

Lincoln knew. Thank God for him. If she had thrown up at that moment...after all the talk about their kids...not one of them in the room would believe that she wasn’t pregnant. They would probably assume that Inhumans had a different kind of pregnancy timeline than humans did, which, come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure what kind of timeline Inhumans had when they were pregnant. It wasn’t something that had ever come up. 

“We need to find out more about this immunity drug,” Daisy said urgently. “If Raina can make it….”

“When Doctor Johnson and Jemma are done with Yo-Yo, all three of us will work on it,” Lincoln assured her. “We’ll figure it out, I promise.”

Their eyes met and Daisy nodded grimly. She trusted Lincoln, she really did, and if anyone could figure out the immunity drug, it was the three of them. Her...boyfriend, for lack of a better word; her father from another timeline; and her sister from different parents. That sounded really messed up, but it was all true. 

Everyone lapsed into another silence, only broken by the sounds of Hunter and Bobbi now talking in more measured tones and the resuming of Ward’s syncopated rhythm of hitting the punching bag. 

“Are we finally done then?” Deke asked, wearily.

“No.” Miles spoke up this time.

“Oh, for the love of all that’s holy, what _now_?” Deke demanded.

Miles grimaced. “Ward and I were fighting Yo-Yo and Joey, and Flint rescued us. But then I found something in my pocket a short while ago and I didn’t have it before and it looks exactly like what Hunter had just now. I don’t know what it is, but anyway...I figured it must be important.”

He held out his hand. In his palm was another cross necklace. A perfect duplicate of the one that Hunter had.

“Oh my God,” Daisy said, scrambling out of her chair to look at it. “What...how did you get that? Where did that _come_ from?”

“ _Two_ necklaces?” Lincoln demanded, also leaping out of his chair to see it for himself. “How is that even possible?”

Miles gave a half-shrug. “I don’t know why you guys are freaking out, but I think Joey created it. He can manipulate metal.”

“Wait,” Trip said suddenly, his eyes wide. “Kora mentioned ‘duplicates’. She said that Yo-Yo and Joey were planting them. Who did you fight at the Academy, Miles?”

Miles looked up at him. “Ward and I were fighting Yo-Yo and Joey,” he said. “Flint rescued us, and we captured Yo-Yo, but Joey got away. Then we ran into you when we were trying to evacuate.” He paused, saw that the others were still listening to his explanation, and continued, addressing all of them this time. “I found Lincoln fighting Alisha on the cameras in the multi-story carpark, so Ward and I went after him. Trip and Flint took Yo-Yo back into containment. Then Trip came and rescued us and we split up again; Lincoln and Ward went after Daisy, and Trip and I brought the Alisha clone back to the Zephyr. By that time, Flint had already gotten Yo-Yo in containment on the plane; he was with Simmons, Bobbi, Hunter and Doctor Johnson.”

That was the longest speech Miles had ever given. However, Daisy was glad. It meant that he was recovering from Katya’s influence; he still had on and off periods, but the fact that he could deliver such a coherent speech was a good sign. 

“Okay, so Joey created this cross necklace,” Daisy realized. “And….”

“And planted it on Miles,” Lincoln finished. “What the hell….”

“Kora said ‘duplicate _s_ ’,” Trip said anxiously, stressing the ‘s’. “As in plural. Which means….”

“That there’s more than one replica,” Daisy supplied, digging in her pocket. “Oh my God.”

She produced a cross necklace, identical to the one that Miles had. “Alisha,” she said. “I don’t think I encountered Yo-Yo at all, but who planted it on me doesn’t really matter. Lincoln -”

Lincoln had already pulled out another one. “Crap.”

Deke, Flint and Sousa all searched their pockets and each produced another identical cross necklace of death. 

“I don’t understand,” Sousa said, perplexed. “What is the big deal about this cross necklace?”

“It blows up in space,” Lincoln explained; Sousa and Miles hadn’t been around when Daisy, Lincoln and Kora had explained about the vision to Deke and Trip. “In the Quinjet, with the warhead, with Hive and the fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The person on our team who’s going to die.”

“And that’s how you died in the original timeline,” Sousa recalled. “Killing Hive.” 

“Wait, so is Lincoln going to die again?” Miles asked, confused. “I mean...Trip caught Ward and me up on what we’d missed while we were in the Badlands, but...does that mean that Lincoln’s going to die?”

“No!” Daisy and Deke said in vehement unison.

Miles held up his hands in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. “Okay, okay,” he said. “I get it. Taboo topic.” He paused. “Oh...that’s how you two know each other,” he said, gesturing towards Daisy and Lincoln. “You guys were lovers in the other timeline, right?”

“Not the time, Miles,” Deke warned. “Let’s get back to the problem at hand.”

"Sure thing, boss," Miles said, but he was grinning. 

On the bright side, he was obviously feeling better and was clearly more like his old self. 

“Yeah, okay,” Trip said. “The cross necklace blows up in the Quinjet in space, which is why we’ve been passing the cross necklace around. Doing whatever it takes to keep it out of Hive’s hands because whoever has it, controls the future. Controls who dies in space.”

“It started with Yo-Yo,” Daisy said. “It’s hers. In this timeline, it then went to Deke, then Kora….”

“Then she gave it to me,” Trip confirmed. “I gave it back to Deke after you - Daisy, that is - found out that I had it, just in case you were swayed.”

“I gave it to Bobbi,” Deke continued. “When I found out that Kora knew I had it.”

“She gave it to Hunter when Yo-Yo started going crazy,” Sousa clarified. “Did the chain end there?”

“As far as I know, yes,” Deke said. “So this is fine, right? We still know which one is the original, right? Hunter has it….”

His voice trailed off. 

“What, Deke?” Lincoln asked. “What is it?”

“Hunter,” Deke said. “Kora healed Hunter. I think we still have the original necklace because Kora didn’t figure out I had the cross necklace until after she’d gone after you and Daisy. But when she was in close contact with him, she could have planted a duplicate necklace. Why Kora healed Hunter is anyone’s guess, but she came in close contact with him and Giyera did with me, Jemma and Bobbi. If they were planting duplicate necklaces, all of us will have one. If Hunter has two, he might not know which one is the actual necklace of death.”


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

Bobbi stepped into the training room and approached Ward. He was hitting the punching bag repeatedly, no wrappings around his fists, just methodical training. Well, training was the wrong word. This wasn’t training. This was punishment. 

“Ward?” Bobbi said tentatively. 

He didn’t appear to hear her, just kept on punching the bag.

“Ward?” Bobbi repeated, a little louder this time.

When that failed to elicit a response, she stood on the other side of the bag and held it in place while he punched. After the bag didn’t recoil from him, he blinked and seemed to see her there.

“Bobbi,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought you could use a sparring partner,” she said simply.

Ward shook his head at her. “You don’t want to fight me right now, Bobbi,” he said. “I’m not going to hold back at all.”

“And that doesn’t matter,” Bobbi replied. “It’s been a while since we’ve sparred. You mostly train with May and Trip.” 

“And you mostly train with Hunter and Lincoln,” Ward said, wiping his wrist across his forehead. 

Bobbi shrugged. “That’s because they knew I was pregnant and they knew what was safe and what wasn’t.” She paused. “And we don’t have to talk about Lincoln if you don’t want to.”

Ward responded by kicking the bag again. Bobbi held it in place for him; he kicked it again and again and again. 

“Are you going to just stand there in silence?” Ward asked at last. “Because if you are, I’d rather spar against you than this bag that never hits back.”

Bobbi smiled. “Thought you’d never ask.”

They faced each other on the gym mat, throwing punches, kicks, ducking, blocking, dodging. Bobbi did a side aerial to avoid one of his kicks and Ward shook his head at her.

“Show-off,” he said. 

“May does them too,” Bobbi pointed out.

“You girls and your acrobatic tricks,” Ward said, but he thankfully didn’t sound angry.

Bobbi shrugged. “We all have our talents. You and Trip are much better shots with sniper rifles than May and I are. And don’t get me started on Mack’s strength.”

“Or Lincoln’s powers?” Ward asked.

Bobbi shrugged, keeping her arms up, ready to block him if he kicked out at her again. “Like I said, we don’t have to talk about Lincoln if you don’t want to.”

Ward didn’t say anything for a moment or two. Then, when Bobbi was sure he was finally going to speak, he attacked her again. She ducked, just in time, throwing an elbow at his face, which he countered with both hands, followed by a kick at her abdomen. Bobbi blocked it, twisted out of his grip and faced him again, this time from the other side. 

Ward came at her again, a flurry of jabs that had Bobbi ducking, weaving and twisting out of his grip. She somersaulted out of the way of the last one, regaining her feet again, preparing for another hit.

“It’s irrational to blame him,” Ward said at last. “But I feel like it’s his fault all the same. He’s the Inhuman, he’s the one with powers, he’s the one who knew that bitch in the flower dress the best. He’s even the one who brought Daisy and Kora and Sousa into this timeline.” Ward sat down on the sparring mat. “He was nothing but helpful with Kara’s treatment and yet I want to blame him. What’s wrong with me, Bobbi?”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Bobbi said. “You want someone to blame because that’s what we do. Someone has to be responsible. If we don’t blame someone else, then we blame ourselves and that’s just as bad, if not worse. And if we can’t find or take out our blame on the true culprit, we latch on to the person whom we feel is most responsible. Even if they’re not.”

She held her hand out to him. “Another round?”

Ward yanked her arm to bring her crashing down to the mat, but Bobbi tucked it under her and rolled, landing back on her feet. 

“That was shady, even for you, Ward,” she said, but she was smiling even as Ward faced her again.

He launched a new attack at her, this time flipping her over his head. She landed on her feet anyway, attempting a sweeping kick at his legs before dodging his next punch. Ward was stronger than she was, but Bobbi was faster. Most of the women on the team were faster than the men, although the men were definitely stronger.

When Bobbi evaded his next punch, she could see that Ward was getting frustrated with himself for not pinning her sooner. She subtly attempted to slow her speed slightly, but Ward shook his head at her.

“Don’t take it easy on me, Bobbi,” he said. “That’s just going to make me more annoyed than before.”

“Duly noted,” Bobbi said with a grin. 

Ward came at her again, but stopped before he could strike at her. 

“Why me and Kara, Bobbi?” he asked. “Why us? You and Hunter are married; surely Raina would have known that you two would have done anything to get back together as well. Hunter would have jumped through that portal for you just as much as I did for Kara. And vice versa. I don’t understand.”

Bobbi pressed her lips together. “I can’t pretend to understand everything that’s going on in Raina’s head either,” she said. “But...and this could be entirely false, but the reason that Hive was able to fool everyone for so long was because I was running her tests and Raina was manipulating them behind our backs. If Hunter or I had been sent to that planet instead, there would have been no alternative other than to have Lincoln do them and there would have been no fooling him. May would never have been able to deceive Andrew if she had been sent to Maveth either; can you imagine Hive and Lash trying to get along as a married couple? Trip is just a field medic, plus he’s also a guy. The excuse of having a female human versus an Inhuman male would not have worked.” She paused. “So if you’re looking for someone to blame, Ward, it’s on me.”

Ward kicked at her; she countered with a jab to his ribs and a duck under his whirling left hook, emerging on his other side to face him. 

Ward grimaced. “As much as you say it’s your fault, it doesn’t feel like it,” Ward muttered. “Like it doesn’t feel like May’s fault that she didn’t realize her husband was Lash all along. It just feels like Lincoln’s.”

Bobbi hesitated.

“Spit it out,” Ward said grimly.

Bobbi took her time answering; she evaded another punch, ducked under another kick and cartwheeled out of his grip before speaking.

“I think you’re mad at him because he seems to know a lot about the future,” Bobbi said at last. “But it’s not enough for us to prevent what’s about to happen. And...he’s happy. We might all be going through hell right now, but he’s with Daisy. It’s new - well, technically, it’s not new, it’s super old - but he’s happy. It’s sometimes hard to see others happy while we’re suffering.”

Ward gritted his teeth and attacked her again in a flurry of blows; when she emerged unscathed, both of them were panting and breathless.

“I’m not jealous of him,” Ward snapped. 

“Not of Daisy,” Bobbi said. “But of his happiness, maybe, you are.” She paused. “You don’t have to be honest with me. We can pretend that this conversation never happened. But you need to get it out somehow, Ward, because keeping it bottled up inside isn’t going to work. It’ll be like a shook bottle of Coke. It’s going to explode sometime.”

Ward responded by launching a new assault on her. Ducking, weaving, dodging and counterattacking, Bobbi finally avoided under the last of his blows, although this time, both of them had landed bruising jabs on each other. 

“Don’t blame Trip either,” Bobbi continued. “He can’t help it that Kora’s been swayed. And just because he has feelings for her doesn’t mean that he’s going to go off the deep-end. He might do whatever it takes to save her, but he wouldn’t ever betray the team to be with her.”

Ward paused and dropped his arms. “Has this happened before?” he asked. “In the timeline that Daisy’s from?”

“Parts of it,” Bobbi said. “Jemma told me a lot of stuff, but I don’t know it as well as she and Lincoln and Daisy do. But it’s also really different at the same time...it’s not as simple as we know everything that’s going to happen.” 

Ward heaved a sigh. “Of course it isn’t.” 

He launched a new attack at Bobbi, but at that moment both of them heard an incredibly loud yell of, “BOBBI!”

Hunter stormed out of the side-lab that he had been in with the majority of the rest of the team.

“Deke is our grandson?” Hunter demanded. “Why the bloody hell didn’t you tell me?”

“And here we go,” Ward muttered darkly, heading back over to the punching bag. He gave Bobbi and Hunter an appraising look. “Good luck.”

Bobbi turned to Hunter as Ward started hitting the bag all over again with all his strength. 

“Hunter, calm down,” she said, holding her hands up in a pacifying gesture. “I wanted to, there just wasn’t time -”

“No time!” Hunter exploded. “No time! Bob, you’d think it was pretty important that our director, who is like 30 years older than both of us, is our grandson!” 

“It’s time-travel, Hunter!” Bobbi said. “Not something as simple as Hydra where we can go in guns blazing and save the day!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hunter demanded.

“It means that there is thinking involved in this mess!” Bobbi said. “Scientific explanations and quantum realms and -”

“And you’re equating my brain to the size of a pea, is that right?” Hunter demanded. “You might be the one with the biology degree, but I had a right to know that my grandson has been freaking born! And that our son is stuck in another timeline and that we have to go and live in said timeline now because there’s no way for him to get back here!”

“Would you rather I have abandoned you altogether?” Bobbi snapped. “Because those were our options, Hunter!” 

“Did you know that this was going to happen when you and Lincoln first time-travelled?” Hunter asked furiously.

“Of course not!” Bobbi protested. “Why would I want this? Do you think I want to leave our friends, our families to live in another timeline where the only people I really know are Jemma, Fitz and another timeline version of May? Where you don’t know anyone? Where we’d really have to use nano-masks all the time because we have dopplegangers there?”

“Oh, so nano-masks are going to become a permanent thing then?” Hunter snapped. “When were you thinking of telling me that, Bob?”

“When we weren’t in a room surrounded by half the team!” Bobbi shouted back. “You think that that would have gone down well? Have you seen the state that half of them are in? Miles is a fluctuating mess, one second he’s himself, the next he’s losing mobility of his limbs. Ward just lost Kara; Deke is dealing with a whole ton of crazy thanks to the return of Jemma and me and Raina’s betrayal; you just _died_! You were bleeding out in my arms, Hunter!” 

“Yeah, well, I didn’t die, so you’d think the first thing you’d tell me when I woke up was about my freaking son and the fact that you’d given birth, not shove a stupid cross necklace at me and tell me to hold on to it because it’s important!” Hunter yelled, pulling the necklace out of his pocket and shaking it at her.

“That necklace _is_ important, Hunter!” Bobbi snapped. “Someone on the team is going to die and I sure as hell don’t want it to be one of us! Someone is going to die in the Quinjet with a warhead, blowing up Hive in space. And that necklace is going to be in space with it!”

“Oh, so now you tell me that!” Hunter raged, raising his arms above his head in exasperation. “When were you going to tell me that one, Bob? You always keep secrets from me!”

“You never trust me!” Bobbi argued. “Lincoln told me about his vision a few hours before I became the tether in the timestream. How was I supposed to tell you then? It wasn’t me trying to keep you in the dark; I never had a chance!”

“So you why did you give me this then?” Hunter demanded, raising the necklace. “You wanted me to die?” 

“You’re kidding me, right?” Bobbi snapped. “Everything I have done is to keep us and our family safe. If I had wanted you out of my life, I would have stayed in the other timeline. I risked everything to have Kora heal you because you were dead! You were dead, Hunter! No do-overs! No second chances! And -”

“And you two are idiots!” Ward exploded, snatching the necklace out of Hunter’s hand.

Both of them subsided, not having realized that Ward had stopped hitting the punching bag; he was standing just behind Hunter.

“Do you two know how lucky you are that you’re both alive and in love and have a kid?” he demanded. “A kid who’s stuck in another timeline, yes, but you get to go back to him! You even have a _grandson_! Sure, he’s 30 years older than both of you, but what does that matter? You have so many good things in your life and you’re wasting your time arguing about things that were out of your control? You have no idea what I’d give to have just one more second with Kara. Sousa, even, in there, just lost Daisy to Lincoln. I’m not saying that I’d rather she be with Sousa, but don’t you think he’d give anything to be with the woman he loves? You two have each other right here! And yes, Hunter, you just died! So why are you wasting the time you have arguing? Because there may be a day that comes that you regret that you didn’t spend every second of every day telling the people you love that you care about them. Because not everyone always comes back from the dead.”

A long silence followed Ward’s speech. Neither Bobbi nor Hunter had anything to say. Ward was not wrong. In fact, he could not be more right. With one last furious look at the pair of them, Ward stalked back over to his punching bag and resumed his personal torture of the bag.

“Ward, wait,” Bobbi called. “Give me the necklace -”

“Not until you two can behave like adults,” Ward said, anger still apparent in his voice. “And besides, neither of you should really have the cross necklace if whoever has it is doomed to die in space in the Quinjet. You have a kid waiting in another timeline for you both to come home.”

With that, he turned back to the punching bag. Neither Bobbi nor Hunter really knew what they could say to him. It wasn’t a simple situation or something that they could easily fix. 

Hunter heaved a sigh and sat down on the red training mat on the floor of the Zephyr. Bobbi joined him, hugging her legs to her chest and staring at the wall of the plane. The training room was on the smaller side, since they were in an aircraft after all, but it was still big enough that there was more than enough space for them to talk privately. 

“So….” Hunter said at last. “I’m sorry, Bob. I just...I felt like you left for two days and you came back and everything’s gone upside down. I got swayed by an Inhuman who can manipulate the senses, I got killed, you gave birth, our son is stuck in a timeline where I know exactly four people, the first of which is a baby, the second is the doctor next door who is apparently our son’s future wife’s mother - that sounds like craziness right there - the third of which is Daisy and that’s if she even wants to go back, and the fourth is you. So you can see why everything is kind of crazy right now.”

Bobbi’s hands twitched like she wanted to be twirling her batons. 

“You’re not wrong,” she said at last. “It’s been even crazier for me, Hunter. Time was...weird when I was Lincoln’s tether. I don’t really remember what happened while I was the tether, it was a crazy blur. All I knew was that I eventually gave birth and then things stopped moving and I saw Jemma and Fitz. Then I spent a month in recovery and then we were searching for a way to get back here.” She paused. “I was worried about you for months. I had no idea how fast time was passing here. I’m so sorry...this is a real mess. I never even imagined that I would end up giving birth in another timeline and without you.”

Hunter frowned. “So someone screwed up the time-travel?” 

Bobbi grimaced. “It wasn’t really his fault,” she said. “I mean, it was an accident. Something went wrong -”

Hunter’s face darkened. “Who’s fault was it?” he demanded. “Deke’s? Or Lincoln’s?”

“Hunter -” Bobbi began, but Hunter interrupted her.

“No, Bob, this is not okay,” he said angrily. “They clearly had no idea what they were doing when they started screwing around with time-travel. This is all on them.”




Deke shot to his feet. “Time to speak to the grandparents,” he said grimly.

“Here,” Trip said, turning to Sousa and helping him to his foot. “Miles and I can help you -”

“I actually think we might have some prosthetics on board,” Lincoln said, going over to a cupboard. “I just remembered Deke and I were talking about designing a few just in case. I think Deke had Coulson, Yo-Yo and you in mind when he was talking about that.”

He stuck his head inside. The lab was more of a storage and workstation area than an operating area; the medical side of the lab was the section that Jemma and Doctor Johnson were currently in which led to the containment module. Adjoining the labs on the other side was the training room, which was where Ward was beating a punching bag into pulp. 

“And even if I can’t find any…,” Lincoln continued, his voice slightly muffled from being inside a cupboard, “Simmons or Deke or I could design one in thirty seconds….”

Daisy noticed that Lincoln was careful to include Jemma and Deke in the designing of Sousa’s prosthetic. While she had a pretty good feeling both Lincoln and Deke were way ahead of Jemma’s medical and technical knowledge, simply because it had been thirty-three years in Deke’s timeline and only one in hers and Jemma’s, she knew that Lincoln was suggesting it because he wasn’t sure how Sousa would react to something designed exclusively by him. 

“Got it!” Lincoln fished a box out of the back of the cupboard. “Deke, man, sometimes I think you can predict the future.”

Deke shrugged. “After you told me about Raina’s vision of Daisy, I knew that some of the old team would be returning, I just wasn’t sure who and when. After Coulson got stuck in the future with a regular fake arm instead of his fancy shield one and Yo-Yo needed the regular-looking arms instead of her metal ones, I figured it couldn’t hurt to be prepared.”

Sousa stilled, causing Trip and Miles to stop as well. The duo had been helping Sousa over towards the medical chair in the centre of the lab, but now their progress halted because Sousa wasn’t moving.

“Lincoln mentioned that you were messing with time-travel,” he said slowly. “You were the one who sent Lincoln to our timeline. You designed the time-travel mechanism that sent him there.” 

There was silence in the room for a moment as everyone tried to grasp what Sousa’s meaning was; he was stating things that were facts. 

“Yes….” Deke said slowly. “You knew that. Who else would have designed a time-travel machine?”

“You just admitted that you knew who Lincoln was all along,” Sousa said. “You knew how much he meant to Daisy. She mentioned two days ago when we were all on Zephyr One that she had told you about Lincoln, but you just admitted that you knew from the get-go when you found Lincoln, you knew who he was. And you sent him to Daisy and Kora and me on purpose. You bastard!”

Having spent a year with Daisy and Kora, one of the things that Sousa had picked up was profanity. It wasn’t something he used often at all, but he did know that word. He had never used it before, so it was jarring to hear him say it; it took a second longer than usual for Daisy to spring into action. Sousa was seriously mad at Deke and to be absolutely honest, she couldn’t blame him. Especially after hearing everything that had gone down in the last hour-ish of conversation: everything from her and Lincoln having sex to transitioners setting them up to their future children. 

“Sousa, no!” Daisy shouted, but she didn’t move quite quick enough to get in between Sousa and Deke before the first punch was thrown.

Sousa slammed his fist into Deke’s jaw, who openly accepted the blow in the face; he felt that he deserved it. Trip, who was still supporting Sousa, tried to pull him back, but he also didn’t want to off-balance the trio all too much. Sousa’s weight threw Trip; the latter lost his balance when Sousa punched Deke. Trip fell backwards into Miles, who had rushed forward to either stop the situation or make it worse; Daisy was not sure.

“Ouch, dammit!” Trip yelped; Daisy dove in between Sousa and Deke as Sousa tightened his hand into a fist again.

“Daisy, get out of the way,” Deke said, trying to push her aside. “Sousa’s right in a way; I do deserve it. Lincoln would never have gone to you if it weren’t for me.”

While that was true, Daisy also knew that it hadn’t been done with genuine malicious intent. Lincoln had gone to them because it had been an emergency, not for fun. It wasn’t as though Deke had sent him with the deliberate purpose of trying to get her to fall in love with him. Deke was feeling guilty about Raina and Hive, about everything, that was why he was so willing to get punched.

Sousa clenched his jaw, but didn’t say anything. He looked ready to throw another punch, but was struggling to control himself. It was hard to hit someone who didn’t defend themselves and also admitted their wrongdoing.

“I’ll move if you both stop,” Daisy said; Lincoln was already at her side, ready to intervene if one of them tried to hurt her, although all four of them knew, the only way Daisy was going to get hurt was by accident and if she didn’t defend herself. She was the best fighter out of all four of them, although thanks to his training in this timeline, Lincoln wasn’t far behind. 

Daisy didn’t blame Sousa for being angry. Lincoln had gone to the three of them knowing next to nothing about them. He had only known Daisy thanks to Raina and Charles Hinton’s visions. Deke was the one who had known the truth. Daisy had told Deke about Lincoln all those years ago and he, like Raina, had orchestrated their reunion. While Deke hadn’t sent Lincoln with the purpose of splitting up Daisy and Sousa, he _had_ to have known that Lincoln’s presence would have, at the very least, stirred the waters. Another part of the problem was seeing as Daisy and Lincoln were happy with each other and with their reunion, they weren’t angry at Deke, unlike Sousa, who was suffering from this situation.

“The time-travel device was for emergencies only,” Deke said. “I’m not making excuses because you’re right; I knew what Lincoln had previously meant to Daisy, but it really was only supposed to be for emergencies. Lincoln wouldn’t ever have pushed the button if there was another option. And I didn’t send Lincoln there with the purpose of making Daisy fall for him.”

Daisy was glad that Deke was defending himself, that he was telling the truth. She knew that he was blaming himself for Hive and Raina, but becoming someone else’s literal punching bag was not the way to cope with the situation. On the other hand, she was also concerned that defending himself might just make things worse. 

“I had no idea who Daisy was when I first went there, Sousa,” Lincoln spoke up. “You know that. You were there; I was a confused mess until Kora returned my memories -”

He stopped talking. 

“Lincoln?” Daisy asked, but her attention was still focused primarily on Sousa and Deke and preventing them from hurting each other.

“Kora knew this was going to happen,” Lincoln realized. “She told us at the beginning when she was returning my memories that me getting them back would benefit us. She knew that this was a possibility; her getting taken by Hive.”

“Kora…,” Daisy began, her attention now switching to Lincoln. “Kora...she wouldn’t have done that. She...she would.”

The realization was heartbreaking. The very fact that Kora would deliberately set herself up to be swayed and captured by Hive to protect her was gutwrenching. Daisy should have realized it sooner. Kora had _known_ that she and Lincoln would end up together. She had seen their future children; she had known what was going to happen as soon as Lincoln had returned. Kora had known so much about the future, but had kept it to herself in order to protect her. Daisy was not used to people being so willing to sacrifice so much for her. While her old S.H.I.E.L.D. team had all loved and cared for one another, Daisy knew that Fitz and Simmons would always put each other over her; the same thing applied to Mack and Yo-Yo, Coulson and May. They all cared about her, but she knew, deep down, if push came to shove, chances were that they would choose each other over her. Not that she blamed them. She was glad that would always choose their other half. The other star in their sky. It was how it was meant to be. Up until Sousa and Kora, Lincoln had been the only one who had always chosen her first. While Deke had cared, it had been difficult to sometimes tell if his intentions had been selfish or well-meant. Now, that was obviously different, but still...Daisy was not used to anyone putting her first. 

“She would,” Trip agreed. “To protect you. She as good as told me when we were flying to the Badlands -” 

“Because she knew that Daisy and Lincoln ending up together was an inevitable choice,” Sousa snapped, drawing all their attention back to him and the dangerous situation they were all in. “I’ve been listening this whole time, Trip, even though you seemed to forget that I was in the room!” 

Daisy winced. She and Lincoln had been aware that talking about the future possibilities of their children and having sex and being ‘eternally destined’ for one another in front of Sousa was not what was right and now it was coming back to bite them in the butt. She was pretty sure that Hunter and Miles hadn’t been too clued on to the fact that it had been a love triangle, but Deke and Trip had known. While they were obviously both grieving and stressed and feeling guilty about Hive and Raina and Kora and all the other crap that they were dealing with, it still... it was not good. And now they were all paying the price. 

At that moment, Hunter stormed into the room, Bobbi and Ward hot on his heels. 

“Deke, what the hell did you do with time?” Hunter demanded. “When you sent Bobbi over, did you know how the time thing was supposed to function? Because she just told me that she got stuck and gave birth while she was supposed to be Lincoln’s tether in the bloody timeline and no time was supposed to be passing while she was said tether!”

Oh hell. Things were going from bad to worse.

“It was an accident, Hunter,” Bobbi said, trying to placate him. “Lincoln and Deke didn’t want any of this to happen. Deke wouldn’t want us both to leave the team and that’s the result that’s going to happen because Owen’s the tether in the original timeline for Jemma and me!”

“Just stop, Bob, don’t defend him,” Hunter snapped. 

“I’m sorry, Hunter, I really am,” Deke said, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. “When Lincoln went over, no one was supposed to get hurt. I never wanted Bobbi to get stuck as the tether.”

“Or for Daisy to get stuck here?” Hunter challenged.

“Wait, what?” Daisy asked, confused. 

“You were stuck here for a while,” Bobbi explained. “When Lincoln brought the three of you back over, you left without a tether in the timeline. Now you can get back easily because of me and Jemma and Flint, but before that, you were stuck. You couldn’t go back home.”

That was...news. Daisy hadn’t had time to figure out the intricacies of time-travel for herself; while she had been worried about Bobbi before Bobbi had returned, she hadn’t really had time to contemplate how _she_ was going to get back to the original timeline. This was as shocking a revelation for her as it was that Kora had prepared for this possibility of the future. 

“Did you want that, Deke?” Sousa demanded, causing Daisy to raise her hands, putting one hand on both Deke and Sousa’s chests in an attempt to push them back from each other. “Did you want Daisy to have to stay on purpose either for yourself or for Lincoln?”

“Deke wouldn’t do that,” Lincoln defended him, jumping into the fray.

“You would say that!” Hunter exploded. “Because you got the girl! You and Daisy won in this situation! Sousa, Bobbi and I all lost!”

“Hunter, back off,” Lincoln warned, stepping in between him and Deke. 

“Daisy, Lincoln, step aside,” Deke said. “I don’t want you to get in the middle of this. Move, both of you.”

“No,” Daisy said flatly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She knew perfectly well that Sousa was not going to risk hurting her to get at Deke and his temper was seriously spiralling out of control. He had never gotten this angry around her before. She could understand why he was so angry, but she was still surprised at him allowing his temper to get the better of him. She had seen _Lincoln_ lose his temper before, but Sousa rarely lost control around her. However, from her experience, she knew perfectly well that her presence, provided that she didn’t do anything provoking, helped temper the situation. 

“Lincoln, make her move,” Sousa said, startling all of them by addressing Lincoln. “You don’t want her to get hurt any more than I do; take her away.”

Wow. It was a testament to how screwed up the situation was getting if Sousa, of all people, was telling her that the situation was going to get violent and asking _Lincoln_ to make her move. His anger was natural and possibly even justified, but the last thing she wanted right now was a violent throwdown. 

Lincoln looked torn, but stayed where he was, standing in between Hunter and Deke. 

“No,” Daisy repeated flatly, putting one hand on each guys’ chest in an attempt to push them back from each other. 

“Lincoln, make her go,” Deke said at the same time as Sousa said, “Lincoln, get her away from here!”

Neither Daisy nor Lincoln moved, much to Lincoln’s credit. Daisy knew perfectly well that it was his instinct to get her out of danger. He had done it when they had been facing Hydra together back before they had even started dating, back when Coulson had confronted the Secret Warriors about one of them being swayed, and most notably when he’d died for her in space. It either meant that he trusted that Sousa wouldn’t hurt her or that she could defend herself, which one, she wasn’t sure, but she was grateful that he was respecting her wishes. 

Miles spoke up all of a sudden; he had been picking himself up off the floor. Trip and Bobbi were standing behind Sousa and Hunter respectively, ready to pull them back if the need arose while Ward was watching warily from the side of the room; Flint was on edge. 

“Daisy, knock Hunter and Sousa out,” Miles said. “Toss them into the wall like you did with Ward.”

“What?” Daisy spluttered, stunned.

“It’s Katya’s connection with us,” Miles said. “When she got in our heads, she messed with them; our emotions and feelings are all in whack. I’ve been dealing with it for hours but Sousa just got out from under her control and Hunter was unconscious for a long time. They’re not okay. They may have seemed okay, but they’re not.”

“Don’t tell me if I am or aren’t okay!” Hunter snapped.

Miles continued speaking. “Lincoln, you need to run tests on them. I’m betting their emotions are all in flux right now and spiking. Doctor Johnson was starting to do it with me, but these two haven’t had any treatment at all. Knock them out, Daisy, or they’re just going to hurt themselves and the rest of you too!”

At that moment, Sousa lunged forward in an attempt to get past her. Lincoln flung up his hand and electricity crackled. As sparks flew, Hunter also moved; Daisy threw a quake pulse directly at him. Both men flew backwards in opposite directions, hit opposing walls and slumped to the floor, ironically hit by neither person in front of them, but the person diagonally from them.

“Well...that works too,” Miles said, nodding. 

Bobbi had already rushed to Hunter’s side. “He’s out cold,” she said anxiously. 

“Get him on a table,” Lincoln said, already opening one of the drawers and pulling out medical supplies. “Dammit! Most of the equipment is next door.”

“What do you need?” Daisy asked as she, Trip and Deke heaved Sousa upright and onto his gurney; Ward had gone to Bobbi’s side to help her. 

“Blood samples to check for hormone imbalances,” Lincoln said, appearing at Daisy’s side with two vacuum syringes. “Miles, how are you feeling?”

“Okay,” Miles said. “It comes and goes. Sousa was affected most recently, so it’ll be worst on him.”

“And,” Deke added. “When Katya influenced Sousa, she had him trying to kill me. I’m not saying that he doesn’t have a right to be mad at me, but his emotions were probably heightened because of the task she had him doing.” 

“Great,” Lincoln said sarcastically. “And Hunter, what did Katya do to him?”

He jabbed a vacuum syringe into Sousa’s arm and then moved to Hunter.

“He was just one of her minions like Miles,” Ward said. Then he paused. “Actually, no, that’s not true. The last thing she had him do was take a bullet for her. So maybe his task is to defend someone.”

“Well, that would make sense because he was technically defending me,” Bobbi said grimly. “Lincoln, can you do something about this?”

“Trying, Bobbi, trying,” Lincoln said, turning to Trip. “Trip, don’t break containment, but go to Simmons and Doctor Johnson and get the blood scanner machine.” 

“On it,” Trip said, already heading out of the room.

“Wretched aliens,” Ward muttered, helping Bobbi lift Hunter onto the table in the centre of the room. “We need more on our side! We have what, three against 50,000?”

“Eight,” Daisy corrected. “Hive, Raina, Yo-Yo, Joey, Alisha, Katya, James and Kora.”

“Yeah, well, Alisha can multiply like there’s no tomorrow,” Ward said darkly, shooting the unconscious Alisha clone a dark look.

“She can only create four copies of herself,” Lincoln corrected absently; his attention was focused on checking Sousa’s pulse. He shone a light in his eyes to check the dilation of his pupils. 

“Yeah, no,” Ward said, frowning. “You and Daisy were too caught up with each other, but I saw at least eight Alishas when we found her in the communications centre. That’s not four copies.”

Lincoln frowned, pausing in his task. “You’re right, actually. That shouldn’t have been possible. Our powers don’t change no matter what timeline we’re in.”

“Maybe there are two Alishas?” Daisy suggested, although she hated the suggestion as soon as it occurred to her. “As in somehow another timeline version of Alisha made it here?” That would be a nightmare. It was one thing for their team to be able to travel between timelines and another entirely for Hive’s team to be able to do so as well.

“I sure as hell hope not,” Ward said. 

Deke interrupted. “Actually, I think it’s something to do with the power-enhancer drug,” he said. “Doctor Johnson was creating it without my permission.”

“What?!” Daisy and Lincoln spoke in unison, turning to stare at him. 

“Hell,” Miles said, his eyes wide with shock.

“What is it?” Daisy demanded. “Centipede serum?”

“I have no idea,” Deke said at the same time as Lincoln spoke up. 

“That would actually make sense,” Lincoln said slowly. “Raina made the Centipede serum in Daisy’s timeline; I’m pretty sure Doctor Johnson would be able to make it here too. Daisy, when you injected yourself with it, your powers increased exponentially. It would explain why Alisha was suddenly able to make nine copies of herself.”

Daisy cursed under her breath. “If Hive gets his hands on this serum -”

“He tried,” Lincoln said. “I went after Alisha and she had stolen reams of stuff from the labs: power-removal drugs, the power-enhancer drugs apparently, GH. possibly, murder vests and more. I destroyed most of them when my electricity hit the car instead of her, but if she injected herself with the power-enhancer drug before I destroyed the rest, it would explain a lot.”

“We - Trip and I - picked up all the remnants,” Flint assured Daisy. “Even the stuff that looked like it was irredeemable. The stuff’s all on board on the Zephyr.”

That was a tiny consolation in the field of disasters.

“This is bad,” Daisy said. “Really bad. Alisha can just make copies of herself. Can you imagine if Hive or Katya or Kora or any of them really, gets their hands on this serum? We don’t even know what the effects could be!” 

“I didn’t authorize its study!” Deke said grimly. “Doctor Johnson was working behind my back.” 

“God,” Daisy muttered. “We have to destroy it. There’s no option. Wherever he keeps any records or samples or anything. You have no idea - well, actually you do - how powerful it makes an Inhuman. Hive cannot get his hands on this. I can already bring buildings crashing down and Lincoln can cause half the city to lose its power and that’s when we’re barely trying. Hive would become insanely powerful. We can’t let him get the Centipede serum.” She paused. “If that’s what it is.”

Deke swore. “This goes back to Wilfred Malick.” He slammed his fist into the table. “You’re right, Daisy, I should have killed him way back when in 1931. God, we are going in circles!”

He was not wrong about the circles. Daisy felt like they were running on a circular guinea pig treadmill, just going round and round and round again. 

“If you’d killed him back then, we’d still be dealing with the Chronicoms,” Daisy reminded him. “I was wrong to ask you to kill him...although you’re right about us going in circles.” 

She ran a hand through her hair anxiously. 

“Even if Doctor Johnson knows how to make the Centipede serum, it doesn’t mean that Raina can’t replicate it,” Lincoln said worriedly, returning the topic of conversation to the more pressing issue, even as he felt for Hunter’s pulse and confirmed that it was steady. “We already know she can see Daisy’s timeline -”

“Not necessarily,” Deke said slowly. “She saw you and Daisy, yes, but can she actually see another timeline? What limitations do her powers have?”

“Everything she sees comes true,” Daisy said. “She even foresaw her own death. She saw me save Lincoln, she saw Coulson and Ward working together, she saw the Monolith. But she doesn’t always understand what she sees. I don’t think she can see other timelines.”

That was another tiny consolation.

“The Centipede serum could explain why we still have Yo-Yo,” Flint said suddenly. “When I saved Ward and Miles from her and Joey, I just knocked her out. While I think I genuinely defeated her, it could be possible that she set herself up to be captured. Out of all of the Inhumans whom Hive has, Kora and Yo-Yo are the ones whom we would do anything to save. We wouldn’t harm her. Kora knows the future; she can predict possibilities and probabilities. What if Yo-Yo was set up to be captured and taken back with us so that she could steal the serum or the cross necklace or both? She’s in the lab right now, not even in containment, with two doctors who can’t possibly defend themselves against her. Ward suspected you two of allowing her to be taken by us - none of us really buy that - but it’s not out of the realm of possibilities to consider that Hive and/or Raina might have set her up themselves, knowing that we would do whatever it took to save her. Aside from you two, me and Kora, Yo-Yo would be Hive’s most perfect -”

“Inside man,” Daisy and Lincoln finished in unison, staring at Flint like they were seeing a ghost.


	43. Episode 12: The Chaperone, the Warden, the Saviour, the Hacktivist and the D - Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, so a really good friend of mine suggested that I make "scenes" out of the scenes in the trailers, like how there are "scenes" of AoS on YouTube. Examples of these would be "Bittersweet Reunions" and "A Spy's Goodbye". Seeing as there is a LONG time to go before Trailer 5 comes out thanks to the main scene taking place quite a bit later, would you like me to do this? I could do so; there is one that I would release with this chapter if you would like that to happen. Please let me know in the comments and if you want it, I can release that scene with the next chapter. 
> 
> That being said, I hope you guys are enjoying my work! And as always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊
> 
> Edit: So I know most of you who know my publishing pattern will have already read this chapter so I will share this link again with the next one, BUT, for those of you who are still checking here LOL, I'm releasing the scene a little early. It's called "Daisy and Simmons Go Down Memory Lane". Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Link to Scene: https://youtu.be/y6naYfXT_rE
> 
> P.S. I will post the link with the next chapter as well, so no worries if you don't see this HAHA.

**Episode 12: The Chaperone, the Warden, the Saviour, the Hacktivist and the D**

**Chapter 43**

Trip took that opportunity to come back into the room, carrying the blood scanner machine. Lincoln thrust the blood samples at him. 

“Run the tests,” he instructed. “Check for hormone imbalances, adrenaline spikes, make sure that they’re stable and keep them unconscious. Monitor their conditions and keep me updated.” As he spoke, he picked up an earpiece and shoved it into his ear. “Talk to me if you have problems. Simmons may or may not be out in a minute to help you.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Trip asked, confused. 

“Bobbi and Miles can help you,” Lincoln continued. “Flint, find whatever remnants of the stuff that I destroyed and run them by Simmons; hopefully she’ll be willing to trade out with me.”

“Trade out with you?” Trip repeated at the same time as Flint said, “On it.”

Flint left the room, heading to the upper floor of the Zephyr. 

“Where is the plane headed?” Lincoln asked Trip, as he shrugged off his jacket, leaving only his shirt on.

“Wait, why are you undressing?” Miles asked, also confused. 

“Because I’m about to scrub in for a quarantined surgical testing to ensure that even if Yo-Yo wakes up, she can’t kill Simmons and Doctor Johnson in one of her heartbeats,” Lincoln said. “And a S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket would get in the way of an operating gown. Where are we headed?”

“I put us on route back to the Playground,” Trip said. “It’s still being repaired, but I figured that that would be where Deke would want us to go. Is there somewhere else you’d rather go?”

“Wherever Doctor Johnson keeps his Centipede serum - or whatever the power-enhancer drug is,” Daisy said, cottoning on to what Lincoln was asking.

Lincoln nodded. “Hive will be after those as much as he’ll be after us.” 

“Okay,” Deke said, taking charge of the situation. “Lincoln, ask Doctor Johnson where he keeps his research and then a team will go in the Quinjet. The Quinjet can fly faster than the Zephyr.”

Lincoln nodded. “On it.” 

He took a step in the direction of the door, but Bobbi halted his progress. 

“Hang on,” she said. “Something’s not adding up here. Daisy mentioned that there are seven Inhumans working for Hive. Why were there only five at the Academy and where was Hive himself?”

Daisy froze; she had been about to go after Lincoln, but Bobbi’s words gave her pause. “She’s right,” she said. “Hive could have taken any of us, maybe even all of us, Lincoln and me included, if he or Katya had been there. Why weren’t they?”

“And where was James?” Lincoln wondered aloud. “James can create explosives and is a demolitions expert and he had _Alisha_ placing bombs around the Academy? Something’s not right.”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other, but neither had an answer on the tip of their tongue. Deke spoke up, but he was frowning.

“Doctor Johnson’s primary research area is the Academy,” Deke said. “If Hive were after the Centipede serum - if that’s what it is - then that was where he would have gone. Unless there’s something else he’s after.”

“Hive wants something else,” Daisy muttered. The thought was horrifying. What else was out there that he wanted more than her, more than Lincoln, more than Flint, more than the Centipede serum - if that was what it was. “But what?”

“The missile, maybe?” Lincoln suggested. “Are we already there then?” 

Their eyes met. The missile had been one of the last things to get. It would mean that they were in the endgame, that someone on the team was about to die, that it was all almost over….

Daisy shook her head. “Lincoln, no, it’s too soon, we can’t be, that’s not possible -”

The words were spilling out of her. She wasn’t ready. Hive couldn’t already have created the Absolution virus. It couldn’t...it couldn’t be time to say goodbye yet. She definitely had too much she wanted to say and hadn’t had the chance to say yet. She wouldn’t ever be prepared to say goodbye to Lincoln, but for it to be time for someone on the team to die already….

A loud beeping from upstairs caught Deke’s attention. 

“Something’s wrong,” he said, which was the understatement of the century. “Ward, stay with Alisha. Lincoln, do what you have to do with Yo-Yo; Trip, Bobbi, make sure Sousa, Hunter and Miles are alright. Daisy -”

“I’m going with Lincoln,” Daisy said immediately. 

There was no way that she was going to let him out of her sight, not if Hive was already after the missile.

“Big surprise,” Miles snickered, earning himself a glare from Daisy. 

“Fine,” Deke said. “Take coms in with you; you won’t be much use as a doctor, so you can keep Lincoln and Doctor Johnson updated on the situation. Yes?”

“Done,” Daisy said, shrugging off her jacket as well and taking an earpiece from Lincoln. 

“Let’s go,” Lincoln said, and the two of them left through the back exit, Deke heading for the front one, up to the top of the plane.




Jemma was startled and none too pleased when the door to the quarantined lab opened and both Lincoln and Daisy came in. On the bright side, they were both wearing the S.H.I.E.L.D. regulated operating gowns, hairnets, masks and gloves, but she was not expecting to see either of them.

“What’s going on?” she asked; Doctor Johnson looked up from where he was testing a blood sample under a microscope.

“We’re worried Yo-Yo could be a baited trap,” Lincoln said. “If she wakes up, there’s no way you two could hold her. I was hoping you would switch out with me, Jemma; Hunter, Miles and Sousa need your help. Katya’s influence is apparently causing them to have weird emotional and hormone imbalances, kind of like when Ward touched the Berserker Staff in your timeline. They need a doctor too, so I figured we could trade.”

Jemma frowned. “What are you doing here, Daisy?” she asked. “You aren’t a doctor.”

Daisy shrugged. “Yo-Yo -”

Jemma shook her head, grabbed Daisy’s arm and hauled her back out of the lab. Daisy allowed her to pull her along and Lincoln let her go; Jemma was probably the only person on the Zephyr who could get away with doing that. Jemma tugged off her operating gown, facemask, gloves and hairnet, tossing them into the bin; Daisy followed suit so that she could look at her sister in every way but blood properly.

“Daisy, I don’t understand,” she said. “I’m trying to understand, but I don’t get it. Two days ago you were with Sousa. You were happy. I asked you how he was and you seemed completely smitten! And now, Lincoln? I don’t get it.”

Daisy shook her head, amazed at how someone who usually was so cottoned on to her feelings and emotions was currently so oblivious.

“Jemma, I really thought that you of all people would understand,” Daisy said. “Need I remind you about Fitz and Will? After Maveth. And you chose Fitz.”

Jemma looked as though Daisy had slapped her in the face. “That’s different,” she protested, but her voice lacked conviction.

“How is it any different?” Daisy asked. “You were with Will despite being in love with Fitz; you thought you had no hope of ever being reunited with Fitz. If you’d never been presented with the possibility of never getting Fitz back, would you ever have ended up with Will? No. You started something with Will a few months after losing Fitz. It was four years, Jemma, before I could even consider being with someone else.”

Jemma folded her arms over her chest. “Daisy, we were stranded on an alien planet and I thought I had no hope whatsoever of getting back to Fitz. Besides, when I did get back to Fitz, it wasn’t two days separating me being with Will and me getting together with Fitz!”

“But it wasn’t even an hour before you accepted Fitz’s second proposal after having been separated from him for a year!” Daisy countered. 

“I wasn’t dating someone else at the time!” Jemma retorted. “And besides, that Fitz was still the same Fitz! He might not have lived through the whole Gravitonium disaster, but he still had lived everything that we’d gone through till Ghost Rider and Aida. The Lincoln in there hasn’t lived any of it, Daisy! He might have your Lincoln’s memories because of Kora, but that doesn’t mean that he’s the same person!”

“You think I haven’t discussed this with him?” Daisy demanded. “We spoke about it! At length! About how he wasn’t the exact same person and he had to get used to the memories and decide who he was and I had to figure out if I cared for him for him and not for my Lincoln! We already talked through all this!” She paused. “We care for each other and we choose each other regardless of the memories, regardless of what happened in the past. I would have thought that you, you of all people, who saw what I went through when Lincoln died, would understand. I have done everything I could ever have done to help you and Fitz because I know you belong together. Can’t you at least try to understand where I’m coming from?”

Daisy’s voice cracked on the last sentence and Jemma’s expression softened.

“Daisy, I just want you to be happy,” she said. “You’re right; I saw how much you suffered when Lincoln died, but -”

Daisy cut her off. “Do you remember the Framework, Jemma?” she asked rhetorically; of course Jemma would never forget that digital hellhole. “Do you remember how we went in to rescue our friends and they had all their one biggest regret taken away? Well, Aida offered me Lincoln.” Her voice shook as she spoke. “When she captured me in her Hydra prison, she offered to make me forget all the pain from the outside world; she offered me a peaceful life with Lincoln, kids, growing old together, everything that you have now with Fitz. She offered to take all my pain away. Do you know just how badly I wanted to accept her offer? She offered to take away -”

“Your biggest regret,” Jemma realized, a mixture of horror, sadness, regret, hurt and concern spreading across her face. “Oh, Daisy, why didn’t you tell me?”

“How could I?” Daisy felt the tears coming; it was all she could do to stop them and hold them back. “How could I? You were trying to save Fitz. Fitz, who had forgotten you, but...but was real. How could I tell you when you were worried about him being in love with Aida? How could I tell you after that, when we were in the future and you were worried about getting back to a flesh-and-blood person? How could I tell you that when he proposed and you guys got married and found out that you lived past the end of the world, long enough to have a daughter? How could I tell you that Aida offered me a peaceful life with Lincoln, with kids, growing old together? How could I tell you that I was still in love with him two years after he was dead? How could I tell you, when we were scouring space to find Fitz, how lucky you were that Fitz died but you could still get a different timeline version of him back? How could I tell you that I was paying his sister alimony every month because I still felt guilty about his death and I still wasn’t over him? How could I tell you that when I asked Deke to kill Freddy Malick, it was because I knew he would father Gideon and Nathaniel who were primarily responsible for Lincoln’s death? How could I tell you that when we saved Sousa, the very first fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., my first thought was how desperately I wanted our next stop to be 2016 so that we could save Lincoln too? How could I tell you that when I was dying in space before Kora saved me that I thought at least, my death was his? How could I tell you, when you said that we don’t move on after we say goodbye to our loved ones who are dead, that I never even had a chance to say goodbye? How could I tell you any of that?”

Jemma was the one who was crying. As close as she was with Daisy, Daisy had really and truly never told her any of this. It hadn’t been possible. It would have been too cruel, too heartbreaking for both of them. Daisy had told Deke and Mack some of it because they didn’t have the same heartbreak that she and Jemma had had. Jemma had gotten Fitz back time and again, but Daisy had never once gotten Lincoln back.

“Fitz thought that you two were cursed,” Daisy continued. “Because he thought that the cosmos was keeping you two apart. I’ll tell you what was the real curse. Having the man I love die for me and never once getting him back. Not in the Framework, not with LMDs, not with another timeline the way you got Fitz or when we first came to this timeline, not even with the Monoliths. Now, that, _that_ is cursed.” 

“Oh my God,” Jemma said, her face falling faster than Deke's if told that there was no Zima. “I should have known, I should have realized. I was there through it all. I should have realized. You never said and I thought...I thought you were getting over him, but I should have seen it. I was so wrapped up in Fitz and myself...I never even realized it. I thought...I thought...Daisy, I’m so sorry.”

Daisy opened her arms and Jemma hugged her tightly, fiercely, both of them crying onto each others’ shoulders. 

“It’s not on you,” Daisy said, trying to stabilize the shaking of her voice. “I hid it from you; you’re right, after Lincoln, I walked away. And I never told you I was still in love with him afterwards because you lost Fitz and got him back and I wished that I could have had that and never did. When I told you that I wanted my own Fitz on Kitson….”

“You weren’t just talking about your other half,” Jemma said, her voice trembling. “You were talking about someone who could come back to you even if he died.”

They stood there, still hugging each other, lost in a haze of memories. 

“I should have realized that you were projecting,” Jemma said at last, her voice full of sadness and sorrow. “I was the only one who was there for all of it; we rescued Lincoln from von Strucker and List, and Sousa saved you from Nathaniel. I saw you in there with Lincoln every single day and I saw Sousa sit with you…. Even Sousa being there for you with Jiaying...Lincoln had done it all already for you. I should have realized who you were really thinking of when you got together with him.”

Daisy shook her head, pulling back to look at Jemma in the eye. “I genuinely thought that I had feelings for Sousa, Jemma, and for a while there, I honestly did. I cared about him a lot. I still care about him. In a platonic way. It’s not the same as what I feel for Lincoln; he isn’t Lincoln. It’s not his fault, but Lincoln is and always will be the one I want. He’s _my_ Fitz.”

“The star in your sky,” Jemma said, smiling now through the tears that had trickled down her cheeks. “Your everything.”

Daisy took a deep, shaky breath. “Do you understand now?” she asked. “Do you understand why and how and -”

Before Daisy could finish her sentence, Deke came running down the stairs, his face pale, stressed and starting to swell from where Sousa had punched him. Hot on his heels were Bobbi and Ward; apparently Trip had stayed inside the secondary lab with Hunter, Sousa and Miles. Both Daisy and Jemma quickly scrubbed the tears out of their faces, turning to face Deke. 

“Lincoln, can you hear me?” Deke called; Lincoln came to the partition between the lab and the corridor that they were in, still wearing his scrubs and standing on the other side of the glass.

“What’s up?” he asked, peeling off his gloves and hairnet as he spoke.

Just when Daisy had thought things couldn’t get any worse, Deke dropped another bombshell on them. 

“Robin Hinton’s been taken,” he said.

“What?” Daisy and Lincoln spluttered at the same time. 

“Robin?” Jemma repeated, her brow furrowed. “That’s not right; she’s a toddler right now!”

Jemma hadn’t been around when they had figured out that time unfortunately didn’t matter any more. 

“She knows the future,” Daisy said, rubbing her forehead with one hand as she tried to figure out what was going on. “She can see different timelines. Holy crap, she -”

“She narrows the field,” Lincoln supplied. “Kora sees absolutely everything and Raina only sees what _will_ happen. If Raina wanted to see a more concentrated option of the future of something she hasn’t seen yet, Robin is the one to turn to.”

“But she’s still a baby,” Jemma protested. “She would be of no use to Hive -”

“Flint,” Daisy said. “Flint can transport us between the timelines. And there’s the Robin back in our timeline as well; age doesn’t matter at this point. It’s been two days for us and months for you. Time no longer has any meaning in this war against Hive.”

Jemma pursed her lips, but didn’t say anything. Lincoln slammed his fist against the glass, startling all of them.

“I promised I’d keep her safe,” he said, agitation and stress standing out on his face. “I promised Charles -”

“I did too,” Daisy said. “This is as much on me as it is on you, Lincoln -”

“Not in this timeline, it isn’t,” Lincoln said grimly, his eyes dark and haunted. Daisy wished that she were in the same room as him so that she could comfort him, but as it was, it was safer that they weren’t. Lincoln and Doctor Johnson were both clean, but the rest of them outside were carrying who knew how many germs with them. Even though he _was_ separated from both them and Yo-Yo right now by the thin glass partition barriers. 

“Wait, hang on,” Deke said suddenly. “Hive’s targeting Inhuman children now.”

“Yes, we just established that,” Ward said dryly. “I swear, if the next thing you’re going to say is he’s after Daisy and Lincoln for their kids -” 

“No, it’s not that,” Deke said, waving his hands wildly. “May. Her daughter. Her daughter could be Inhuman because of Andrew. And after the talk we had about Inhuman powers possibly being related to those of their biological parents, Hive would be after her if there is even a smidgen of a chance that she has a similar gift to Lash’s.”

There was a stunned silence. 

“We have to go,” Lincoln said, already turning to the panel to pop open the door.

“Lincoln, don’t!” Jemma said. “If you’re right and Yo-Yo is a trap, you need to stay. We have three Inhumans and two of you are immune; you have to stay!”

“Flint can’t leave,” Ward agreed. “He’s not immune and if Hive wants him because he can transport people through the timelines, it’s safest if he stays and avoids coming in close contact with Hive.”

“If Robin was the reason that Hive wasn’t at the Academy, then it stands to chance that one group of Hive’s Inhumans will go after May and the other half will go after the Centipede serum,” Bobbi said. “We need to split up even more.”

“Centipede serum?” Jemma repeated; Deke nodded.

“Doctor Johnson confirmed it to Lincoln a few minutes ago,” he said, before turning to Daisy. “Daisy, you have to go. You have to go to May; there’s no other option.”

“No, I can’t -” Daisy began, looking at Lincoln and then back at Deke. “Deke, no, I can’t -”

“Deke and I will keep him safe,” Jemma said, correctly interpreting her desire to stay. “Daisy, you have always done everything to help Fitz and me - you travelled to deep space with me to find him and I never would have found him without you, you took on endless LMDs - it’s my turn to help you keep the man you love safe. We’ll make sure he’s safe. I promise.”

Daisy bit her lip. She trusted Jemma and Deke, she really did, but how were they supposed to stand against Hive and any of his Inhumans? There was no way they could. They were human and, to quote Lance Hunter, Inhumans were ‘bloody aliens’. It was an impossible choice. She had to go, she knew it, but to leave Lincoln when Hive was getting closer and closer to his endgame….

“I’ll go with Daisy,” Ward said, shocking Daisy with his words. “Lincoln, I know that decision might not make you happy, but I am the best specialist on the team and May doesn’t know Daisy. May trusts me. I’ll make sure Daisy gets back to you. No matter what.”

It was startling to realize that Ward had just promised to keep her safe, no matter the consequences. He was either feeling incredibly guilty about Hive/Kara, or he had lost all will to live without her. Daisy knew all too well how losing someone you loved could send you spiralling down a dark path.

“Ward, if this is you trying to atone yourself for Kara’s death -” Lincoln began and Ward cut him off.

“This is not a sacrifice play,” Ward said. “I’m not suicidal. I may have just lost Kara, but I’ll be damned if you lose the woman you love as well. When I was keeping you guys in lockup, I really did have your best interests at heart. We may have disagreed many times about how to keep working together as a team and Daisy may have knocked me unconscious and I may have accused you two of betraying the team because of the sway, but we’re on the same side here. I saved your sorry butts from Alisha; you can trust me to keep Daisy as safe as I possibly can. Because through all the insane crap we have gone through, the one thing I’ve come to realize is there is nothing worse than losing the person you love. And the other thing I know, without a doubt, the whole time, is that you and Daisy belong together. And I’ll be damned if I let you two lose each other.”

Daisy and Jemma turned to stare at each other, recognizing some of the words that Ward was saying. 

“Well,” said Jemma finally. “I think you can trust him.”

“Did I say something that one of you already said?” Ward asked, his brow furrowed in exasperation.

“Daisy said a variation of that,” Lincoln explained. “To Simmons about her and Fitz.”

“Oh,” Ward said warily. “Well, at least I hope that means that you know you can trust me.”

Daisy’s head was spinning. Circles. Really circles upon circles upon circles. At this rate, she was so confused about what was up and what was down. It wasn’t just Hive’s timeline that was replaying, apparently, it was everything from Centipede serum to the Framework. 

Deke glanced at Daisy. “Daisy, are you okay with this?”

Before she could respond, Ward addressed her. 

“I know that the Grant Ward in your timeline was a piece of work,” he said. “I figured it out from your reaction to seeing me when you and Sousa rescued the team at Hive’s base. And although you and I, and Lincoln, have certainly had our differences over the last few days, I would hate for you to think I am anything like the Grant Ward you knew over there.”

Daisy inwardly sighed. And of course he was going to come out with a speech like Framework Ward had given her. She had to admit, they had gotten off to a _very_ rocky start here in Deke’s timeline. 

“You can trust him, Daisy,” Deke tried to assure her. “He really is one of our best specialists. The two of you and May - unless Hive goes after you with his entire army - will be more than able to cope with whatever Hive throws at you.”

“Knowing our luck,” Daisy muttered. “Hive will send Alisha, James and Giyera after us.”

In the original timeline, Daisy had been swayed by ‘Zombie-Ward’ aka Hive and, as a result, she had left the base, betrayed the team, and had joined his ranks alongside Alisha, James and Giyera. Worst of all, she had left Lincoln behind...and he and Jemma had been working on their doctor-antitoxin-cure stuff. Just great. 

“I don’t even want to know at this point,” Ward muttered darkly. 

Lincoln banged his head on the glass. “Not funny, Daisy,” he said.

“Sorry,” Daisy replied, genuinely chagrined for worrying him. “But you have to admit, it makes sense in a sucky sort of way.”

“Just so long as you two don’t end up swayed by Hive and influenced by Katya,” Jemma said wearily. “And Lincoln doesn’t go off the deep end with recklessness with antitoxins and murder vests.” 

Jemma knew what they were talking about too. But unlike Kora, who often made jokes out of the situation, Jemma knew all too well what the consequences would be if they failed; she was much more serious about the disasters that they were facing. 

“The murder vests already happened,” Lincoln told Jemma grimly, causing Jemma to sigh and mutter under breath, “Inhumans in love. Absolutely bonkers.”

“And _that_ is not funny,” Daisy told Lincoln at the same time as Lincoln said, “Hey, don’t judge me, Jemma. You’re the one who brought Daisy and Piper and Davis to Naro-Atzia on a whim to find Fitz when all of them wanted to go back to Earth and refuel.” 

Jemma frowned at him. “Just how much did Kora show you?”

“Everything that happened to the team after I died and all my memories beforehand,” Lincoln said. “From various perspectives, so you can imagine how crazy that gets. Like I can follow the conversation that Daisy had with you while the base was being overrun with LMDs, follow her till she fought the LMDs, but also see what you were doing while she was fighting said LMDs. Now _that_ is bonkers.”

“Guys!” Deke protested. “Can we get back to the issue at hand?”

“Yeah, sorry,” Lincoln said and both Daisy and Jemma turned back to look at Deke.

“I’m not even going to ask,” Ward muttered and Bobbi shook her head in amusement. 

“I got some of it,” she admitted. “The beginning, yes. Naro-Atzia, not so much.”

“Not the problem right now!” Deke intervened. “Daisy, will you go with Ward?”

Daisy glanced at Ward and then at Lincoln. She couldn’t imagine leaving him, not again, not when they knew Hive was getting closer and closer to his endgame. But at the same time, she was an agent; she had to do what she had to do. And Deke was right; she and Lincoln couldn’t both go.

Lincoln opened his mouth to speak and Deke cut him off. “As much as I know you don’t want Daisy to be in danger, Lincoln, she can’t stay. She can’t do what you’re doing with Yo-Yo; it would be stupid to have her be a bodyguard for Jemma and Doctor Johnson when you can be both doctor and bodyguard.”

Lincoln grimaced. 

Daisy sighed. “Fine, I’ll go,” she said, but her eyes were still locked on Lincoln’s, almost as if she were trying to memorize the planes of his face. She stepped up to the glass and pressed her fingertips against it. “Lincoln, whatever you do, don’t you dare, don’t you _dare_ test that antitoxin or the cure or the vaccine or whatever you and Doctor Johnson are working on against yourself. Promise me.”

Lincoln placed his hand against the glass, matching hers. “And don’t you go do anything reckless,” he warned. 

Ward shook his head. “You do realize, you can come out of quarantine, Lincoln,” he said. “You two don’t have to do the dramatic ‘separated by glass’ thing. And I promise I’ll do my best to make sure she’s safe. Although she can probably kick my butt better than I can kick hers.”

Daisy and Jemma traded wry grins; Lincoln spoke again as he opened the panel to exit the lab, pulling off his operating gown as he went.

“The Centipede serum, by the way,” he said, changing the subject, “it’s at the Hub. That’s where the last of the samples are.”

“Okay,” Deke said. “Ward and Daisy, take the Quinjet to the Retreat, where May is. I’m going to remotely fly one of the Quinjets here from the Playground. Bobbi, I want you and Trip to take that Quinjet and fly ahead of us to the Hub, if you can beat us there, all the better. Lincoln, do what you have to do for Yo-Yo; Jemma - Hunter, Miles and Sousa still need treatment. Flint will be running different inventions of Doctor Johnson by you while you treat them. Hopefully Miles will be well enough to help you. Yes?” 

“Done,” Bobbi said. “Jemma, come with me, I’ll show you where most of the medical supplies are before I go.”

“And I’ll prep the Quinjet,” Ward added. “Daisy, I’ll be up there whenever you’re ready.”

It was a surprising change of pace to have Ward deliberately give her and Lincoln space. She hadn’t been expecting that of him at all, but after his speech, it made sense. He really had been trying to do what was best for the team, albeit in a way that utterly opposed their wishes and needs. 

“And I’ll...tell May you guys are on the way,” Deke said, struggling to come up with a reason to leave and finding one at the last minute. “Warn her so she doesn’t go all guns blazing on you two when you show up at her door.”

While they weren’t exactly subtle, Daisy appreciated all four of them for giving them space. Just before she left, Jemma gave her a quick hug and whispered in her ear, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything reckless,” before following Bobbi from the room. As Ward was about to leave, Lincoln called after him.

“Ward - thanks,” he said. “It means...more than you know.”

Ward gave him a grim smile. “Like I said back when we were at the Academy. You did everything you could to help Kara and I. Bobbi recently reminded me that even though I sometimes feel like this whole mess if on you, it really isn’t. And I meant what I said earlier about not wanting the people I care about to lose the people they love.”

He disappeared through the door after Jemma and Deke brought up the rear, leaving Daisy and Lincoln alone in the corridor. 

“So…,” Daisy said, turning to Lincoln, feeling an irrational bubble of nerves in her stomach. There was nothing to be nervous about. This was Lincoln! He knew her better than anyone else on the plane, Jemma included, technically, since he had seen everything that even Jemma hadn’t. It wasn’t just the memories; they had settled back into a rhythm that made her feel complete around him, to the point of speaking in unison, figuring out what the other was thinking before they even spoke and finishing each others’ sentences. It felt wrong to be leaving him, especially since neither of them wanted to.

“So,” Lincoln said. He gave her a faint smile. “I really don’t want to split up either, but despite everything, I really do trust Ward. This Ward. He’s a good specialist. And I believe him when he says he’ll do whatever he has to do to keep you safe. You did, for Fitzsimmons. And he’s not the Ward from your timeline. He and May will be good backup. You can count on them.”

“I’d much rather have you there,” Daisy said, reaching for his hand and intertwining their fingers. 

Lincoln smiled. “I know.” 

They stared at each other, so much passing between them without the necessity of words. Could she say all that she wanted to say? Was she ready? Could she finally tell him how she felt? Before she could summon up the courage to speak, however, Lincoln spoke instead. 

“So, uh, about what you told Simmons,” Lincoln said. “I kinda heard that. You guys were kind of...loud.”

“Oh,” Daisy said, a blush starting to form on her cheeks. “Well, I guess...I mean, it wasn’t like I said anything that I didn’t want you to hear.”

That was progress. Daisy was well aware that she had bared her soul to Jemma about just how deep her feelings for Lincoln ran. She just hadn’t had the guts to tell _Lincoln_ how she truly felt. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” Lincoln said, one hand brushing her cheek and cupping her face. “Don’t feel in any way pressured to tell me anything. This is as new as it is old.”

Daisy smiled faintly. “And you haven’t told me how you feel either,” she reminded him. 

“Hmm,” Lincoln murmured, his expression musing and teasing at the same time. “Come back and I’ll tell you. It’ll give you some incentive to return.”

Daisy laughed. “This time,” she promised, even though her stomach was a bundle of nerves at the thought of being brutally honest. “I’ll tell you what I want to say.”

Lincoln smiled in response. “I’ll hold you to that,” he warned, but his expression was teasing as he leaned down to kiss her.


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to make the scenes after all! I posted the link with the previous chapter in an edit, but for those of you who haven't seen it yet, here it is! I really hope you enjoy it! It's called "Daisy and Simmons Go Down Memory Lane". 
> 
> Link to scene: https://youtu.be/y6naYfXT_rE
> 
> I will be creating more scenes and also making extended versions of the scenes that already appeared in my trailers. I hope you guys will like them!!! And as always, happy reading! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 44**

“You good to go?” Ward asked as Daisy climbed into the Quinjet. He was sitting in the cockpit; he was the pilot after all. Daisy still didn’t know how to fly, although seriously, when this was all over, she needed some lessons. From anyone really. At this point, it was getting ridiculous. Her closest knowledge to knowing how to fly was hacking into the Quinjet system and remotely controlling it. 

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Daisy said grimly. 

She sat down in the co-pilot seat, crossing her arms over her chest. She didn’t say anything as Ward ejected the Quinjet from Zephyr Three and then started navigating their way to the Retreat. 

“You can go to sleep if you want,” Ward said, glancing at her. “We’ve got a ways to go till we get to the Retreat and it’s nighttime.” He nodded towards the dark sky. “None of us have gotten much sleep since this whole thing started.”

Daisy shrugged. “I’m good.”

Ward sighed, pressing buttons on the console. “Daisy, we’re going to have to try and meet each other halfway here. Keeping you and Lincoln in lockup clearly wasn’t the best idea I could have had and you’re right; there are other ways I could have gone about doing it. You probably shouldn’t have quaked me into a wall either! But seeing as we’re stuck with each other, we might as well try to get along.”

Daisy also sighed, frowning at the dashboard. “It’s complicated, Ward,” she said at last. “It’s not just the whole lockup thing. By now, I’m sure you know that I lost Lincoln in my timeline to Hive. What you don’t know is...well, in that timeline, you weren’t just a bad guy. You became Hive’s host. And Lincoln died saving me from you. I met a version of you once who was a decent guy, but it’s really hard for me to think of you as that decent guy when I’m constantly on edge around you because you remind me of Hive, especially because that are the events that are at play right now. I saw Kara as Hive once in this timeline, but the majority of my experience has been with you as the ancient Inhuman who killed the man I love. It’s not only you in this case, it’s me.”

Ward glanced at her. “That’s...understandably rough,” he said after a long pause.

“It’s not that I’m heartless,” Daisy said, knowing that that had been hard for him to hear, especially since Kara was now Hive’s host. Who wanted to hear that you were the host for an ancient Inhuman who tried to bring about the destruction of the world? “It’s just...difficult. But as much as it’s hard for me to look at you, I know how painful it is to lose someone you love. And Kara...well, from my experience with the decent version of you, I know that when you care about someone, you really do love them. The Framework Ward I knew would have done anything for Skye. And I’m pretty sure that’s how you feel about Kara. I’m sorry, truly sorry, that you lost her.” 

Ward pushed the next few buttons with a renewed vigour, but didn’t say anything. Daisy took the silence as an opportunity to continue speaking, trying, like he said, to meet him halfway. And that would only work if she was honest. 

“I know what it’s like to lose someone to Hive,” she said. “Jemma and I both do. She lost Will and I lost Lincoln. And, for what it’s worth, I really am sorry you lost Kara. It sounds like in this timeline, both of you turned out good.”

Ward sighed. “Sounds like this Ward from your timeline was a real bastard,” he said. “Either as a human or as Hive’s host.” He paused. “I know you think that we don’t change, no matter what timeline we’re in. Do you think that about me as well, then?”

Daisy rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand. “It’s complicated,” she said. “Lincoln hasn’t changed much at all, I know that. My dad, too, hasn’t changed underneath. He might have something against Inhumans in this timeline, but under the surface, he’s still got the same heart. You...you’re complicated. I know that in the Framework you were a different guy and I eventually came to the conclusion that there was some good in the Grant Ward in my timeline. I can only surmise that you’re the representation of the good Grant Ward from the Framework when someone did right by you.” She paused. “I guess Hand killing John Garrett in this timeline was the best thing after all.”

“Hand?” Ward repeated. “Victoria Hand? She was - is - my old S.O..”

Daisy nodded, her lips pressed together a little. “That was how it was in the Framework as well,” she said, unsurprised by that statement. After his speech about how he was nothing like the Grant Ward from her timeline, it was unsurprising that he had had Hand as his supervising officer. 

“This Framework…,” Ward said. “What is it?”

“A digital hellhole,” Daisy said darkly. “It’s a digital representation of my timeline. Computer programming really. Aida - an LMD and a corrupt one, mind - took away one regret from each person that she inserted into the Framework.” 

“And yours was Lincoln?” Ward asked. 

Daisy looked at him.

“I couldn’t help overhearing you and Jemma,” Ward said. “I’m sorry, none of us meant to eavesdrop, but while the Zephyr is big for a plane, it is still a plane.”

Daisy sighed, leaning back against her headrest. “Lincoln told me he heard as well. If he could hear it in the main lab, I guess the rest of you could hear it in the secondary lab as well.” She paused. “And no, I didn’t get Lincoln back in the Framework. I would have, if I had been inserted in like the others, but neither Jemma nor I was plugged in by Aida. We went in ourselves to rescue our friends.” 

“Ah,” Ward said. “That was very brave of you both.”

Daisy shrugged. “Didn’t feel that way at the time.” While they had both been scared crapless, she still didn’t like admitting that to Ward. 

They were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. At last, Ward spoke again.

“You should tell him how you feel,” Ward said suddenly.

“What?” Daisy looked at him.

“Lincoln,” Ward said. “He probably heard you when you and Jemma were talking -”

“He did,” Daisy muttered under her breath.

“But you should still tell him how you feel,” Ward said. “I’m not saying that you’re going to lose him, that is the last thing I want, but you should tell him how you feel. I regret not telling Kara more how I loved her and not cherishing the time we had together. You shouldn’t not tell him because you’re afraid.”

“What makes you think I’m afraid?” Daisy challenged.

Ward shrugged. “Why else wouldn’t you tell him? Everyone knows how you feel for him. Even he does at this point. You should just tell him.”

Daisy sighed, twisting her fingers together in her lap. As much as she was reluctant to admit it, Ward was not wrong. She did need to tell Lincoln how she felt. She had promised him that she would, but that was easier to say when she wasn’t going to see him for a while. Everyone she got close to ended up dying and she was terrified that she couldn’t save Lincoln this time. But it would be worth it, to get close to him, to be honest with him, even if she lost him again. She might never heal from it this time, but at least she would have been honest and they would have that time together. 

“I was already planning on doing so,” Daisy admitted.

“Good,” Ward said, glancing at her. “Because Lincoln hasn’t had an easy time of it either. There’s a reason that Deke’s the closest thing he has to a father. His sister is great, but his parents...not so much.” 

Daisy glanced at Ward. “I would never hurt him,” she said, firmly believing the words even as she said them.

Ward nodded. “Not intentionally, I know,” he said. “But as much as you can’t lose him, he can’t lose you. He needs you. The Inhuman void...it’s like he’s whole now that he’s found you. I don’t know if you feel the same way - I definitely think so, but have no proof, only you know that - but he’s complete with you. And that’s saying something, considering I haven’t been around you guys all that much.”

He was not wrong. For the first time in years, Daisy felt complete, she felt whole, she felt like the emptiness inside had finally been filled. And it wasn’t thanks to Hive. It was because she had Lincoln, had Kora, had a family. She hadn’t been lying when she had told Kora that she finally had a family. They - and both teams, really - were her family. 

Daisy frowned. “What are you saying?” she asked.

“I’m saying that you can’t die for him,” Ward said. “As much as you can’t live without him, he won’t be able to live without you. So sacrificing yourself for him isn’t going to fly because the person left behind will be hurting just as much if not more than the person who died.” He paused. “Which I’m sure you know because you were once that person left behind.”




If someone had once told Jemma Simmons that all of Daisy’s ex-boyfriends and love interests would somehow turn out to be S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on her grandson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team, she probably would have thought that they had ended up in some other disastrous version of the Framework. And somehow her grandson had adopted her sister’s other half as his surrogate son figure. Which would technically make her Daisy’s great-grandmother when Daisy and Lincoln eventually got married.

Jemma was under no more illusions about Daisy’s feelings for Lincoln. She had been heartbroken when she’d realized just how much Daisy had kept from her. But it made perfect sense why Daisy had kept it secret, because Jemma literally had everything that Daisy had wanted. She _had_ her perfect ending with Fitz, she got him back from the dead, she even got a grandson and then a daughter. The closest Daisy had come to telling her how she felt about Lincoln after he had died had been when Daisy admitted to having looked him up in the Framework but even then, that had been before Fitz had died. It had been before they had been put in an inevitable position of Daisy not being able to confide in her the truth, simply because Jemma had been the lucky one. 

Up till now.

Keeping Lincoln safe was going to be a task and a half in and of itself. To be fair, Jemma knew next to nothing about the Lincoln from this timeline, but she knew the Lincoln from her timeline fairly well; next to Daisy, she had been the closest one to him. They had worked together in the lab on Inhuman biology, the vaccine, the antitoxin...and she felt incredibly guilty now that she hadn’t done more to protect him then. He was a good person and she hadn’t been able to look beyond the recklessness in his actions to save Daisy. He was not wrong when he had called her out for taking Daisy, Piper and Davis to Naro-Atzia, and, Jemma had to admit, now that Daisy and Lincoln were inadvertently causing her to think about it, that Fitz had been just as reckless when he had saved her from Maveth. She could hardly fault him for doing something that Fitz had done as well. 

However, it was just hard to look at Sousa at this point, when she knew perfectly well that he still had feelings for Daisy. 

When she and Bobbi returned to the lab, Hunter and Sousa were stirring on the table and gurney respectively. Thank goodness Trip and Miles were still in the room; they glanced over when the women entered.

“What’s going on?” Trip asked. 

“Ward and Daisy are going to the Retreat,” Bobbi said. “Trip, you and I will take the second Quinjet to try and beat the Zephyr to the Hub, if Deke manages to get it here in time.”

“Daisy and Lincoln are splitting up?” Trip asked incredulously. 

Jemma felt a pang of guilt. The way Trip was referring to them and the way that Daisy and Lincoln had interacted made it clear to her that they were trying their version of her and Fitz’s rule: never splitting up again. But once more, it simply wasn’t possible.

“They didn’t have a choice,” Bobbi said. “Hive went after Robin Hinton and Deke think he’s after Lexi next.” 

“Oh God,” Trip said. “Because she might have inherited Andrew’s abilities.”

Bobbi nodded grimly. 

Miles turned to the wall and pressed a button. Jemma was completely taken aback when the metal wall panel slid down, revealing a glass barrier between the secondary lab and the main one where Doctor Johnson was; Lincoln had just re-entered the main lab. Deke had apparently made some major upgrades to Zephyr Three and Jemma was seriously impressed. 

“Hey, Lincoln, Doctor Johnson?” Miles called. “Now that you know about the other timeline, is there some way to test for abilities before Terrigenesis? I know it sounds crazy, but seriously, after all the insanity that we’ve been through, is there some way to do so?” 

“Inhuman powers are based on the evolutionary needs at the time,” Doctor Johnson said. “If an Inhuman were to die, for example, then someone else might inherit a similar gift. Unless you can predict the future, I don’t think it's possible.”

“We could definitely test DNA for Inhuman markers,” Lincoln said, glancing at Jemma. “Doctor Johnson and I could figure it out...the knowledge is in my head somewhere thanks to the Framework.”

Jemma appreciated that Lincoln wasn’t telling her whose memories he was going through in order to figure it out; it was Fitz. Fitz who had experimented on Inhumans; Fitz who had killed Lincoln in the Framework; Fitz who had given Lincoln’s powers to Aida; Fitz who had ruined Daisy’s chances of seeing him in there. Admittedly, it was all ultimately on Aida and technically also Doctor Radcliffe, but it was difficult not to remember that when the memory of Daisy’s pain and suffering was so fresh on her mind.

“But I would need more blood samples first,” Lincoln continued. “I already have Daisy’s and mine; Jemma, could you get one of Flint’s for me?”

“Sure,” Jemma said. “When he gets back.”

Lincoln and Jemma’s eyes met. He had been there when Jemma had promised that she and Deke would keep him safe and although it was almost ludicrous to think that they could protect an Inhuman from other Inhumans, it was still worth promising and trying. 

Miles grinned appreciatively. “And if you find out he’s your grandson, Lincoln, you’ll owe me $20.”

“I’m not betting on that,” Lincoln told him, but Miles was laughing, even as Doctor Johnson raised an eyebrow at Lincoln that clearly said something like, did you knock up my daughter? 

Doctor Johnson still didn’t know much about travelling between the timelines. Out of all of them, he had the most to catch up on. Jemma hadn’t had the chance to explain much; they had been very busy trying to make sure that Yo-Yo was alright, but he knew enough to understand that it wasn’t completely illogical for Daisy and Lincoln to have a teenage grandson or for Jemma herself to have a grandson thirty years older than her. 

“And there I thought you’d matured,” Trip muttered under his breath. “Sit, Miles, before your body gives out again. We still aren’t sure what’s wrong with you.”

“What’s wrong with him is that he was hit by a bloody alien,” Hunter said darkly; he had woken up. Bobbi rushed to his side, even as he continued speaking. “I have a lot of sympathy for Ward. That _hurt_.”

“How are you feeling?” Bobbi asked. 

“Angry at Deke,” Hunter admitted. “But not as much as before. Whatever that Inhuman is doing to our emotions sucks big time.”

“Trust me, all alien powers are painful,” Sousa said; he had woken up too. “I think getting hit by electricity is worse than getting hit by a quake pulse.”

Jemma was confused; she had assumed that their conditions had been similar to Miles’ when he had lost all mobility of his limbs. But apparently something had happened that had caused Lincoln to knock out Sousa and Daisy to knock out Hunter. However, seeing as neither seemed too angry at either of the Inhumans for having done so, she could only presume that Daisy and Lincoln had been in the right. 

“They should have a competition when they get back,” Miles said cheerfully. “They can both already fly; what else can you guys do?” He addressed this last statement to Lincoln, who was working with a series of blood samples under a microscope.

“It’s what they can’t do, more like,” Hunter muttered. “Which is not get you to shut up.”

Miles pulled a face at him in response and Hunter made one back.

“All of you should keep quiet,” Bobbi scolded, pushing Hunter to lie back down. “Jemma needs to run tests on you three to make sure that you're completely Katya-free.”

“And if we’re not?” Sousa asked, glancing at Jemma, who was taking Miles’ blood sample now to join the collection of Sousa’s and Hunter’s that Lincoln had previously taken.

“We try to work it out of your systems,” Jemma said. “If Lincoln is right and this is similar to how the Berserker Staff worked on Ward and May, then all you need to do is hit a punching bag for a while and drink some alcohol.” She refrained from mentioning the sex. That was all good and fine for Hunter and Bobbi, but she was not about to mention it when Sousa was in the room. That would be even more of a disaster in the making than all of Miles’ ill-timed comments.

“Here,” Trip said, approaching Sousa with the prosthetic leg that Lincoln had put down when he had rushed to Daisy’s aid. “Let’s get you set up with two legs again.”

“No,” Sousa said abruptly, causing all of them to look at him in surprise. “If Deke made that, I want nothing to do with it.”

“I’m sorry?” Jemma said, frowning. She hadn’t been in the room when the whole fight had broken out; although the glass partition enabled Lincoln to hear what they were saying now, apparently when the metal barrier was up, sound waves travelled much less. 

Lincoln intervened. “Jemma could always make you one, but it would take some time,” he said. “Or...uh, well, I designed one, but if you don’t want to use it, I completely understand.”

There was silence for a moment; Sousa was apparently weighing the merits of accepting something from Lincoln in his head. Finally, he nodded.

“I would appreciate that, Lincoln,” he said, his voice just a tad stiff, but otherwise normal.

Jemma was even more surprised. What had Deke done that warranted Sousa being angrier at him than he was at Lincoln? She would not blame Sousa if he had a grudge against Lincoln; Lincoln was the one who had gotten Daisy. But apparently Sousa was even angrier at Deke than he was at Lincoln...which was saying something, considering Lincoln was the one who had knocked him out. 

“I’ll explain later,” Trip muttered to her in a low voice; Jemma hadn’t been able to keep the surprise off her face.

Fortunately, a diversion came in the appearance of Flint, who was carrying a giant box that looked like it had been hit by lightning.

“What in the world happened to that?” Jemma asked as Flint put the box down on the table and shook out his arms.

“Lincoln,” Miles explained; Lincoln and Doctor Johnson were discussing the reaction of one of the samples within the lab. “He fried it when he was aiming at Alisha.”

That was a good reminder that Alisha was still there. Jemma had no idea what would happen to the clone now that she was separated from the rest of her pack. All the other clones that she knew had been killed by Lash or Alisha herself. It was strange to think that this clone might survive away from the others. On the bright side, that provided yet another Inhuman whose blood they could test. The more samples they had, the better. 

“Flint, I need a blood sample,” Jemma said, approaching the boy. “Lincoln wants to test your blood for Inhuman markers.”

“Ah, okay,” Flint said, offering her his forearm; she stuck him with a vacuum syringe and then headed back over to the divider. Doctor Johnson took it through the passing panel, nodding his thanks in response. 

“It would be easier if we could test genetically linked blood samples,” Doctor Johnson said aloud to Lincoln and Jemma both.

“We have Daisy’s and Kora’s,” Lincoln said. “They’re half-sisters through their mother’s side. That’s the closest we can get to comparing genetically linked blood samples. None of the other Inhumans we know are genetically related, unless you count Jiaying. But we don’t have a blood sample of hers on the plane.”

“Kora is Daisy’s sister?” Doctor Johnson asked. “Who’s her father?”

“We don’t actually know,” Jemma said. “In my timeline, her blood analysis triggered a redacted blood work file. Like Daisy’s was when S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to protect her.”

“Redacted?” Bobbi repeated, concern blooming on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Jemma asked. 

“Not many agents have redacted DNA files,” Lincoln said. “Because not many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents require that kind of privacy. Deke’s is, as the director; Bobbi and Hunter as well because they’re disavowed, which is how we never figured out that they are related. Mine is redacted too, but only in this timeline, not in yours, because of the GH.325.”

“Wait, you think that Kora is related to Bobbi and Hunter?” Jemma asked, her eyes widening in shock. “That’s...absolutely crazy.”

“All things considered, it’s not the craziest thing we’ve faced in the last few days,” Bobbi said slowly. “She could be...what, an aunt? A cousin? But we aren’t the only people with redacted blood files in your timeline, are we?”

“No,” Jemma admitted. “Maybe her blood won’t be redacted in this timeline. We should test it here to see if we can find out.”

“We’ll do that while we compare her blood sample to Daisy’s,” Doctor Johnson assured Jemma as he started running another scan. “Huh. Kora’s blood is fascinating.”

“What is it?” Jemma asked, going over to the glass.

“Nothing that special,” Lincoln said, also looking at the blood sample. “Inhuman-wise, I mean. Our powers are just displayed in our blood samples; my cells, for example, are constantly sparking against one another. In Daisy’s, you can see them vibrate all the time. Kora’s...they seem to be able to heal themselves constantly. Like Jiaying’s, but without the necessity of drawing on someone else’s life force. That’s probably why she didn’t die after she blasted the Chronicoms from space whereas Gordon died when he was exhausted from teleporting. Her very powers ingrained in her genetics kept her alive.” 

That _was_ fascinating. Jemma had known that Kora’s powers were special and unique, but the very fact that they were constantly sustaining themselves just by existing was incredible. Not for the first time did Jemma wish she knew more about Inhuman biology. 

“But for powers like Raina’s and Katya’s, could you see their powers at work in the blood?” Jemma asked. 

“No, unfortunately,” Doctor Johnson said, laying another blood sample down on his microscope; it was Flint’s. “That’s the difference between physical and mental powers. Yo-Yo, for example; her blood cells are in a constant state of heightened speed. It’s also fascinating, but dangerous too. For example, if she got injured, she would bleed out incredibly quickly because her blood pumps through her veins so quickly. It’s incredible, really, how scientific Inhuman genetics are.”

Jemma knew that one. When Yo-Yo had gotten shot in the gut back when they had been fighting Hive, Lincoln had struggled with helping her because she bled out so quickly. In the end, Mack had had to cauterize her wound without anesthesia, something that had been incredibly painful. 

“Wait, hang on then,” Jemma said, concern suddenly rising. “If you had two physical powers at play, you could make them react to one another, couldn’t you? Like one could force another to do something. If you combined the right powers together, they could...create specific effects. They would be like...designer babies.”

“Nathaniel did that with Daisy and Kora’s powers,” Lincoln said. “The effect wasn’t all bad. And that’s only if it’s designed. Children born to one or two Inhuman parents don’t necessarily inherit the same gifts. Katya and Eva Belyakov’s powers couldn’t be more different. Sensory manipulation and extreme physical strength? There’s no similarity there at all.” He paused. “And even if a child had two Inhuman parents, that doesn’t mean that they would get a combination of their parents’ gifts. Because while part of it might be genetics, part of it is also the natural intelligent design of the species.”

“It wouldn’t be all bad,” Jemma mused aloud. “Daisy used her powers once to activate your powers to restart your heart. If your two powers coexisted within a single person, the effect could be fascinating. Vibrations and electricity manipulation...your children might be able to control the weather or control the natural elements.” 

Lincoln’s cheeks heated up and Jemma realized that she had gone into complete doctor mode without thinking. She did that sometimes, like the way she had with Lucio’s body when she and Fitz had discovered that there was still metabolic activity after he had died. 

“I don’t think that that is what Hive is after if he wants our future children,” Lincoln muttered, carefully studying a blood sample to avoid looking at Jemma and at the others - Miles was laughing openly, Trip had his eyebrows raised into his forehead in amusement and Bobbi and Hunter were trying not to laugh. “Because natural disasters don’t sound all that bad if they can control their powers. Because they _wouldn’t_ be causing said natural disasters.”

“We should see what the effect actually is,” Doctor Johnson said in a fascinated voice, sounding way too eager for someone who could end up experimenting with his daughter’s blood. “We should combine your blood...actually, if we could combine your reproductive cells that would be even more result-inducing.”

“Oh, hell, no,” Lincoln said, sounding horrified. “For all we know, that’s exactly what Hive wants. Daisy’s not pregnant right now; we are not going down that road. Not now. And besides, if you were to create a fertilized egg, then that would basically be a baby and we are not producing one for _research_.”

Jemma was glad that Lincoln had protested. That was no way to be creating a child. Not for experimentation’s sake! She figured that Doctor Johnson had also gone down the whole scientist-doctor road without thinking, but she was glad that Lincoln still had his head on his shoulders. 

“Fine, fine,” Doctor Johnson said, waving a hand. “But what would be most fascinating would be if we could compare two blood samples of Inhumans with similar physical powers who are genetically related and see if we can find the similarities. Maybe there are some reasons that a specific body can host a specific power.” 

“If we could induce Terrigenesis into a blood sample of Lexi’s, we could compare the blood sample of hers with that of Lash’s,” Lincoln said thoughtfully. “Lash’s cells exhibit certain properties; we could see if Lexi’s have a similar effect. That way we could see what the result of her Terrigenesis might be.”

“And we could predict what kind of powers she would inherit after Terrigenesis,” Jemma said. “That’s brilliant! That way we could see if she could actually have powers to defeat Hive without forcing her to undergo Terrigenesis!”

“And if she does?” Lincoln said, frowning. “She’s a little girl. Andrew turned into a monster. We can’t subject a child to Terrigenesis even if she might save the world. There has to be another solution.” 

“There’s still the immunity antitoxin that Raina created,” Jemma pointed out. “She put it in you; we should see the effects of Hive’s parasites against one of your blood samples. Blood samples, mind, not you yourself.”

She added that last part hastily, knowing that Lincoln would be willing to subject himself to experimentation but that it would be a disaster.

Lincoln nodded. “That’s a place to start,” he agreed. 

“I’ve already started looking into that,” Doctor Johnson said, nodding to where a couple of blood samples were displayed at his workstation. “It’s incredible really, what Raina did. She not only designed the antitoxin specifically to your DNA but she also disguised it to look completely natural. It’s hard to see what she did because it’s so cleverly hidden. Have a look.”

Lincoln took over the microscope and looked at his own blood sample. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s practically impossible to see. It’s like the perfect combination of blended powers. Like that two powers coexisting in one body that we talked about.”

“It might be possible for some powers to coexist without killing the host,” Doctor Johnson said thoughtfully. “And I don’t mean for two to work at the same time; yours and Daisy’s are clearly evidence enough of that. What I mean is what Doctor Simmons was talking about; if someone could control two powers at the same time.” 

“Nathaniel Malick tried that,” Jemma said. “He managed to combine Daisy’s and Kora’s powers within his own body.”

“That might have been because of the healing factor in Kora’s,” Lincoln said. “If we combined say, Daisy and my powers, the effect might not be the same because neither of us has that life-sustaining component.”

“But if we combined all three, it might work,” Doctor Johnson said. “Not in a baby, I don’t mean that, but just combining the three of your blood to see what the effect might be.” 

“We were already designed to be weapons,” Lincoln muttered. “If we find the perfect combination of powers that can coexist within a single host without killing said host, can you imagine the repercussions? That would be a nightmare. You’ve already invented Centipede serum, a super soldier formula. We shouldn’t be experimenting with Inhuman powers as well!”

“But if the combination of powers could defeat Hive?” Doctor Johnson began, only for Jemma to cut him off.

“We would be subjecting Daisy or Lincoln or Kora or someone to host a combination of powers so dangerous it might kill them,” Jemma said. “No, there has to be some other way to defeat Hive other than making one of them into a host for multiple powers at once.” 

“Daisy already tried fighting Hive with her powers; I did too,” Lincoln said. “Our powers aren’t enough.”

“Not alone, no,” Doctor Johnson said thoughtfully. “But together maybe. I’m not saying that you two need to combine your powers within a single body, far from it. But if you fought him together, it might work.”

“We already tried that in Bucharest,” Lincoln said. “We just slowed him down.” 

“Then maybe with other powers as well,” Doctor Johnson said. “If we could get you two to manipulate Lash’s powers that are already killing Hive’s parasites within your blood, it might work.”

“This is insane,” Sousa spoke up, startling all three of them into remembering that others were listening to their scientific talk. “You three are almost as bad as Nathaniel Malick. How much experimentation are you trying to _do_ with Inhumans?”

All three of them had forgotten that there were others who could hear their endless wonderings about Inhuman powers and genetics. The six in the room - Bobbi, Trip, Miles, Sousa, Hunter and Flint - were listening to their speculation.

“We’re not doing anything; we’re hypothesizing what the effects could be,” Doctor Johnson said stiffly. “We would never subject Daisy or Lincoln to this kind of experimentation without their approval.”

“Right,” Sousa said skeptically. “And if you find the perfect combination of powers that would coexist within a single Inhuman, are you going to create a designer baby to defeat Hive? Because that’s a slippery slope if I ever saw one.”

“Of course not!” Lincoln and Jemma protested simultaneously.

“You’d better not,” Sousa said warningly. 

Trip spoke over him, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Kora mentioned to me how similar her and Lincoln’s powers are. If there was any Inhuman whose powers could coexist with hers aside from Daisy, it would probably be you, Lincoln. That with the healing factor in her blood...the three of your powers could probably coexist within the same body.”

“That might be why Hive wants me,” Lincoln said suddenly. “Because our powers _might_ be able to coexist within the same body. Remember Aida, Jemma? She was created from the Darkhold, yes, but she was able to host my powers, Jiaying’s, Vijay Nadeer’s and Gordon’s all at the same time. Kora’s life energy manipulation is similar to Jiaying’s regenerative healing factor. We just found out that Kora’s manipulating her own life energy just by existing. Even without the Darkhold, the four of our powers might be able to coexist within a single Inhuman host.”

“Hive wants you?” Jemma repeated; this was news to her, and horrifying news at that. Even though Kora had raced off after Daisy and Lincoln after finding out where they were, Jemma hadn’t known that Hive specifically wanted both of them.

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “More than Daisy even and why, we don’t know, although he wants Daisy too.”

That was terrifying news as well. No wonder Lincoln had been especially vocal about wanting Daisy to stay. She was a target for Hive and Lincoln was powerless to protect her while she was on a mission with Ward. 

“That might actually make sense,” Doctor Johnson said thoughtfully. “If your and Jiaying’s powers can coexist, then your powers and Kora’s most likely can too. From what you mentioned about this Nathaniel, it sounds like Daisy and Kora’s powers can already coexist within a single body. And that might explain why Hive wants you and Daisy. Your children, combined with Kora’s healing component could become the perfect weapons. They might even be able to host Hive, if Kora’s life energy manipulation factor can heal quickly enough.”

“And that would explain why Hive wants you more than he wants Daisy,” Jemma realized. “Because your powers would be able to successfully combine with _both_ Daisy’s and Kora’s. If Hive can’t get Daisy, Kora’s eggs might be sufficient for what he wants. He’d rather have Daisy, of course, because then he’d be able to get three powers coexisting, but yours and Kora’s could be sufficient on your own.”

“We already know that Daisy and my powers can work in tandem,” Lincoln said slowly. “As can Daisy and Kora’s. And the similarities between Kora’s and mine, and Kora’s and Jiaying’s make perfect sense that mine and Kora’s can coexist within the same body. But altogether, all three of them...damn, that makes perfect sense.”

“And you guys are both immune,” Doctor Johnson reminded them. “But that doesn’t mean that your children would be. In fact, if he had both of you, he might be able to get Raina to reverse-factor that immunity to make your children even more susceptible to him because he would have conquered that immunity. This is science after all, not just the Inhuman powers.” 

That sounded like hell. Pure terrifying, horrible hell. 

“That’s terrible,” Jemma said. “Actually terrible. If we’re right, Lincoln, even if Hive doesn't get either you and Daisy - we _are_ going to defeat him, I guarantee it - you two could still hold the key to the world’s most powerful Inhumans after him.”


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I really hope that you all enjoyed the last chapter and the scene that I posted. Today's scene is one of a previous chapter, but I decided to release it with this chapter because of the big focus on the last few-ish chapters about families.... Anyway! I don't want to spoil it too much, but here it is!!! 
> 
> Link to scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELuhaX9lHx0
> 
> I will also post it in the respective chapter that it belongs in, HAHA, so don't worry!! As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 45**

“Oh my God,” Lincoln said, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “At this rate, Daisy and I should never, not ever have children. It sounds too dangerous.”

He felt sick to his core. Inhumans were already designed to be weapons, but the very fact that their children could be Hive’s most perfect weapons was beyond sickening. Kora wouldn’t have shown them that future if there wasn’t a high possibility of it coming true. Lincoln wanted that future; he had a pretty good feeling that Daisy did too, although she was too afraid to say so. She had always longed for a family and when he had tried to fill his Inhuman void with alcohol, she had spent hers searching for her parents. He also knew she wanted him and her reaction to him asking her about the future earlier, coupled with her instinctive reaction to her future pregnancy was a good enough indicator that she wanted that future as well. 

“That’s not true.” Jemma rushed to assure him. “It’s a hypothesis, not a fact. And anyway, the theory is that your powers are only dangerous combined if Kora’s powers are introduced into the mix as well. You could have perfect Inhuman children whose powers have nothing whatsoever to do with your own. Like we’ve been talking about, Inhuman powers fulfill the evolutionary need in the species at the time. It doesn’t mean that they’ll inherit your powers.”

Of course Jemma was trying to reassure him. He knew, thanks to accidentally overhearing their conversation earlier, that Jemma had had no clue whatsoever to how deep Daisy’s feelings ran for him. It was unsurprising - Lincoln, of all people knew how closely Daisy kept her feelings to her chest - but Jemma’s guilt was unnecessary. It wasn’t her fault that, up till now, she had been the lucky one. Daisy’s confession about wanting Aida’s offer of the perfect future was reminding Jemma that that blissful future had no place for Hive. 

“And worse come to worst, we could always create embryos and test them to ensure that they don’t get specific powers the way we’re going to test Lexi’s,” Doctor Johnson said. “And when we defeat Hive, no one aside from those of us in these two rooms, and Daisy, Ward, May and Deke, will ever know or need to know that the three of your powers - yours, Daisy’s and Kora’s - could be so very dangerous.”

In the next room, Sousa spoke up, startling Lincoln by his willingness to reassure him. He had a pretty good feeling that his face must look terrible if Sousa was trying to console him. While he had never deliberately done anything to warrant Sousa’s wrath, everyone knew all too well that he was another one responsible for Sousa’s current grief. 

“Kora would never have shown you two that future if it was going to hurt you,” Sousa said. “Swayed or not. She would never hurt Daisy like that and she knows that hurting you is, by extension, hurting Daisy. Simmons and Doctor Johnson are right; there is a way for you both to get that future that Kora showed you. We just have to find it.” 

It was a shocking revelation that Sousa was willing to help. But seeing as he obviously loved Daisy, helping her get the future she wanted would make her happy, even if it was with Lincoln. It was something that Deke had done; it made sense that Sousa would do that also. It was also nice to know that, although they had technically in a way been involuntary rivals, Sousa didn’t hate him. Which was good, because Lincoln didn’t hate Sousa. From the memories that Lincoln had inherited of him, he was genuinely a nice guy. It would be good if they could all be friends at the end of this disaster; while they were admittedly different timeline versions of their original counterparts, Lincoln was on fairly good terms with Ward and Miles. And he was definitely close to Deke. 

“We don’t even know if Hive knows that the combination of your powers could be so dangerous,” Flint said, interrupting Lincoln’s train of thought. “We’re speculating that this is why he wants you. There could be another reason altogether. Besides, just because your powers are so compatible doesn’t mean that the rest of us Inhumans don’t have equally compatible powers. For all we know, my powers could co-exist with your three powers as well. Or Alisha’s. Can you imagine if Hive could create multiple Alishas who have an entire mash-up of powers? Just because your children will be powerful doesn’t mean that they’ll be dangerous.”

That was another terrible speculation. If Alisha’s powers were compatible with his, Daisy’s and Kora’s, Lincoln could only imagine just how many super-powered Inhuman weapons there would be. The prime would obviously be Hive’s host, but having that many weapons would be so much worse than the eight-person Inhuman army that Hive _already_ had. 

“It’s the same way that having a power doesn’t make you dangerous,” Bobbi said, jumping in as well. “It’s what you do with those powers that matters. You and Daisy could take the plane out of the sky in a heartbeat, but you guys are keeping everyone safe instead.” 

Lincoln remembered when Rosalind Price had had her doubts about Daisy and her powers; Daisy had told him about it afterwards. Daisy had saved Rosalind’s life when she had been thrown from the top storey of the building by Lash, causing the latter to change her mind at least a little, about Inhumans, but it was a strange parallel that Bobbi, of all people, was reminding him of that. 

“And you both have powers that are physical,” Miles interjected. “Not like Raina’s or Charles Hinton’s. If anyone would be safe, it would be those with you two. You of all people would be able to keep yourselves and your children safe.”

Hunter spoke up too. “Lexi has the potential to be incredibly dangerous as well,” he said. “But just because Lash went around killing Inhumans doesn’t mean that we are going to kill Lexi for something that she may or may not do in the future. It’s the same with your future kids, even though they haven’t been born yet.”

“And you two need not have children until after Hive and Raina are defeated,” Jemma said. “Because unless you two are planning on getting pregnant like, now, it’s a concern for the future, not the present.”

“And,” Doctor Johnson said thoughtfully. “While you two are both Inhuman, it’s still possible for you two to have non-Inhuman children. Your parents aren’t Inhuman; the genetic marker skipped a generation. Your sister is human. So am I. Based on the laws of science, there is one combination of your and Daisy’s genes to produce children who are human, but carriers for the Inhuman gene. It’s possible for you two to have children who need never go through Terrigenesis.”

It was overwhelming how much support he and Daisy had at that moment. Lincoln took a deep breath and he realized that his hands were involuntarily sparking, showing just how close he was to losing control. Prior to him losing control when his memories had been confusing him, it had been almost a year since he had involuntarily produced electrical sparks. 

“I...I need a minute,” he said, heading towards the door. “Could someone come in and guard Doctor Johnson, please?” 

“I’ve got it,” Flint said, heading towards the door on his side. 

“Me too,” Trip said, following Flint. While Flint was an Inhuman, he was still a teenager, who didn’t have as much experience with his powers as Daisy or Lincoln did; it would definitely be safer with a specialist in the room. 

Jemma turned to Bobbi. “Can you watch Hunter and Sousa?” she asked. “I want to go after Lincoln.”

Bobbi hesitated and Jemma immediately understood her dilemma. In this timeline, Bobbi knew Lincoln better, although Jemma knew the other timeline version of him better. There was also the entire issue of them both being Deke’s grandmother and with Lincoln as Deke’s surrogate son, there was an unintentional competition there. It was a strange situation to be in, but Jemma genuinely wanted to apologize to Lincoln for failing to grasp the enormity of Daisy’s feelings for him before. It was the least she could do. 

Before either Jemma or Bobbi could decide on what to do, Deke re-entered the room. He was carrying a tablet and was looking down at it as he walked, something that was a habit of his. 

“May knows that Daisy and Ward are on the way,” he said. “Miles, can you -” He looked up and immediately sensed the tension in the room. “What’s going on?”

“Lincoln and Daisy’s kids could be the world’s most powerful Inhumans after Hive,” Miles said bluntly. “And now Lincoln is doubting whether or not they should even consider having kids.” He paused. “And from his reaction, I’m guessing that both he and Daisy want said kids.”

“I don’t think Daisy ever considered having kids until Kora told her about that future,” Jemma corrected Miles, only to remember, a split second too late that Sousa was in the room. Well, now she was also adding to his woes. This was not good.

“Hunter and I didn’t either,” Bobbi said quickly, jumping in to diffuse the situation. “Accidents happen.”

“You are not reassuring any of us in the slightest,” Hunter told her. “Because we did use protection, Bob.”

“And now you’ve given Deke a heart attack,” Bobbi sighed. “I swear, Hunter, although you love the sound of your voice, giving Deke an aneurysm is not what any of us want right now.”

“True,” Hunter said. “I need to give him the talk about girls first.”

Deke groaned aloud, although he was extremely grateful that Hunter was not holding a grudge against him despite his earlier anger. Hunter’s mood tended to fluctuate a lot. It was one of his best and worst qualities. 

Bobbi was not wrong. The fact that she had gotten pregnant while she and Hunter had been using protection was enough to worry Deke immensely. His brain had gone into overdrive at the possibility of Daisy somehow having a fertilized egg inside her. 

“Having kids is something that can typically happen if only one parent is an active agent and/or both are retired,” Miles said, drawing Deke out of his semi-terrified, semi-intrigued thoughts. “May and Mack both managed.” He turned to Hunter. “Are you going to be the stay-at-home Dad, then? Cuz we all know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is more Bobbi’s thing than yours.”

That had been one of the subjects that they hadn’t broached and it was a very touchy subject since both Bobbi and Hunter would have to leave when the battle with Hive was over. Bobbi and Hunter traded glances, but before either of them could speak, Deke intervened. 

“Miles, can you monitor the incoming Quinjet’s flight path?” he asked, handing him the tablet. “And track Daisy and Ward’s.”

“Sure,” Miles said, accepting the change of topic. “Do Daisy and Ward know that May is aware that they are on the way?”

“Haven’t contacted them yet,” Deke said. “I thought Lincoln might want to, but -”

“But he needs company right now,” Jemma agreed. “Bobbi -”

“You can go after him, Jemma,” Bobbi said. “You’ve been a parent longer.”

That was true, but regardless, Bobbi was a great mother. Jemma didn’t want Bobbi for a second doubting her abilities as a mother, simply because she wasn’t with her infant son at the moment. 

“You’re a great mother, Bobbi,” Jemma said. “Both Alya and Owen adore you.”

Bobbi smiled, but her smile was faint. All this talk of children wasn’t just getting to Daisy and Lincoln. It was also getting to Jemma and Bobbi because they were missing their children. It had been approximately one day in this timeline, but both of them were really missing their children. Hunter too, was missing his son whom he hadn’t even met yet. 

Jemma stepped outside into the corridor. Lincoln was sitting on the floor, methodically practising with his powers. He had a stream of electricity looped in a circle and was spinning it around and around like it was the most important thing in the world. For a second, it actually looked like Cat’s Cradle. 

“Practising?” Jemma asked, making him look up in surprise. His attention had been fixated with his powers.

“I don’t want to lose control,” he said. “When I first got my powers, I almost burned down the base a couple of times. Deke suggested that focusing on one task with them, no matter how small, would make that control easier. So….” He shrugged and let the electricity dissipate. 

“Your control seems good,” Jemma said honestly. “I don’t think I ever saw the Lincoln from my timeline do that before.”

Lincoln shrugged. “It’s a small thing,” he said. “But Deke also drilled into my head your very generational saying about steps not having to be big...so there’s that too.”

If there was ever proof about Lincoln being the closest thing Deke had to a son, this was it. Jemma sat down next to him, shaking her head in mild amusement. 

“And there I’d thought we’d reached the weirdest place our family tree could ever go,” she said. “Coulson is - was - basically Daisy’s father; in some ways, May is a mother figure to her; she’s essentially my sister; Deke is Fitz and my and Bobbi and Hunter’s grandson; he’s as good as _your_ father; and you’re with Daisy. We’re going around and around in a looping circle.”

Jemma was not wrong.

“And Mack is like Bobbi’s big brother,” Lincoln agreed. “And Daisy’s big brother too, for that matter.”

“And in this timeline yours?” Jemma asked.

“Yeah, aside from you and Fitz, Deke watched out for us the most,” Lincoln agreed. “I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. after he did, but when I officially became an agent, Mack and I became good friends.” He scratched the back of his head. “It’s going to be strange seeing him with Nicole in this timeline now. What with Yo-Yo back in the original one. And him not knowing about the other timeline.” He paused. “Actually, I think we might end up telling him. I think he’d want to know what we were all up to while he was on vacation. Unless...unless that knowledge becomes a burden.”

Jemma could understand that. There was a reason why she hadn’t told Fitz that he’d died at first. Knowing more was more painful than forgetting in many ways. 

There was silence for a moment and then Jemma said, “I’m glad you and Daisy are back together. I’m really sorry I wasn’t there for her more when you were gone. I didn’t understand...but I do now. And I’m really sorry for all the hard times that I gave you back in the original timeline. You were right; you were only trying to help.”

Apologizing was not so much in Jemma’s nature - she hadn’t ever even vocally told Daisy that she had been wrong about Inhumans - but after failing to understand for years Daisy’s pain at losing Lincoln, the least he deserved was a sincere apology from her. Regardless of the timelines and whatever version of himself, Jemma was aware that he loved Daisy too. The small interactions between them had been proof enough that it was not a one-sided thing. 

Lincoln gave her a wry smile. “I _was_ reckless, Jemma,” he acknowledged. “And did go overboard with Alisha. And to be absolutely fair, you and I having differing opinions on the antitoxin was no different than Ward and Trip disagreeing on how to keep Daisy and me in containment. Different methods, different situations, but similar results.”

Jemma’s smile faded. “Do you think Trip is going to be the one who will die?” she asked, her voice low so that no one other than them could hear. She doubted that anyone had overheard their previous conversation, but she wanted to make absolutely sure that no one heard them speculating about who was destined to die. “Kora is the one with Hive right now and Trip died once for Daisy, who was just his friend. He would die for Kora in a heartbeat.”

Lincoln was silent for a moment. “Someone still has to fry the manual controls on the plane,” he said finally. “Or destroy them so badly that the Quinjet can’t fly. Because the Quinjet is now designed to maneuver in space, Jemma, you know that.”

Jemma sighed. “Oh, the things we’ve done to prevent another death like yours,” she said. “LMDs, Quinjets flying in space, Kora stopping Daisy from dying, Daisy preventing atom bombs from exploding…. It’s terrifying how many ways we or Hive could prevent someone from dying the way you did. Or at least by trying the exact same tactic.”

“Someone’s still going to die in the Quinjet with the warhead, Jemma,” Lincoln said grimly. “Charles is never wrong. We might be able to change who dies, but some is still going to.”

“It’s not necessarily your destiny this time to die,” Jemma pointed out. “Daisy thought it was hers because Charles had shown it to her and you stole it from her.”

“By that mantra, then it’s my purpose to save Daisy,” Lincoln said. “Because she’ll be the one trying to save me.” He paused. “Regardless of Inhuman purposes and all, I mean. I would die for her in a heartbeat.”

The look in his eyes was clear and Jemma knew that she had to put a fullstop to that conversation before it went any further. Lincoln was in love with her; he would die for Daisy for love, not just because it might be his Inhuman destiny. 

“Neither of you are going to die,” Jemma said firmly. “Daisy can’t lose you again, Lincoln. It would destroy her, utterly destroy her.”

Both of them knew how deep Daisy's feelings for Lincoln were. Even though Daisy hadn't told Lincoln to his face yet, both of them knew just how much it would hurt her to lose him. She had already walked away for over six months. Losing him again...she might even try to run to another timeline, past or future, altogether to avoid seeing anything that reminded her of Lincoln. Chances were high that she wouldn't try to start something with him again because she knew that doing so would just result in her losing him, but she likely wouldn't start something serious with _anyone_. It would be highly unlikely that she would ever heal from losing him again. 

They fell back into silence for a while and then Jemma asked a question that had been on her mind for a while.

“What exactly did Kora show you, Lincoln?” she asked. “And...what exactly were the circumstances?”

Lincoln glanced at her. “I don’t know if I should tell you,” he said finally. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, far from it. If there was anyone I would show this future, it would be you. But I don’t know if Daisy would want me to share it with you.”

“You want to show it to me?” Jemma asked in surprise.

“Oh no, definitely not,” Lincoln said, moving his hands quickly out of reach in the off-chance that she remembered from Sousa’s revelation how it worked. “I mean...I guess I could show it to you, but I’ve only ever used my powers with Daisy and Kora, and they’re both Inhuman. I could probably do it with a human, because I’m in control, not you, but regardless, I don’t want to do that. It’s way too private for that.”

Jemma could understand that. There was no way that she was going to willingly tell anyone about what had happened between her and Fitz in the Cerebral Fusion machine. Parts of it, yes. But the whole experience? Absolutely not. 

“I don’t blame you for that,” Jemma said. “Some things are meant to be private.” She paused. “But of all people here, I know the most about the past and the future. I know you have Deke, but if you and Daisy need advice on anything….”

Lincoln sighed, clearly thinking about something. At last, he held up one finger. “Okay,” he said. “One question. Just one. Actually...yeah, two.”

“Fire away,” Jemma said promptly. 

And then Lincoln dropped a bombshell on her. 

“You and Fitz figured out a way to communicate between the timelines, right?” Lincoln asked.

Jemma stared at him. “How did you know?” she asked, anxiety flooding her completely at the thought that Fitz, Alya and Owen might be in danger. “I haven’t set it up on this side yet because of the dangerous situation and our constantly moving state but -”

“Kora’s visions,” Lincoln said, rubbing his forehead. “I guess that leads me to my second question...if you and Fitz figured out a way to communicate between the timelines, that means that time isn’t frozen for him, is it? Or for Alya and Owen?”

Jemma sighed. When it rained, it poured, and it was currently in a deluge. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Lincoln, it was just scary how much he knew. 

“Bobbi, Hunter and I can return to the exact moment that Bobbi and I left,” she said. “So even though time isn’t frozen for Fitz and the kids right now, when we return, it will be like no time has passed. He's being careful. Doing everything he can to make sure that he doesn't interact with the outside world so that our absences don't change the timeline from its intended path.” She paused. “We had to chance it. Fitz’s knowledge is invaluable right now and while he couldn’t come because we couldn’t leave the kids alone, we still need his brain.”

Lincoln nodded. He got that. “So May is your tether?”

“How do you seem to know about this, Lincoln?” Jemma asked, frowning at him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you have telepathy. Or precognition.”

“I didn’t just see the vision that Kora wanted to show us,” Lincoln explained. “I snuck into her head at the same time and saw more than she wanted to show us. It was hella confusing, especially because there are so many possibilities.” He paused. “But I was able to infer some stuff. You had to rope in May because of Flint. And I figured out the possibility about time passing because of one of the visions that Kora showed me.”

“That’s...bad,” Jemma said, panic rising inside her. “If you know this, then Kora does too. Even those back in the original timeline aren’t safe.” Her desire to go home and close the connection was itching at her. Fitz, Alya and Owen weren’t safe. On the other hand, Daisy was as good as her sister and Jemma couldn’t just abandon her in another timeline because there was danger involved.

“Kora has no reason to target those in the original timeline and neither does Hive,” Lincoln said. “She would only do that if Daisy and I tried to leave. The kids are safe.”

There was a slightly nostalgic, maybe envious note in Lincoln’s voice and Jemma looked at him.

“You want those children, don’t you?” she asked quietly.

“It was worse than the Framework, Jemma,” Lincoln said, not quite answering her question. “It was more real. We were living it, but more than that, it’s a possible future that Kora said was growing stronger every minute. When I looked in her head, she wasn’t lying. It’s not a dream, not a fabrication, not an illusion. I got the feeling that one day soon, we’re going to be living some of the events of that future and we won’t even realize it until later.”

“What do you mean?” Jemma asked, confused. “Did you recognize some things in the vision? People maybe, locations?” She paused. “Daisy’s hair? She changes her hair style at least once a year.”

Lincoln laughed. “Yes, that one is true,” he said. “She looks beautiful no matter what she does with it though.”

Jemma hid her smile. He was so obviously smitten, it was endearing. 

Lincoln sighed and then continued speaking. “The knowledge of the future is a definite burden. You’re lucky that you didn’t know all that much about your future with Fitz even though you knew you would eventually have a daughter who would have Deke. For me, knowing what’s going to happen...does that cause it to happen? Would it have happened anyway without Kora’s interference? The same thing applies to Alya and Owen. Will they get together because they were always meant to be together? Or will it be because they know that they are destined for each other?”

Jemma had to admit that it was indeed a complex situation. Lincoln was not wrong about how knowledge of the future was a burden. If he was struggling with the limited knowledge he had, she could only imagine how difficult it must be for Kora, who knew even more than he did. If she wanted a certain outcome, she could manipulate the situation to turn down that path. 

“Well, no matter what happens, you and Daisy chose each other before knowing the future,” Jemma reminded him. “And regardless of the past. So knowing the future doesn’t matter because it’s what would have happened anyway. And if Kora says that it was extremely likely to happen, then it likely would have happened anyway.”

Lincoln nodded, drumming his fingers on his thigh. 

“Daisy has always been good with kids,” Jemma said at last. “With Ace, even with Ruby and Ben...and she’s always wanted a family. I think you guys would be great parents. Just because your children have the potential to be dangerous doesn’t mean that they will be. Things change all the time. Ward and Kara are good guys this time. Bobbi and Hunter didn’t leave the team. Jiaying and Gordon died early and Kora survived. Things aren’t set in stone.”

Lincoln sighed again. “You’d think, with all the times that we’ve messed with the future and the past, we’d know more about it. But we’re constantly in the dark.”

“And that’s the perfect explanation for how the future is constantly changing,” Jemma replied. 

She was not wrong.

At that moment, both of them heard an angry yell from inside the secondary lab; both exchanged a quick look, leapt to their feet and raced into the lab. Sousa and Deke were glaring at one another, although Sousa was now standing and had two legs again. Bobbi was gone and a quick look inside the main lab showed that Trip had disappeared too. Miles was inside the main lab with Flint and Doctor Johnson, leaving Hunter as the only person with Sousa, Deke and an unconscious Alisha, which was definitely not an ideal situation.

“What’s going on?” Jemma asked. 

“Ask Deke,” Sousa snapped. “Because one thing is clear, Deke either knew what Daisy’s choice was going to be all along or he doesn’t care about you either, Lincoln.”

Both Lincoln and Jemma were completely taken aback by that accusation. 

“What the hell?” Lincoln demanded. 

“Either Deke knew that Daisy was going to choose you or he was gambling with your emotions as well,” Sousa said. “Because he knew that you two had history and chances were high that you would fall for her. He either knew that her picking you was inevitable, which is great for you, or he didn’t, that means that he was risking your happiness on the off-chance that you two might get together.”

Wow. Lincoln hadn’t considered it that way before, but now that Sousa was verbalizing it, it made sense. Deke _had_ been gambling with their happiness. While Deke might not have sent Lincoln with the express purpose of making Daisy fall for him, Sousa was right. If Deke had guessed that Lincoln might fall for her, but didn’t know what her choice would be, he had been taking quite a chance.

“It was for emergencies, Sousa,” Lincoln said, knowing that no matter how twisted the situation appeared to be, Deke would never willingly risk his or Daisy’s happiness. “We all do difficult things for S.H.I.E.L.D. because we’re agents. Deke had to make the hard call of sending me there. He didn’t know that I would get back my memories from Kora; I chose to get them hardly knowing anything about you three because it was what was going to save the team. You and Kora chose to come with Daisy to this alternate timeline because you both wanted to protect Daisy. It obviously wasn’t your ideal choice, but you did it anyway.”

Although Lincoln was defending Deke, he couldn’t help but wonder how much Deke had known. After he had told Deke about Daisy, Lincoln knew that Deke had gone to Raina for more details. Raina might have told Deke more than he had let on, which...sucked big time for Sousa if Deke had known all along what Daisy’s choice would be. 

“It’s easy to say that when you won, Lincoln,” Hunter reminded him, but there was no vehemence in his voice. “Bobbi and I are lucky enough that we can go back to Owen; you and Daisy are lucky that you have a choice of where you want to live later on. Deke is as good as your father. Heck, he’s my grandson. But that doesn’t make me blind to the manipulation.”

Hunter had a point. Lincoln glanced at Deke, but for once, he wasn’t saying anything. Speaking would just bring about more problems than solutions at the moment. 

“There was no way that everyone was going to get out of this situation with a win,” Jemma said finally. “I’m not saying who was right and who was wrong, but none of us wanted to work with Ward after he betrayed the team, but we did it anyway. Sometimes we have to make the hard choice to protect the people we care about.” She paused. “Sousa, I empathize with you a lot. I _am_ sorry that this has happened. But at S.H.I.E.L.D., we try to save lives. We saved you back in 1955 because it was the right thing to do. We might have caused ripples in the timestream by doing that, but it was still what was right. Deke was ultimately doing the right thing for his team.” 

“I was only trying to help,” Deke said, holding his hands up in a pacifying gesture. “Speaking of...when the rest of the team goes to the Hub, I have a different agenda for you and, well, Lincoln.”

“What?” Lincoln and Sousa spoke in unison, making Jemma hide a laugh behind her hand. 

“Me?” Lincoln repeated, incredulously. “Me?”

“Yes, you,” Deke said. “It’s the best chance we have of pulling this off.”

“Pulling what off?” Sousa asked, his expression equally incredulous.

Deke held up a hand for them to stop talking. “The Hub is in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Bobbi and Trip have gone ahead to try and secure what Centipede serum they can. If we’re lucky, when we get there, all we have to do is load them in and leave. If we’re not, well, we’ll have a fight on our hands. But anyway, Washington D.C. is where Peggy Carter’s retirement home is.”

And...the bombshell exploded. 

Lincoln knew what Peggy meant to Sousa. He knew, thanks to what Kora had shown him of Sousa’s life with Daisy in that one year. Having this chance to say goodbye was an enormous blessing, but also very sad. 

“I’m trying to help,” Deke said quickly. “Kora told me before she was swayed, back at the Playground, that Peggy is one of the people whom you would do anything - and I quote, ‘to have one last stolen moment with’. Daisy had a chance to speak to Jiaying in this timeline; she’s had a chance to speak to her father; she has Lincoln back. The least I can do for you is give you an audience with a person whom you miss.”

It was definitely Deke’s way of trying to make up to Sousa what he had inadvertently done when he had caused Sousa’s life to erupt in shambles. The thing was...why Lincoln had to go was beyond him. 

“And _Lincoln_ ’s going?” Sousa demanded, voicing what all of them were thinking.

Of all people, Lincoln was probably the last one whom Sousa wanted with him while he visited Peggy.

“It’s a retirement home,” Deke said. “Only people with express permission can visit. She’s one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D.. There are rules and protocols that even I have to abide behind; her family is making sure of that. Only a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor or scientist or someone approved by her family can visit her. Your options are Doctor Johnson, Lincoln and Simmons. People think Simmons is in Scotland right now. Doctor Johnson visiting Peggy Carter is absurd, seeing as he’s the world’s expert on Inhumans; even I can’t think of a plausible reason for why he would visit Peggy Carter. Having Lincoln visit her is stretching it, but we could make it work. After all the lengths I have gone to to get Lincoln transitioned and taught by the world’s two experts on Inhumans and him having the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as his S.O., it’s plausible that I would send him to visit one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. before she passes away. But anyway. There are two ways we can go about this. The first option is using his clearance as a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor and my protegee to get him in the door. The second is, well...he’s the only guy here who has blonde hair. And we have nano-masks, if we need to go down that route.”

“Holy crap,” Lincoln said, cottoning on to what Deke was saying, at the same time as Sousa said, “What the hell, Deke?”

“He can take it off once he’s inside the room,” Deke said. “If he were to wear a nanomask, well, the doctors would definitely let him in. And even if he doesn’t, well, like I said. He’s the one person on the team with blonde hair. We did it in the past, pretty successfully, until you showed up.” 

“Deke, have you completely lost your mind?!” Sousa demanded.

“I’m trying to give you a chance to say goodbye!” Deke protested. “I’m trying to help you! We’re in the middle of the craziest, world-ending mission and I just set up the possibility of you being able to talk to one of the women you love/loved in the past, whichever it is, with the _one_ person on this plane who understands how much she means to you. Lincoln is the only person who knows how much she means to you, even more so than Daisy. Kora didn’t just show him experiences, she also showed him emotions and feelings.”

Lincoln interrupted. “I’ll do it,” he said. “Nanomask and all, if that’s what you want, Sousa. Or if it’s too hard for you for me to wear a nanomask, I’ll go without one. Or we can try to use my S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance. Whichever you want. Whichever will guarantee you an audience with Peggy Carter.”

“Wait, I’m confused,” Hunter said, speaking up for the first time in a while. “Who exactly is Lincoln going to be impersonating?”

Lincoln looked at him. “I’m going to be Steve Rogers.”


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

While S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War had been brewing, Hive’s Inhuman army civil war had also been stewing. The four Inhumans who had made it out of the Academy were arguing back and forth, now that they were back at Hive’s chosen headquarters. 

“He’s not going to be happy,” Giyera said simply.

“With you maybe, not me!” Kora retorted.

“Excuse me? Where were you when they were escaping?” Giyera demanded. 

“I was saving Alisha and Joey, which need I remind you, was exactly what I had to do for you, not too long before!” Kora countered. “So don’t give me that! You’re the one who got blasted by her again! You should know how her powers work!”

“This is not only on him,” Joey said. “You were the one who was supposed to be convincing them to come along willingly! I guess you’re not nearly as good as you think you are.”

“Excuse me?” Kora demanded. “What about Alisha? She had eight of herself on my sister, Daisy was _powerless_ and she couldn’t knock her out?”

“She was joined, as you very well know, by her boyfriend not long after,” Alisha said coolly.

“Yeah, and that escape was also on you because you were supposed to be keeping them apart!” Kora retorted heatedly, despite Alisha’s calm demeanour. 

“Only because you were the one who had let them get away from you in the first place,” Alisha replied. “You’re still feeling soft for them?”

“Of course I am! She’s my sister and he’s her everything!” Kora sniped back.

“You let them get away,” Joey snapped. “That’s on you.”

“Says the guy who got defeated by a kid!” Giyera interrupted; he wasn’t just mad at Kora. “And let Yo-Yo get captured, _again_!”

“Hey, I’m not the one who got stabbed in the freaking neck and almost died!” Joey snapped.

“Yeah, I had to save all of you, so a little gratitude would be nice!” Kora interjected, which was not wrong. She had saved all of their lives back at the Academy.

“You were the one who thought that it would be most impactful to have the prisoner go after the director!” Giyera countered. “Clearly that was not the case, seeing as they rescued him! Maybe he should have gone with you after the girl!”

“Daisy and Lincoln would never have trusted me to view the future if Sousa had been with me,” Kora replied. “There is no way that they would have let me show him that vision as well and having him just stand there while Lincoln looked inside my head? There’s no way that that would have happened.”

“But either way, it didn’t work, did it?” Joey retorted. “They still aren’t here!”

“Yeah, and that’s not on me!” Kora shouted. “Like I said, I had to save all three of your asses in there!”

“Enough!”

The four Inhumans looked up to see Raina walking into the room. She was wearing a long flowing black cloak over her usual black shirt and pants, looking every bit the mystical, mythical creature that she was. 

While Raina did not have half the physical powers that the rest of them had, she was more intimidating than all of them combined. The only one who did not fear her as much as the others was Kora and that was due to her own knowledge of the future. Raina’s ability to manipulate and convince people was every bit as much her power as her clairvoyance.

“He will be back soon,” Raina said. “And if you are still arguing when he returns, he will be even more displeased than he would originally be seeing as you failed in your various missions.”

Giyera and Joey opened their mouths to argue, but Raina held up a hand.

“That is enough,” she said firmly. “Kora, come with me. Doctor Radcliffe wants you.”

With one last glare at Giyera, Joey and Alisha, Kora followed Raina out of the small wooden building and down the path towards another building that housed the infamous windowless red room where Kora had spent much of her time after Terrigenesis. 

“I never thought I would be back here,” Kora said, looking up and down the paths and at the buildings that had been meticulously restored. “It brings back a lot of memories.”

“Nathaniel Malick was an idiot,” Raina said. “He learned how to steal powers from Inhumans, yes, but putting them in humans...now that was idiotic. He should have been putting them in other Inhumans to make us what we were always meant to be. It is our destiny.”

Kora raised an eyebrow. “You never knew him.”

“And you did not know Lincoln until he returned,” Raina replied. “The knowledge of time is an important one.”

“More like Deke told you about Nathaniel,” Kora countered, plucking a flower off a nearby bush and starting to shred it.

Raina’s eyes darkened; Kora had struck a nerve. Raina did not know everything about time although she wanted to. Kora’s knowledge of time was much more expansive, although certainly much more vague. Raina’s gift, combined with Kora’s knowledge, confirmed the entirety of what was going to happen, but only if Raina got a glimpse of the future. If she didn’t, they were all still hunting in the dark.

“You were supposed to bring Lincoln here,” Raina said. “How am I supposed to know the past and the future if I cannot see what you do inside your head?”

“You’ll just have to trust me that I’m telling you the truth,” Kora said, not looking at Raina as they walked, but looking at the plants instead. “They will come. It’s inevitable.”

Raina studied her with her startling yellow eyes. “Eventually, yes, I know. This is where she is meant to lead. This is where they raise their children. But do they come before that? That, I have not seen.”

“Afterlife,” Kora said, running her fingers over the plants alongside the path. “How ironic that this is where they met.” She paused. “S.H.I.E.L.D. knows it is in Nepal. Deke restored it after we left the timeline. They will figure it out eventually.”

“Because of what you showed Lincoln and Daisy?” Raina asked.

“Because this is where it all began,” Kora said. “For all of us. The hopeless, ‘cursed’ children. Or at least that’s how we all viewed it at the beginning.” She paused. “Yourself included in Daisy’s timeline. None of us had much family. I did, but I came to resent my mother. Lincoln’s father figure is Deke; Daisy’s is Coulson. And you’ve never had any love from your family either.”

Raina pursed her thin lips. “Family is all they’ve ever wanted,” she said. “Was the vision of their future life not enough? How did it fail?”

“It _is_ all they have ever wanted,” Kora said, pushing open the door to the windowless red room where Holden Radcliffe was sitting, surrounded by endless machinery, scientific research and an operating chair. “The problem is, as long as they are together, they are not desperate enough. Now that they are apart, all Hive has to do is get one and the other will follow. They would do anything for each other.”

“Including killing you?” Raina asked. “Killing their friends? Going against everything they’ve ever believed in?”

Kora looked at Raina. “They don’t have to,” Kora said. “Because now everyone knows to what extent they love each other. Daisy has finally told Jemma everything. All their friends would do anything to protect them because they know that they cannot lose each other again. One and all on that team would die for them both to live.”




Daisy was dozing, very lightly mind, in the cockpit of the Quinjet when Ward called her name loud enough to wake her. He had been smart enough not to touch her; she probably would have quaked him through the front of the Quinjet, just by instinct. It was a very different sleep from her last one, which had been with Lincoln, whom she trusted impeccably.

“Daisy, wake up,” Ward said. “You’ve got a video call.”

Daisy opened her eyes. 

Ward held out a tablet to her. “It’s Lincoln,” he said. “And Jemma.” 

Daisy grabbed the tablet that he was offering. “Ward...thank you,” she said, her gratitude genuine. 

She glanced down at the screen. Lincoln and Jemma were in the communications centre of Zephyr Three; Deke was also with them, but he was standing further behind them with Miles, navigating something on the horizontal flatscreen computer. Neither Deke nor Miles appeared to be paying attention to Lincoln and Jemma.

“Hey,” Daisy said, her fingertips hovering above Lincoln’s face on the screen. She didn’t want to smudge his face on the screen, but she also wanted to be near him. She missed him more than she thought she would, given that they had only been separated for a few hours.

“Hey, you,” Lincoln said, smiling at her, the same smile that he always gave her. 

“Hey, Daisy,” Jemma said. “We’re going to reach D.C. in a short while and Deke had a brilliant plan.”

“An insane plan,” Lincoln corrected her. “But brilliant.”

“What plans aren’t?” Ward asked, shaking his head; Daisy tilted the screen so that he could see it too. “What are you lot up to now?”

“Nothing dangerous,” Lincoln assured them. “Just very...interesting. And a little funny. And...a little weird.”

“Hit me,” Daisy said. 

Lincoln and Jemma looked at each other. 

“Lincoln’s going to pretend to be Steve Rogers,” Jemma said. 

Daisy choked on absolutely nothing. “Excuse me?” she said.

“Around this time in the original timeline, Peggy Carter passed away,” Jemma explained. “And Deke suggested that -”

“That Sousa visit her,” Daisy realized. “Of course. That makes perfect sense. Way back when we were guarding Jiaying, he told me that he would do anything to be able to see her one more time. But what does that have to do with Lincoln being Captain America?”

“It’s the security in the retirement home,” Lincoln explained. “But because he’s visited before, if I go in pretending to be him, then I can get Sousa in as well. So yeah. Not a strange situation at all.”

Daisy started laughing. “Oh my God, this is ridiculous,” she said. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

Lincoln couldn’t help smiling. “Guess that means that we’ll get our happily-ever-after, huh?”

Daisy smiled. “I’d like that,” she said. 

“And I’m confused,” Ward said. “Which is actually nothing new.”

Daisy glanced at him. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But here goes.” 

“Intense fangirl time,” Lincoln warned; Daisy smirked in response.

“That was one time,” she said. “Outside of Stark Tower. One time. And a very, very long time ago. Besides, Coulson is the one who loves Cap. May and I agreed that Thor is dreamy.” 

Ward looked back and forth between them. “Sure, he’s handsome, but -”

“No, he’s dreamy,” Jemma said, causing Daisy to crack up.

“Well, to be absolutely fair,” Lincoln said, with a grin, “You three and Coulson are not the only Avengers fans on the team. I sarcastically described myself as the Hulk once to Mike Peterson.” 

Ward blinked at them. “So you guys are telling me that Coulson loves Cap; Daisy, May and Jemma think that Thor is dreamy; Lincoln is the Hulk; and _he’s_ supposed to be impersonating Captain America? Sorry, what?” 

“Hey, Alisha could be a rip-off of Black Widow,” Jemma interjected. “Red hair, kicking ass….”

“Koenig did tell me that the internet ships me as Quake with Black Widow,” Daisy admitted, causing both Lincoln and Jemma to start laughing. 

“Can you just tell the story already?” Ward asked, beyond confused at this point. 

“Okay, okay,” Daisy said, still trying to suppress her laughter. “Before we go absolutely crazy, let me explain. In our timeline, Captain America and Peggy Carter were a thing. Then he quote-unquote died in a plane with a bomb, saving the girl he loved and the world, and his only goodbye to her was over the communications system of said plane. Then he was basically frozen in ice for 70 years. Peggy kinda sorta moves on with Sousa, but they eventually break up. Now Cap is in the 21st century and working for the Avengers. Gets all famous in the news etcetera, hence how I know about him, ladida. In 2016, Lincoln and I became a thing, _he_ died saving me and the world and _we_ had said tragic goodbye over the communications systems with yet another bomb. My team goes back in time, rescues Sousa and I kinda sorta move forward with him. We return to the present, Cap goes back in time, returns to Peggy, they get married and live happily-ever-after, creating another alternate timeline. Lincoln comes to my timeline, we return to this one and well, now we’re here. And Lincoln has to pretend to be Captain America.”

Ward stared at her. “On the bright side,” he said at last. “That bodes well for your guys’ happily ever after.”

Daisy and Lincoln both burst out laughing. It was so ridiculous that it was funny.

“And why the heck were you guys comparing yourselves to the Hulk and...oh, I don’t know, Black Widow or Quake or whatever, if you guys are basically Captain America and Peggy Carter reincarnated?” Ward demanded. 

“You forgot how I impersonated Agent Carter,” Jemma reminded Daisy, ignoring Ward’s outburst.

“Oh right!” Daisy said. “We’re not done! Jemma pretended to be Peggy way back in 1955 and then that all went to shambles because Sousa recognized that she was not actually Peggy.” 

“Great….” Ward said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You also forgot about the Diviner,” Lincoln reminded her. 

Daisy tilted her head at him in slight confusion; he picked up the explanation. 

“The Diviner that was involved in your Terrigenesis in the Kree Temple was the very first 0-8-4 that was recovered by Agent Carter after the fall of Hydra,” Lincoln explained. “Peggy Carter was the one who locked it away and also the one who was responsible for the capture of Daniel Whitehall, who was ultimately the person who experimented on Jiaying, who is Daisy’s mother.” 

“And I give up completely,” Ward said. “Is reincarnation a thing?”

“Jemma believes in the first law of thermodynamics,” Daisy said. “That no energy in the universe is created-”

“And none is destroyed,” Lincoln finished, both of them completing the sentence in unison.

Jemma looked at Lincoln and then at Daisy in confusion. “Did Kora show you the timestream way back till then, Lincoln?” she asked.

“What?” Lincoln asked, confused. “No. I’m a doctor too, Jemma, I know stuff.”

Jemma pressed a hand to her forehead. “Never mind. I guess it’s my turn to say that you two are psychically linked. Ward already took Daisy’s line about knowing how you two belong together through all the craziness that we’ve been through. I...I should just get used to this.” She paused. “And Ward, to answer your question about reincarnation...well, it’s very ironic. They met in Afterlife.”

Ward looked back and forth between Daisy and Lincoln and Jemma. “So...is that a yes to reincarnation?” he asked.

“No!” All three of them said at the same time. 

“Afterlife as in the place,” Lincoln said. “The Inhuman settlement in Nepal.”

“Not to mention that Cap and Peggy were still alive when we were both born,” Daisy said.

“It just means that there are a lot of coincidences,” Jemma said. “To the point of utter hilarity.”

“Noted,” Ward said. “So basically...Lincoln is going to be the guy he essentially is reborn, but not really reborn as, and has to go and visit Peggy Carter with Sousa. That does not sound weird at all.”

“The only thing that would have made it utterly ridiculous is if Daisy had pretended to be Agent Carter back in 1955,” Jemma said, shrugging. “But Daisy has a horrible British accent.”

“Actually Sousa told me that yours was the worst fake accent he had ever heard,” Daisy replied. “Ironically, it isn’t fake.” 

“Well, at any rate, your Scottish accent is atrocious!” Jemma said. “Fitz told me that after you pretended to be his least supportive fake girlfriend ever!”

“Yeah, now that was nuts,” Daisy said. “Because you were pretending to be Coulson’s daughter and I was pretending to be Fitz’s girlfriend. We should just have switched roles and no one would have needed to pretend anything. We would just have been predicting the future a few years in advance.”

“Big surprise,” Ward said dryly, making all three of them laugh. 

Just then, Sousa appeared on the screen behind Lincoln and Jemma. He walked up to Deke and Miles and said something, causing both Lincoln and Jemma to turn and look. Miles tapped something into his computer and shook his head, before saying something else. 

“What’s going on?” Daisy asked, concern rising as both Lincoln and Jemma’s smiles faded.

“Nothing to worry about,” Lincoln said, turning back to her. “Well, it’s just...Miles confirmed that Agent Carter’s not doing too well. Initially we thought that I might be able to use my S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance to get in, but I guess that’s definitely not happening now.”

“Oh,” Daisy said, not really knowing what to say, her own smile fading. “I’m sorry.”

Sousa, Deke and Miles approached the screen; the light-heartedness of the last few minutes fading as they were confronted with the realism of the situation. 

“May knows you guys are on the way,” Deke said, changing the subject. “Did Lincoln and Jemma clear you two on what he and Sousa are doing?”

“Yes,” Ward said. “And I got a lot of lessons about how the past is the present and how rebirth is sorta but not really a thing.” 

“I think I’m rubbing off on him!” Miles said cheerfully. “The Tinman has a sense of humour!”

Ward shook his head at Miles, but for the first time since Daisy had met him, he actually smiled. Despite occasionally being a teasing git, Miles did bring a lot of light-heartedness to the team. 

“Oh my God, he smiled,” Miles said, raising his eyebrows into his forehead. “It’s adorable.”

Daisy and Jemma looked at each other.

“Oh my God,” Daisy said, although at this point, she was trying not to laugh. “This is ridiculous.”

Jemma shook her head. “I give up. The timeline is screwed.”

“You’re not making it any better,” Sousa told her.

“Why? What do you mean?” Jemma asked.

“Because your French is pardoned,” Lincoln said, a grin on his face.

“And Sousa now has the rare second chance to say goodbye to someone whom he never thought he would see again,” Daisy supplied. “Not to mention that he has a...well, very unorthodox chaperone.”

“Hey, I’m a great chaperone,” Lincoln protested teasingly. “Remember who was actually your original chaperone? Way back in Afterlife.” 

Daisy laughed. “You are a great chaperone,” she said. “Pre-boyfriend and all, telling me to talk to my mum.” She paused. “You were an even better transitioner. I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Jiaying was a lot of things, but she picked well when she chose you.”

Lincoln smiled at her and Daisy wished that she was there to hug him in person. As it was, the presence of all the other guys and Jemma were preventing a more private conversation.

“Did not know that one,” Sousa muttered under his breath, causing Miles to look at him in confusion.

“You were there when Trip told them about Jiaying,” he said, frowning.

“I meant the talking to the mum part,” Sousa explained to Miles. “Apparently it’s happened more than once.”

Ward shook his head at Daisy. “Daisy, you have a _type_.”

“Uh, no, not really,” Jemma said. “Considering you and Miles and Deke as well?”

“Yes, well, even though Daisy never had feelings for me, I kinda got introduced to the mum too,” Deke said dryly. “As a corpse. She dragged the corpse of her mum into the Lighthouse, introduced me to her and then proceeded to tell me that she was still in love with Lincoln.” 

“Hey, come on, cut me some slack,” Daisy told him. “Lincoln was the one person who showed me that there was some good in Jiaying, even after the whole Hydra experimentation disaster, and after she’d tried to kill me. If she and Gordon helped him, they definitely weren’t twisted psychopaths the entire time. Of course I was going to think of Lincoln when I brought in the dead body of my mother into the Lighthouse.”

“And you were still thinking of him when Gordon brought Jiaying back to the Lighthouse over a year later,” Sousa surmised. “Especially when it was suggested that you go and talk to your mum.”

“She had just been experimented on by Nathaniel Malick,” Jemma said, jumping to Daisy’s defense; she was still feeling guilty for not realizing that Daisy had never ever gotten over Lincoln. “Considering Jiaying and Lincoln both went through that _and_ Nathaniel Malick was Hive from our original timeline at one point, it’s hardly her fault. If there was ever a time to think about him, it would have been then.”

“Yes,” Sousa said dryly. “Especially when, afterwards, Daisy planned on sneaking on board Quinjet, to float off into space with a guy who never gets drunk. Makes perfect sense.”

Daisy had forgotten that almost three days ago, Lincoln had explained to Sousa that he didn’t drink at all because of his previous alcohol addiction. At this point, she wanted to bang her head into a wall and knock herself out until the conversation ended. 

“Don’t worry,” Miles said cheerfully to Sousa, surprising Daisy by saving the situation. “When this is all over, we’re going to take you out drinking. Simmons said that it’s good therapy for what happened when we were influenced by Katya; Hunter and I seriously know how to party. Even Deke and Ward got full-on wasted that time we were celebrating Hunter’s second bachelor party. You can get just as wasted as the rest of us. Lincoln can stay sober and deal with the girls afterwards when he brings us all back.”

It was a nice reassurance that Miles understood Lincoln well enough not to suggest that he get wasted as well. Daisy couldn’t help smiling at how well the team understood him; they knew his previous struggles with alcoholism. Seeing as Lincoln had gone with them beforehand at Hunter’s second bachelor party, she knew that he could resist the temptation of the alcohol. 

“We are not getting _that_ wasted,” Deke said. “Bobbi was ready to kill Lincoln when she found out how much we’d drunk when he was supposed to be the chaperone!” 

“Nice word choice, Deke,” Lincoln muttered under his breath, making Daisy hide a laugh. 

“Pizza night instead,” Ward suggested. “We can still get beer and Zima and soda for our teetotallers.” 

Daisy grinned suddenly. “We should get deep dish pizza from Chicago,” she said, making Lincoln laugh.

“Yes, it’ll convince you to stay,” he joked. “Although knowing our luck, we’ll end up with popcorn instead.” 

“Which I’m going to make you try to heat up with your powers,” Daisy challenged and then suddenly, she stopped laughing.

“Daisy?” Lincoln asked. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head, rubbing her forehead. “It’s nothing really,” she said. “I just thought...popcorn. Kora.”

It took a second for him to cotton on to what she was saying; she hadn’t wanted to be too obvious about her consternation with the vision. “Daisy, don’t worry,” he said. “We don’t have to eat popcorn on a bed. Which sounds wrong, but you know what I mean. Or we can just not eat popcorn at all. Or -”

“Or,” Daisy said, allowing a smile to cross her face, “We’ll just see what happens.” 

Lincoln smiled too, the same smile he had given her when they had been talking about their first kiss. “Planning takes the fun out of it?” he teased.

“More like overthinking does,” Daisy replied. “Although if you say ‘will it happen again?’, that is the most fitting and equally most stupid thing you could ever say.”

Lincoln laughed out loud this time, only to be interrupted by Miles, who raised a hand. 

“Am I the only one confused here?” he asked. 

“No,” Jemma admitted. “I am too, which is saying something.” 

“That _is_ saying something,” Deke said. “Although, I must admit, listening to you guys flirt is much better than walking into something, which I have done way too many times for my liking.” He paused. “ _I_ need bleach for my eyes.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and then burst out laughing at the inside joke although the embarrassment was clear on both of their faces as well. 

“Come on, Deke, seeing us together is no way in hell as bad as you and Snowflake,” Daisy said. 

“Not as bad?” Deke demanded. “At least Snowflake and I were dressed! _And_ you had May as a buffer!” 

“You two were in public!” Daisy protested, but she was still sporting an embarrassed smile. “We were in a freaking hotel room, Deke! And the only reason we let you in was because we thought you were being attacked!”

“I think we all need bleach for the _ears_ ,” Miles muttered, before Deke could respond.

“Actually, I think Lincoln can blast everyone’s heads with electricity so that they can purge their brains of the last few minutes of conversation,” Daisy said, but she was still smiling. 

“Wait, you can do that?” Jemma asked Lincoln, changing the subject as much because she wanted too as she was fascinated. “That’s incredible!”

“Well, I think so,” Lincoln said. “I’ve never tried it, but I think I could, considering I can see the timestream in Kora’s head and can transfer visions from the timestream to Daisy. It’ll be something to practise, for sure.” He paused. “Not on any of us, I mean, just...I dunno. Bad guys or something.” 

“Wait, I’ve got it,” Daisy said suddenly, sitting up straight. “Lincoln, that’s perfect!”

“What?” Lincoln stared at her. “You want me to remove bad guys’ memories? Or Hive’s memories? I tried frying his brain once with the memory machine. It didn’t really work. Well, it worked, I mean, but not well enough. What does that have to do with anything?”

“No, not that,” Daisy said, waving a hand. “I just had a thought. Lincoln, you _have_ to go with Sousa to visit Peggy.”

“Uh, I think we already established that I am,” Lincoln said, frowning. “Daisy, are you feeling alright?”

“Yes,” Daisy said. “I am. Your electricity powers. Peggy has Alzheimer’s, Lincoln. If she doesn’t understand what’s going on you can transmit the signals to her brain for her. She’ll be able to understand enough so that she and Sousa can definitely talk and he can get closure.”

There was silence for a minute. 

“Daisy, that’s...that’s brilliant!” Lincoln said. “That is...genius!”

“How did I not think of that?” Jemma asked rhetorically. “I was there when Lincoln first started messing around with von Strucker’s memories! Which, I must admit, was big of you, Lincoln. You took him out of his pain even though his dad had cut you open and killed you.”

“We aren’t responsible for the sins of our parents,” Lincoln said, shrugging. “Daisy’s not responsible for what Jiaying and Cal did, nor is Fitz anything like his father. Plus, Werner was suffering in that memory machine and had already been almost killed by Kebo. And had been attacked by Lash and almost died in an explosion. That was punishment enough.”

He was not wrong; Werner von Strucker had gone through a _lot_. 

“But anyway, back to the topic at hand,” Deke said. “Lincoln, could you really do that?”

“Easily,” Lincoln said, opening and closing his hand so that a ball of electricity appeared and disappeared. “I’ve had plenty of practise over the last few days with Daisy and Kora. I’ll even take Deke’s Walkman with me so that I can ignore the conversation. I’ll do a Kora.”

“Lincoln, _thank you_ ,” Sousa said, turning to the younger man, addressing him with immense gratitude in his voice. “You didn’t have to...you could have even refused to come because of the incredibly weird situation...thank you.”

“Thank Daisy,” Lincoln said. “She had the idea. She’s the brains behind the operation.” 

Daisy laughed. “You just the haircut, Lincoln?” she teased.

“Of all of James’ nicknames, I think I prefer ‘Boyfriend of the Year’,” he admitted, with a grin, making Daisy laugh. 

“Actually, I would say that that description is accurate,” Sousa said. “You don’t have to help me; you’re helping because of Daisy -”

“That’s not true,” Lincoln interrupted. “I would help you even if Daisy weren’t involved. It’s what’s right. Everyone deserves a chance to say goodbye to the people they love. Everyone deserves a chance to say what they want to say.” 

Everyone knew what Lincoln was talking about this time. Daisy reached towards the tablet screen, wishing she was there to touch him or hug him. Their eyes met; she smiled at him and he smiled back, each remembering the promise that they had made to each other to tell each other how they really felt when she got back. 

“Daisy, thank you,” Sousa said, turning to face her; she shifted her gaze to look at Sousa. “You...you didn’t have to do that. Or suggest that. And Lincoln, as much as you say that it’s Daisy’s idea, you’re still the one doing it. I can’t thank both of you enough.”

Daisy was completely taken aback by his assumption that she wouldn’t have wanted to help him. “I will always help you, Sousa,” she said. “Just because we’re not together anymore doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you as a friend.” She paused. “I can’t believe you would think that I wouldn’t want to help you in this.” 

It stung, to think that Sousa had seriously thought that she might not care enough about him to want to help. Although admittedly, he had been dealing with a whole ton of crap from them over the last few days.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said. “We’ve put you through hell, Sousa, unintentionally, yes, but we have. And I’m so sorry that you thought that it was to the point that we wouldn’t want to help you.”

Daisy lowered the tablet, leaning away from the camera so that he couldn’t see her face. She hated that she had hurt Sousa, unintentionally, it was true, but she still hated it. Ward glanced at her and then took the tablet out of her lap, at the same time as Lincoln said, “Daisy, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Daisy said, but her voice was uneven; Ward held the tablet up so that he was in the view of the camera, not her. 

“Oh God,” Sousa said, when he saw Ward’s face, instead of Daisy’s. “Daisy? I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you -”

“I’m fine,” Daisy said, waving at Ward to turn the camera back on her. “I’m just really sorry that we put you through so much crap that you thought we wouldn’t want to help you. I’m so sorry. Truly. For everything. It’s on me. All of it. You’re right that at first when you were helping me, I saw a lot of Lincoln in you, but I swear, for a while there, I genuinely did have feelings for you and not just because you reminded me of Lincoln. I know that that maybe that’s not what you want to hear, but-”

“No, Daisy, I understand,” Sousa said. “More than you think, actually. Thank you for apologizing, but I get it. You told me about our interactions in the time loops and in them, I told you about how some of my favourite people are people like you. If you started out liking me because you saw Lincoln in me, honestly, I started out liking you because I saw Peggy in you. Lincoln was - is - your first love. It’s natural that you would want to be with him when you finally get him back after so many years.”

There was dead silence for a moment.

“You still told me about Peggy,” Daisy said finally. “But I never once told you about Lincoln.”

“That’s because he died,” Sousa said. “You guys didn’t break up. Peggy and I did. It’s fine, Daisy, it really is.”

Daisy didn’t know what to say. Sousa cottoned on to the reasoning behind her silence.

“So,” Sousa added, “Now that we’ve resolved everything, the only thing that I want to say left on this subject is that you’d better tell _Lincoln_ how you feel. And yes, I’m telling you that in front of him to hold you accountable.”

That broke the tension in the room. Everyone burst out laughing, from Daisy and Lincoln to Sousa himself; even Ward cracked another grin. 

“And that goes for you too,” Sousa added, turning to Lincoln. “You just told me that everyone deserves a chance to say what they want to say, well, don’t be a knucklehead, just tell her!”

That made everyone laugh all the harder.

“A ‘knucklehead’?” Lincoln repeated. “What does that even mean?” 

“Hey, you were the one who used ‘safe as houses’ on me,” Daisy reminded him. “At least Sousa has the excuse of being born literally almost a century ago. You were born in 1985!” 

“Daisy likes dorks,” Deke concluded, making everyone, including Sousa laugh again.

“This is group therapy,” Miles said, attempting to pull a straight face. “Where we talk about our feelings and emotions. I’m Miles Lydon. Everyone say, ‘Hi, Miles’.”

“Oh, shut up, Miles,” Lincoln said, but he was still laughing. 

“When this is all over, aside from drunk party night and pizza night, we should also have the best masseuses in the history of masseuses,” Miles deadpanned. “I predict plenty of bruises and aches and pains. And maybe bullet holes in us.”

That was a dark reminder that one of them wasn’t going to make it out of there. Before Daisy could slip into bad memories, though, as if he knew what she was thinking, Lincoln said, with a straight face, “Let’s get acupuncture.”

Daisy burst out laughing. “Not naked, this time, okay, Lincoln?”

“You weren’t totally naked,” Lincoln countered, but he was smiling. “And in my defense, I was not the one who undressed you. As much as your mum liked me and as much as I am a doctor, she was not going to have me taking the clothes off her daughter.”

“You do realize how dumb that sounded, right, Lincoln?” Jemma said, shaking her head at him, causing everyone to crack up again.

“What I meant was on the first encounter,” Lincoln said, his face flaming, causing all of them to laugh even harder. “And Jiaying did it, not Gordon, so you don’t have to worry about that either.” He paused. "Although I don't know if Gordon could actually, you know, see. Because he had no eyes."

That set off a whole other round of laughter, even from Ward and Miles who had never met the eyeless Gordon; it felt good to laugh. It had seriously been a long time coming, in fact, part of the reason that they were all so amused was probably because they had so much going on at the moment and were incredibly stressed. Their laughter was borderline hysterical at this point. 

“Okay, okay, let’s be serious,” Deke said, at long last, getting his emotions under control. “We still need to talk about a couple of other things.”

Everyone sobered up pretty quickly after that. 

“What else do we have to talk about though?” Miles pointed out. “We know the two missions, that’s why everyone’s getting distracted.” 

“Wrong,” Deke said. “I still need to update Daisy and Ward about Bobbi and Trip. They’re almost at the Hub; hopefully they can pick up the Centipede serum before they get there. If they don’t though, well, that’s okay. We can help when we get there. Doctor Johnson is in contact with them right now, telling them where all the samples are.”

“Oh good,” Daisy said. “How’s Yo-Yo?”

“Not any better,” Jemma said, her smile fading. “But...well, we think we figured out why Hive wants you.” She glanced at Lincoln. “Want to explain?”

Lincoln sighed, a frown crossing his face; he didn’t want to take away Daisy’s happiness of the last twenty-ish minutes. “Not really leaving me with much choice here, are you, Jemma?” he asked. 

“She needs to know,” Jemma said. “Especially since we don’t know who will be waiting for her and Ward when they get to the Retreat.”

“Know what?” Daisy asked, also frowning now. “Lincoln, tell me. Whatever it is, I can take it.”

Lincoln sighed again, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. 

Daisy brought her fingertips near the camera. “You won’t hurt me,” she said. “Not intentionally. And you should just rip the band-aid off. It can’t be any worse than what I’ve imagined.”

“What have you imagined?” Lincoln asked.

Daisy hesitated. “Last time, Hive called the Primitives ‘our children’ because they were made from my blood. And well, this time, although we always think of Hive as a guy and call him ‘he’, he’s got a female host. I figured Hive might want you for your GH.-infused blood.”

There was silence for a moment. 

“Is it that accurate?” Daisy asked, frowning into the silence. “Because even I can pick out the flaws in that argument.”

“Well, okay, I’ll tell you,” Lincoln said, sighing. “It’s a long story.”

“Do you want privacy?” Sousa asked. “We can all leave if you want to talk in private.”

That was a definite change from before. Daisy was extremely grateful that she had had such a good suggestion. Maybe when this was all over, they could both be friends with Sousa. It was progress for sure.

Lincoln hesitated. “Jemma, would you stay?” he asked.

“Of course,” Jemma said, her face softening. 

It wasn’t that Lincoln didn’t want Deke there. But Jemma was Daisy’s sister and she was a mother; she of all people knew how to comfort Daisy best, especially since the only person with Daisy was Ward. 

“Let’s go,” Deke said, turning to the others. “Give them some space.”

“Deke -” Lincoln began and Deke smiled kindly at him.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “Nana is by far and away the best person to help in this situation. Plus, I wasn’t around for much of your science-y talk. If you need to talk later, you can always come to me.”

“Thanks.”

Lincoln reached out to him and they hugged, Deke clapping him on the back with one hand.

“You got this,” he said in a reassuring voice, then he turned and followed Sousa and Miles out of the room.


	47. Episode 13: Face My Friend - Chapter 47

**Episode 13: Face My Friend**

**Chapter 47**

Kora laid her arm down on the table and Raina took a blood sample. She ran it under the microscope and then frowned.

“Is it not right yet?” Kora asked, as Doctor Radcliffe taped a piece of gauze to her arm and then took his turn at the microscope to confirm what Raina was viewing.

“The GH. looks different than what I expected it to,” Raina admitted. “It’s...not the same as what Lincoln’s looked like. I’d like to wait at least a few more hours for the GH. to settle into your system, run a few more tests and then we can start the transfusion process.”

“Good different or bad different?” Kora asked, taking her arm back.

“I’m not sure,” Raina admitted. “It is very potent in your blood, even more so than Lincoln’s when he first was injected with GH.325. It may be because you are not fatally injured right now. But we should wait, run some tests and see.”

Kora nodded, although she was puzzled by her peculiar blood results too. “By then, the others will have Lincoln,” she surmised.

“If all goes according to plan,” Raina agreed. “Once Lincoln and Sousa leave, Alisha will do her thing; there will just be the three trios to deal with. After their failure to capture Lincoln the first time, Hive doesn’t trust his Inhuman army as much. He is going after Daisy and Ward; Katya and James are going for Lincoln and Sousa; and Giyera and Joey are targeting Bobbi and Trip. Alisha is going to stay here to wake up her clone and free Yo-Yo; when that is done, she will rejoin Hive in pursuit of Daisy and Ward.”

“And me?” Kora asked. “Am I going with Hive?”

“You’re going to work with Robin and Raina,” another voice said and Kora shivered inwardly as Hive/Kara walked into the room. 

Although Kora shared a connection with Hive, it was still intimidating when she was in his presence. She craved it like a drug and at the same time, it was intensely overwhelming because of the fresh wave of control that Hive spread over her each time. 

“You failed me once,” Hive/Kara said, staring at Kora with piercing dark eyes. “Are you still...emotionally attached to your sister and her boyfriend, like Raina is to the boyfriend here? You both are very lucky that they are so powerful.”

Kora shook her head. “We are always emotionally attached to our family,” she said. “But I’m still getting drained later, aren’t I? And I told you how Nathaniel stole our powers. You’re going to do both processes on me and I’m still helping you.” 

“You’re still trying to bargain for their safety,” Hive/Kara said, watching her. “If you didn’t get injected with the GH.325, I would be taking it from one of them.”

“The fresher the injection, the more potent the blood,” Kora said. “Daisy was injected seven years ago, Lincoln about three. Mine was a few hours ago. Your Primitives will have the freshest Kree blood in their systems.”

“They’d better,” Hive/Kara said, turning to Radcliffe. “And you, Doctor Radcliffe. How is our patient looking?”

“Raina and I both checked her samples,” Doctor Radcliffe said, although his voice was very nervous. Hive/Kara was, in a way, even more intimidating than Hive/Ward. She was a slight, dark-haired woman dressed in suits every bit as “Meryl Streep”-esque as Hive/Ward’s, but her smaller stature did not diminish her presence. If anything, she felt more intimidating; Kora felt her power exuding off her in waves. No wonder once Hive had reached full strength, he had had to attack S.H.I.E.L.D., ensure Lash’s demise and get out of there. He would not have been able to fool Lincoln once at full strength and regardless of Daisy, Lincoln would never join Hive willingly.

Radcliffe continued speaking. “There are some...anomalous readings with the blood, but she’s looking good on the whole. We just need to run a few more tests for confirmation and then she’ll be ready shortly after the Inhumans leave.”

Technically Radcliffe was downplaying how intense the anomalous readings were. But that was good with Hive; the more they appeared to be successful, the safer they were. And Radcliffe was definitely expendable. 

“Good,” Hive/Kara said. She brushed one finger along Kora’s cheekbone, caressing the skin. “Rest well, my dear. You’re going to need all your strength.”

Hive/Kara left the windowless red room. Radcliffe exhaled a sigh of relief when he was gone.

“He gives me the heebie-jeebies,” Radcliffe said. “Doesn’t he give you the same?”

Both Kora and Raina stared at Radcliffe like he had lost his mind. Radcliffe backed up.

“Okay, okay, don’t blast me,” he said, raising his hands up in an “I surrender” gesture. “I’ll just...yep, I’ll just get back to work. Don’t mind me.”

Kora turned back to look at Raina as Radcliffe started examining some of the samples of her blood and GH.325 that he had on him. It was only when he put on headphones to block out their conversation the way he always did when Hive’s Inhumans had a private discussion in his presence that she spoke. 

“Hive wants us to work with the Seer,” she stated, her mind racing through all the different timelines, trying to confirm her suspicions about which one they were in at the same time as figure out what was so different about her blood.

“Hive shares little with his followers,” Raina said. “He, Katya and James went after her. Katya is bringing her in now.” She paused. “I admit, her youth is an issue.”

“Not too much of an issue,” Kora said, stretching out her fingers to exercise her hand that had just had blood withdrawn from. “Because Nathaniel Malick taught me the process for stealing Inhuman powers.”

Raina turned to look at her in surprise. “He taught you that?”

“Oh yes,” Kora said airly, standing up now. “It was really very useful. He used it on Gordon, on Li, on me even…. I have never performed it before, but I know how it works.”

“Does it...affect appearances?” Raina asked. “Or just powers?”

There was a peculiar tone in Raina’s voice, something almost uncertain, slightly uneasy maybe. Kora eyed her suspiciously, taking her time to give her the up-down before responding. 

“Unfortunately for you, Raina, it does neither,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “It steals the powers from an Inhuman, yes, but if said Inhuman can get treatment quickly enough, they can still retain their powers. I would know. So would Daisy. But it doesn’t affect appearances. Gordon was still eyeless after Garrett got his teleportation. And Garrett himself still had both eyes.”

Raina turned back around. “Pity,” she said.

Kora smiled. “Actually, that  _ does _ sound like a bummer to me,” she said. “Because if it did, all you would have had to have done was steal Lincoln’s time-travel device and bring me here. You could have left Daisy and Sousa out of it altogether. I could have helped you fix your appearance.”

It was clear that Kora was broaching a touchy subject for Raina; her shoulders, even concealed beneath her dark cloak, stiffened. 

Raina turned back to look at her. “I was always going to bring Daisy here,” she said. “She’s the only one Lincoln wants. I want him to be happy.”

“That doesn’t make what you did right,” Kora said. 

Raina scoffed. “Don’t honestly tell me that he’s not the only one she wants either,” she said.

“I never said that,” Kora replied. “But it was still cruel to Sousa.”

Raina shook her head. “I offered him the removal of one of his regrets,” she said. “He might not get Daisy, but he could still have his happily ever after.”

Kora studied Raina for a long moment, her mind racing through different thoughts of the timestream. “You offered him Peggy,” she surmised. “You want Flint.”

“Haven’t you seen where Lincoln and Sousa are going?” Raina asked her. “They’re going to get Sousa ‘closure’, but really, it will serve as a reminder about how he has no place in this world. He was only ever there for Daisy; now that she is with Lincoln, where does he belong? He will be practically begging to go home.”

Kora eyed Raina. “What does Sousa have that you want?” she asked. “He’s not Inhuman; he doesn’t have a defining purpose the way that we do. He….” Her voice trailed off. “Of course. It’s  _ because _ he has no purpose that is what makes him important. He’s a wild card.”

Raina turned away, lifting scientific equipment and putting them in their proper places. “Inhuman purposes are so fickle,” she said. “Destiny...is it possible to prevent it? Or is it just another of those inevitable things?”

“Spacetime is inevitable,” Kora said, interlacing her palms over her knees. “Deviating from spacetime creates an alternate timeline. I believe our destinies are set in stone; they may change from timeline to timeline, but once we are born, our destiny exists.”

“Curious,” Raina mused. “So you believe it was always Lincoln’s purpose to die for Daisy in the original timeline. But Charles shows people visions of their own deaths.”

“He showed Daisy his own death prior to the vision of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in space, not her’s,” Kora said, not even sure of what argument she was trying to make. 

“Please,” Raina said, walking away from her. “The future, our destinies aren’t set in stone. Our ultimate purposes maybe, but even then, they differ from timeline to timeline based on which version of ourselves we are. You may think that they are fixed, but they are constantly changing.”

“You’re not the one with the timestream in her head!” Kora snapped. “I think I would know more about time than you!”

Raina turned back to look at her. “So what were you trying to do then?” she asked. “Change Inhuman purposes when you volunteered yourself to be swayed so that your sister and Lincoln could be safe?”

“You don’t know anything about love and sacrifice,” Kora said, not answering Raina’s question as she stood up and turned away from her. 

“No?” Raina asked. “I have done things for Lincoln that you have no idea about. And I’m not just talking about bringing Daisy back, mind. There are other things at play here, important things. You’ve seen it yourself; one person on that team poses a great threat to Lincoln’s life. You said so yourself...kill thirty names on a list and the loved ones May and Coulson and Daisy lost would live.”

Kora’s eyes widened as she stared at Raina. “You’re talking about Ward,” she said as a chill ran down her spine. “Raina, what did you do?”

“I sent Kara through to Maveth,” Raina said coldly. “Because I knew it would affect Ward. Do you really think he would be able to shoot Kara, even if Daisy’s life is in danger? The stand-off there...can Ward truly protect Daisy or Lexi if he is staring at the face of the woman whom he loves? Far from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best protector, more like S.H.I.E.L.D.’s most vulnerable liability.”

“You sent Kara to Maveth to break Ward,” Kora realized. “To make him weak, vulnerable, borderline suicidal. He’s trying to distance himself from the team, from those who care about him because he believes he hurts those around him. It could either make him weaker or it could make him more willing to sacrifice himself. Either way, the effect will be the same. Hive can and may kill him. And Lincoln will be safe.”

Raina smiled. “Thirty names,” she said. “That was  _ your _ list, Kora.”

“Why didn’t you just kill him?” Kora asked. “Why go into all this torture and trouble to bring back Hive when you could have killed him in his sleep? What is  _ wrong _ with you, Raina?”

“You already know,” Raina said coldly. She waved her hand at her appearance. “You, Lincoln, Daisy, you are so lucky how your Terrigenesis did not trigger physical change. This...now this is something that humanity will never accept.”

Kora balled her hands into fists. Raina was a twisted psychopath. “How did you even know about the list?” she asked. “You can’t see the past; I told May and Coulson that...who told you about it?”

“Deke,” Raina said and Kora closed her eyes, hating the fact that Deke had trusted Raina so implicitly. “When he first recruited Ward to be under Victoria Hand, he asked me, with my knowledge of the future, how much of a risk Ward posed. I told him that he was dangerous, that he had the potential to destroy everything that Deke held dear, but Deke could not kill him. He hadn’t done anything dangerous yet...like Freddy Malick. He thought that giving Ward a good mentor would be enough to change him. So he risked it, even though I advised him against it.”

“Ward was innocent at the time,” Kora argued. “He still hasn’t done anything wrong!” She stopped as she realized what that had meant. “You had already seen yourself mentoring Lincoln. You knew how much he would mean to you. Deke met Lincoln as a child...that’s why you wanted Deke to keep Ward out of it.”

“Rosalind Price is going to die soon,” Raina said. “I’ve seen it. And that is because, intentionally or unintentionally, of Ward. Hive is currently in pursuit of Daisy and Lexi, but if Ward gets killed on that mission...chances are much higher for Lincoln to live.”

Kora blanched. “Why didn’t you come to me about this first?” she demanded. “Just because Ward is alive doesn’t mean that Lincoln has to die! There are timelines where both of them survive!”

Raina eyed her. “You’re the one who’s seen the timestream,” she said. “Which ones result in Lincoln surviving? You tell me.”

Kora’s nails were now digging into her palms with the amount of stress she was under. As much as she knew about the future, Hive still kept her in the dark about a lot of things and Raina’s information, while illuminating, was also terrifying. Most of the timelines where both Lincoln and Daisy lived resulted in her death, Ward’s, Sousa’s or Deke’s. 

“What are you trying to do?” she asked. “I know what you have in store for me. Isn’t my death enough?”

Raina studied her. “How much do you know?” she asked curiously.

Kora smiled grimly but it was a humourless smile. “I was the compromise,” she said. “Wasn’t I? You want Lincoln to live because you care for him, Hive wants him to live because he can be the father of his super-powered Inhuman army. You want him for his ability to see the timestream in my head; I am too valuable for Hive to just let go to waste. So if Lincoln is able to see the entire timestream in my head, I become expendable. Hive wants me for my knowledge on how Nathaniel Malick was able to steal powers from Inhumans. Well, not only have I already told him - I had no choice - but Lincoln will also know how by the time he’s seen the entire timestream. Once I was swayed, I had to tell Hive about the vision that Daisy and Lincoln got from Charles Hinton. He knows that in the original timeline, Lincoln was the one who shorted the manual controls. But Lincoln and my powers are so interchangeable that I could do the same. If Hive sends me up in the Quinjet with a warhead and a cross necklace, he believes that he could fulfill the prophecy and not die in space. To Hive it is Lincoln or me and Lincoln is more valuable and worth the risk of dying.”

Once Kora had been taken and her target for the Academy had been Lincoln, Kora had known that this was what Hive and Raina both wanted. The ‘compromise’. Lincoln was more valuable than she was; she was the expendable one. And yet, despite being able to speak her own mind and have her own agenda at times, the way she had spoken to Trip earlier, Kora was still very much under Hive’s control. It was baffling; she could not disobey Hive and tell Daisy and Lincoln this, but she could discuss it with Raina. There was something very wrong with her sway; she was herself and yet so very not herself.

“You would walk into your death for Hive?” Raina asked. “Surely if you knew this from the beginning, you would have tried to prevent your own fate.”

Kora looked at Raina. “I did not know this all from the beginning,” she said. “Sometimes I come to know the future based on events that come to pass, but even if I had known it from the moment Lincoln returned to Daisy’s life, I would have done it anyway. You think you know sacrifice, you think you care about Lincoln? If you really did, you wouldn’t have brought back Hive. You would have found another way to bring back Daisy because you want him to be happy. Because bringing Hive back does not guarantee his happily-ever-after. It might bring you what you think you want, which is equality for Inhumans. But you haven’t seen what happens, you don’t know everything.”

“I care about Lincoln -” Raina began, but Kora interrupted her.

“Not enough,” she said. “Not enough. Because if you had, you wouldn’t be doing this. You wouldn’t be forcing him to try and read the timestream from my head for your and Hive’s benefit, you wouldn’t have him risking his life and the life of the woman he loves for your own agenda. You think you know so much about the future. But did you stop to consider the consequences of the future you are trying to bring about? The world knows about Inhumans. The incident in the Badlands with Katya...she won’t stop. She’s quite literally insane, Raina. That was only the beginning. If she doesn’t die, the Cambridge Incident will happen and Deke’s dystopian world will become the Framework in reality. Lincoln could die being experimented on, Mack’s daughter Hope has already been born, Bahrain has never happened for May, Simmons may die….”

“Lincoln could die?” Raina asked, her voice suddenly unsteady. “What about Daisy?”

“Daisy wouldn’t survive either,” Kora said. “She’s already undergone Terrigenesis. Her fate would be entirely different. She could die like Lincoln, maybe return to the original timeline if she’s lucky...but Flint will definitely be killed. An Inhuman who can enable others to leave the timeline would never be tolerated. All the equality for Inhumans that you want could happen if Hive fails and Katya lives. Whatever the outcome in this war of Hive versus S.H.I.E.L.D., Katya  _ has _ to die. She cannot live.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Raina asked, her voice still slightly uneven. “You’ve been swayed, but you have so much more free will than the other Inhumans. What is so different about you, Kora?”

Kora shook her head. “I don’t know.” She hesitated. “I’m connected to Hive, yes, I have been swayed, yes, but you’re right, there is something very different about me. I cannot disobey Hive, but I have my own thoughts and emotions and actions. It’s not what the other Inhumans have, I know. I was hoping you and Doctor Radcliffe, with all your scientific knowledge, could tell me what’s so very wrong about me.”




It was worse than anything Daisy could ever have imagined. She had plugged in headphones and gone to the back of the Quinjet to listen to Lincoln, sitting in the place where she felt closest to him; the seat where they had sat side by side before everything had gone to hell with Hive. She had listened to everything he had had to say about Hive potentially wanting their powers and/or their children, how dangerous their children might be, even the possibility of Hive combining their powers with Kora’s. When he was done, she promptly threw up into a plastic bag that had been stored in a big black box at the back of the Quinjet, along with a series of supplies, including both full and empty water bottles.

“Sorry,” Daisy said, shivering as she turned back to the tablet; Lincoln and Jemma were watching her hopelessly on the other side of the camera. “I just….”

“It’s okay,” Lincoln said quietly. “When I first found out, I started sparking again.” He paused. “It didn’t help that you weren’t there either.”

Daisy gave him a wan smile. “How’s your head? Your memories?”

“I’m more worried about you,” Lincoln said, concern standing out on his face. “That was a bombshell in and of itself….”

Daisy shook her head. “I...I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I...I do want it, Lincoln, I want that future….” Her voice shook as she admitted it for the first time. When Lincoln had asked her if she’d wanted that future before, she hadn’t had the guts to tell him that she did. She  _ had _ told him that she wanted him, but she hadn’t openly admitted that she wanted their life together, their wedding, their children, everything. Voicing it gave her much more to lose. Ironically, Sousa accepting that she and Lincoln were together and basically being there for them as much as anyone else was part of what had helped her actually admit to Lincoln that that was what she wanted. 

“You  _ can _ have that future,” Jemma assured her. “I don’t know all the details - Lincoln kept that private - but there are many ways for it to happen. Doctor Johnson even went as far as to suggest creating specific embryos that will be humans, but carriers for the Inhuman gene.” She paused. “Or if you want children who are Inhuman, Doctor Johnson also suggested that he test the embryos for possible powers after their fertilization.”

“No way,” Daisy said immediately. “If an embryo is already fertilized, that’s going to be a kid. I can’t do that, not create babies and discard them if they are too powerful! I can’t,  _ can’t _ kill a baby like that!”

Her voice shook and both Lincoln and Jemma saw how close her emotions were to the surface. To Daisy, children were sacred, precious. Growing up in a series of foster homes and orphanages had taught her that they were to be protected at all costs; even considering discarding embryos like that went against every fibre of her being. Lincoln reached towards her, a futile gesture since he was just an image on a screen.

“Daisy, look at me,” he said gently; she met his gaze, tears barely suppressed, hair hanging in her face, concealing the trembling of her chin. “If you want this future, we can have it. We can do anything together, okay? You told me once that we were going to figure things out together and that is exactly what we’re going to do. Okay?”

Daisy nodded, feeling an overwhelming rush of comfort in both Lincoln and Jemma’s reassuring presences. Jemma and Fitz had created time-travel to ensure that Alya had a normal life; the challenge of super-powerful and dangerous potential Inhuman babies was nothing in comparison. And Lincoln...Lincoln was Lincoln. Everything about him was reassuring. 

“Okay,” she whispered. 

“Promise me you won’t worry your head about this,” Lincoln said urgently. “Promise me, Daisy.”

“I promise,” she whispered, feeling very much like she was having a similar conversation when they had been on the floor of the Zephyr, before he had stolen her destiny and died for her. 

Lincoln must have had a similar realization because he swore. “Dammit,” he said. “I really wish I were with you right now. That wretched Quinjet. And Ward. Hell.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not the endgame yet,” Daisy said, shifting so that he could see her clothes better. “I’m not wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket.”

It seemed like so long ago when she and Lincoln had been in Bucharest, dressed up in their finery, going undercover to find Holden Radcliffe. Both of them were still wearing the clothes that they had put on that morning; for her it was a black leather jacket over a grey long-sleeved shirt and jeans. 

Lincoln relaxed fractionally. 

“Daisy…,” he hesitated. “There’s something I need to tell you. I would have told you earlier, but there wasn’t a good moment, but with everything that’s going on...I think you need to know this.”

Daisy glanced at the camera and saw the troubled expression on his face. She knew perfectly well that he would not deliberately keep something from her unless there was another option; it was likely something to do with Kora’s vision or when he had been rooting around in her head, something that they would need extended private time to talk about. 

“What did you see in Kora’s head?” Daisy asked quietly.

Lincoln looked taken aback. “How did you know?” he asked.

Daisy smiled faintly. “I know you, Lincoln. Sometimes better than I think I know myself. But whatever it is, it’s okay. After the Badlands...we promised each other no more secrets and I know this isn’t kept deliberately to hurt me. I trust you. You had your reasons for keeping it a secret up till now and that vision...we both know how real it felt. And it’s not an easy topic to talk about...especially when I wasn’t telling you exactly what I wanted. What did you see?” 

Lincoln sighed. “It’s not...well, it’s not something….” He paused and started again. “There were some visions where we were outside,” he said at last. “It looked like Afterlife. And...Deke restored Afterlife.”

Daisy brought her hand to her stomach instinctively, remembering her pregnancy in the last vision.

“We were in Afterlife?” she asked. “And...the wedding?”

Lincoln glanced at Jemma. “Jemma confirmed with me a short while ago that there’s a way to communicate between the timelines,” he said. “I asked because I wanted to know how everyone from your old S.H.I.E.L.D. team was there. And...I think holograms are possible.”

“And Kora’s absence?” Daisy asked, her voice shaking. 

Lincoln shook his head. “Time is still passing for Fitz, Alya and Owen,” he said. “Jemma confirmed it and because she hasn’t set up communications yet, we don’t know how long has passed in your timeline.”

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered, pressing her fingertips in her forehead. “They could have aged three years...Kora’s absence….”

“I’m not saying it happens soon,” Lincoln said. “But Kora’s absence might not be because she dies. It could be because -”

“Because she’s swayed,” Daisy realized. “Oh my God. You think...you think she was showing us a closer future than we realized.”

Daisy automatically rubbed her finger where a wedding ring would go. Before she could speak, however, Lincoln spoke.

“Daisy, I don’t want you to think that when I propose in the future, it has anything to do with the vision that we’ve seen,” he said earnestly. “When I do, I want you to know that it’s because I love you and not because of any destiny or vision or purpose or anything like that. I love you and nothing, not old memories of us together, not visions of the future is making me do that. I love you for you and that’s all you need to know.”

Tears started in Daisy’s eyes. She had never heard him say that he loved her before, not once, not properly; the communications systems in the Quinjet had failed before he could. That aside, this timeline version of Lincoln had never told her that either. It was understandable; they had only been together a few days and as much as they agreed their past selves didn’t matter when it came to their feelings, they also knew that they  _ were _ influenced by them. But, instead of being insecure about it, they acknowledged that their past selves would always be a part of them and let it strengthen their relationship instead of weaken it. 

“That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me,” Daisy whispered, touching her fingertips to his face on the screen. “Lincoln, I...I lo-”

A loud crackle sounded and the tablet fizzed, showing a black screen.

“Lincoln!” Daisy shouted, pounding her fist on the screen. 

Nothing happened. 

Daisy yanked the headphones out and spun around; Ward was already turning towards her at the volume of her shout. 

“Ward, what happened to the communications?” she demanded, her voice frantic.

“I’ve done nothing!” Ward said, flipping switches in the cockpit and scrambling out of his seat to look at the communications at the side of the aircraft. “It’s not us; it must be them!”

“We have to do something,” Daisy said frantically. “We have to go back, we can’t just leave them, we can’t -”

The words were tumbling out of her in a spiral of anxiety and nerves and terror and panic all at once. Of course, just as she was about to tell him that she loved him, their communications were cut off. Of course. They were fated to never be able to tell the other how they felt. All the fear and love and panic settled in at once and tears started falling down her cheeks; she didn’t even realize she was shaking and crying out of fear that their Zephyr had exploded until Ward grabbed her shoulders.

“Daisy, it’s okay,” he said urgently. “Lincoln can take care of himself. With his powers, he is the best S.H.I.E.L.D. agent I know. He is fine, okay? He is  _ fine _ . Whatever happened there could be nothing other than going out of range. Or a bad storm. Or something. It does not mean anything.”

“You know it’s not nothing,” Daisy said. “I know it, Ward. I  _ know _ it. I can feel it. It was something. Whether it was Yo-Yo or Alisha or a freaking EMP or someone else entirely, that was not nothing.”

Ward hesitated. “Daisy, we’re almost at the Retreat,” he said. “And they’re almost in Washington D.C.. It would take hours to get back to them and if their communications have failed, we don’t even know where they are. We know their missions, but if we can’t contact them, we have no way of knowing where they are. If we stay on our intended route, Lincoln can find us, no matter what. And you know he’s okay, don’t you? If you can feel that something is wrong, you can feel that he’s alive.”

Daisy nodded, but she was still trembling a little. Ward relaxed marginally. 

“Okay,” he said. “We get May and Lexi, we get the hell out of there and we’ll find Lincoln and the others. Okay? I meant what I said about how I’ll make sure you get back to him. I promise, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you get home to him. No matter what.”

Daisy hesitated. “You shouldn’t put your life before mine,” she said. “And you definitely need to put Lexi’s life before mine. That little girl...she’s just a child, Ward. We can’t risk her life to save ours.”

“Not ours,” Ward corrected. “Yours.” He paused. “I’ll make sure both of you are safe. I’ll make sure you both can go home.”

Daisy bit her lip. “Lincoln is my home,” she whispered. 

“I know,” he said. “And I’ll make sure that you get back to him. Whatever it takes.”


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, so sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! I had finals (I still have two) and I didn't want to give you guys a subpar chapter by posting when I usually do. So sorry!!!! I hope you guys like this one and I'll post as usual tomorrow, so we'll be back on schedule then! 
> 
> As always, happy reading!!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 48**

At the same moment as the communications between Zephyr Three and the Quinjet failed, the Zephyr split quite literally in half. Since the communications centre was literally in the centre of the plane, Lincoln and Jemma were on opposite sides of the plane when it divided; Jemma was tossed into the open sky before Lincoln could even try to grab onto her. 

Jemma’s petrified scream was not the only one. 

On the deck below, the two labs divided with the breaking of the Zephyr. More bodies were thrown out; Lincoln caught sight of the limp frame of the red-headed Alisha and the equally comatose body of Yo-Yo falling out of the sky as Flint tried frantically to grab onto her.

The plane was being sucked backwards by its tail, which was why it had split down the middle. However, the front of the plane obviously couldn’t fly on its own; it started falling as well. 

The screams of all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were terrifying. All of them were falling, some had jumped from the back half of the plane to prevent themselves from being sucked into whatever vacuum was dragging the plane backwards. Jumping forwards had been the right decision. For some reason, the back half of the plane was being sucked backwards into some sort of implosion; there was no way that any of them would survive the blast. Unfortunately, since none of them had parachutes, everyone was free-falling, some, like Doctor Johnson and Flint, flailing, some, like Deke and Hunter, spread-eagled to slow their falls. The only reason Lincoln hadn’t joined them was because of the electricity now rooting him to the floor of the front half of the plane which, unfortunately, was also falling out of the sky. 

Unlike Daisy, who could really fly, Lincoln’s flying was dependent on the objects around him. He could control and manipulate the electrical currents within his body and direct them into other surfaces, which was how he could levitate Daisy and had kept himself, Daisy and Kora anchored to Zephyr One. What he _could_ do was create an electrical charge so strong it sent him flying, but it was a lot more imprecise than Daisy’s vibrational quakes. 

But despite that problem, the others definitely couldn’t fly, so he would have to chance it. He jumped. 

Someone below him screamed and Lincoln cursed under his breath as he scanned the sky for his closest target. Jemma, Deke, Sousa, Hunter, Miles, Flint, Yo-Yo, Doctor Johnson. Eight bodies. He had struggled enough with Daisy and Kora, who were lighter than any of them, excluding Flint who was still a teenager. Now, he had to hold eight people, plus himself, aloft. Alisha was just a replica of herself; if she fell, it would not be the end of the world because she could just create more copies of herself. But still...nine people...that was more than he had ever tried for before. 

Jemma was closest, so Lincoln aimed for her. He was lucky; his electrical charge didn’t send him on too wild a ride and he tackled her around the waist, knocking all breath out of her lungs with the force he had slammed into her with, but still, grabbing her before she could fall any further. 

“Jemma, remember what Iron Man did with the Barrel of Monkeys?” he asked. “You’re going to grab Deke next, okay?”

Jemma nodded, too breathless to speak and Lincoln said, “Hang on.”

He released another electrical charge behind him; it sent them rocketing towards Deke. They almost overshot, but in the nick of time, Jemma grabbed Deke’s wrist. The second their hands came into contact, Lincoln channelled electricity through them, gelling their hands together.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Deke asked frantically as Lincoln aimed them for his next target: Miles.

“We don’t have a choice!” he shouted. 

Fortunately, everyone, except Doctor Johnson and Flint, had experience falling out of a plane, with or without parachutes. Miles and Hunter were easy enough to latch onto; they knew how to sky-dive. Both Sousa and Doctor Johnson were more of a challenge, but they also made it, leaving Flint, Yo-Yo and Alisha as the only bodies unattached to the extremely peculiar chain of bodies.

“Let Alisha fall!” Deke shouted as Lincoln blasted them towards Flint. “She’s just a clone, Lincoln, she can create another replica!”

If Lincoln had the energy or the air, he would have shouted, “No, duh!”

When Lincoln neared Flint, he realized what the problem was. Yo-Yo was now conscious and she and Flint were literally fighting in midair despite falling. Every time Flint tried to use his powers against her, she used her speed to knock him backwards or break apart the rocks that he aimed at her. 

“Knock her out, Flint!” Lincoln shouted as they neared him. “We’re nearing 100 feet!”

That was probably not the smartest thing he could have said. Flint was trying. He was conjuring rocks out of thin air, but with her speed, Yo-Yo was dodging them easily. 

“Dammit, Flint, come on!” Lincoln shouted, but at that moment, Yo-Yo kicked Flint backwards into Sousa. Sousa grabbed him by the back of his jacket; Lincoln zapped the connection, his face strained and sweaty from trying to keep all of them together. 

“Knock her out before she breaks our hold!” Lincoln shouted, but before any of them could do or say anything in response, Yo-Yo literally plowed into his midsection, throwing him backwards.

It took all of Lincoln’s concentration not to break the bonds between everyone. He covered his skin, excluding his hands that were holding Jemma’s and Hunter’s and fried Yo-Yo with enough electricity to knock her unconscious. As she bounced back from his body thanks to her powers, Lincoln kept her connected to his torso with an electrical rope, not allowing her to get too far. When she stopped moving, he dragged her back into the fold; Flint grabbed her arm and Lincoln zapped the final connection together, just as they reached tree height in a random park in the outskirts of Washington, D.C.. Through his legs, he channelled electricity into the ground, slowed their descent and sent all of them tumbling safely into the grass. 

“Great,” he gasped as he landed, last of all, his legs buckling underneath him. “Did it.”

And then he fainted.




“Lincoln! Lincoln!” Jemma scrambled to check his pulse, pressing her fingers against his neck. It was faint and thready, but there; she started performing chest compressions, even as she wished that Daisy were there to restart his heart if need be. She could not fathom how Daisy was going to react if Lincoln was seriously hurt or injured. “Come on, Lincoln, Daisy is going to _kill_ you if you don’t wake up now!”

Meanwhile, Flint was being violently sick in some bushes.

“I don’t like flying,” he said, which was pretty obvious from the state he was in. “Has he ever done that before?”

Everyone was a mess. The landing had been abrupt and rough, but everyone was in one piece, which, considering the height they had fallen from, was pretty remarkable. Jemma didn’t blame Flint for puking; her own stomach felt like it had been on the world’s worst roller coaster ride, which was saying something, considering she had once voluntarily jumped out of the Bus without a parachute, only to be rescued by Grant Douglas Ward. 

Miles was doggedly getting to his feet from his hands and knees. “Kinda, maybe, sorta, I think,” he said as he tried to get up and almost fell over again. 

“Bloody aliens,” Hunter muttered as he too tried to stand up and almost lost his balance. “I thought Hive wanted Lincoln alive!”

Sousa managed to regain his feet better than Miles and Hunter; thanks to his replacement leg, ironically, he was much better balanced than either of the other two. He helped Miles stabilize himself - Miles, who had been a constant help when he had been missing one leg - before all three of them headed over to the clump of Jemma, Deke, Doctor Johnson and Flint, where Jemma was performing CPR on Lincoln. 

“Is he okay?” Sousa asked, concern for Lincoln’s wellbeing rising. It was not Lincoln’s fault that Daisy had chosen him, nor was it Lincoln’s fault that he had ended up in their timeline to begin with. Or that he had chosen to get his memories back when Kora had offered them to him. Lincoln had done nothing but save all of their lives again and again; Sousa would be worse than Vernon Masters if he held a grudge against him at this point.

Not to mention that if Lincoln were seriously hurt or injured, it would subsequently hurt Daisy and that was the last thing that Sousa wanted.

At that moment, Lincoln coughed, spluttered and then opened his eyes. 

“Oh, thank God,” Jemma rocked back on her heels. “Christ, Lincoln!”

Lincoln shook his head weakly from where he was lying on the ground. “Even though I died saving the world with a cross necklace technically in hand and was sort of paying for everyone’s mistakes, I’m not Jesus,” he said.

Miles burst out laughing. “I’m the best influence in the world!” he said, punching the air in triumph. “Even Lightning Boy is now using my sense of humour!”

“Holy Kree.”

Deke tackled Lincoln in a hug. “Don’t ever do that again,” he ordered.

“Thanks for the concern, Dad,” Lincoln said faintly, but Jemma could tell he really wasn’t being sarcastic when he addressed Deke as Dad this time. Her heart warmed. Deke had never really had a family; he’d lost his mother when he was nine, and then his father shortly after. Then when he’d gotten her and Fitz, he’d done his best to be a good grandson even though it hadn’t been easy, especially not with Fitz. The woman he’d fallen in love with had been endlessly in love with the ghost of her dead boyfriend, technically moved past him with a guy who was every single bit reminiscent of said dead boyfriend, only to get back together with another timeline version of the same dead boyfriend...after he had become Deke’s son figure. While Jemma hadn’t seen much of Daisy and Deke’s interactions since she’d returned, she did know that at the very least, they had a mad respect for one another. 

“I mean, technically, he did get resurrected,” Hunter mused as Jemma and Deke helped Lincoln sit up; the latter was pale, sweaty and looked ready to collapse, so they lowered him back down again. “So the comparison is not wrong.”

“We need to contact Daisy,” Lincoln said. “She’ll be worried sick.”

“This guy has a one-track mind,” Hunter muttered, but his egging was also in relief that Lincoln was alright; none of them wanted Lincoln to die and joking around was both Hunter and Miles’ method of coping with the stress. 

“You weren’t any better when Bobbi was the one in danger,” Miles countered, to which Hunter conceded the point with a shrug.

“Fair enough,” he said. 

“They were talking before the plane exploded,” Sousa explained. “If they were still in contact when the communications died, she’ll think something bad has happened to him.”

Sousa was not entirely sure what they had been talking about, but he had a pretty good feeling he knew what it was. He _had_ told Daisy that he understood why she had chosen Lincoln and he _did_ really want her to be happy, but it also hurt. It hurt that she hadn’t told him about Lincoln, it hurt that practically every meaningful moment before they had started dating had been with her consciously or subconsciously thinking of Lincoln, it hurt that she had moved on so quickly when Lincoln had returned to her life. But still, Sousa was a grown man and he knew when he had to let people go. If he acted resentful and angry, it would only push everyone away. The only person he had yet to properly reconcile with was Deke and that was because Sousa still didn’t know what his motivations had been when he had sent Lincoln them on Zephyr Three.

Additionally...while he wasn’t sure if he trusted her word, Raina _had_ told him that the key to saving Daisy was letting her go. After the others had confirmed that Raina wasn’t swayed, had made Lincoln immune _and_ was genuinely fond of Lincoln, Sousa wasn’t quite sure what to think about the Inhuman anymore. Yes, she was manipulative and borderline evil, but everything she had told him had been true so far. Sousa was not about to risk Daisy’s life on the off-chance that Raina had been telling the truth...not to mention that not even being able to be friends with Daisy was much worse than just losing her to Lincoln.

While they hadn’t initially been throwing it in everyone’s faces, Sousa knew perfectly well that Daisy was in love with Lincoln and simply hadn’t told him yet. Why, he wasn’t 100% sure, but he suspected it was to do with her growing up in orphanages, losing Jiaying and Cal, subsequently losing _Lincoln_ , then Coulson, and then her mother _again_. Daisy lost a lot of the people she got close to and she was undoubtedly afraid of letting Lincoln in, only to lose him again. Sousa was all too aware that voicing things made them more real, when sometimes, it was easier to keep things hidden and under the surface. 

As much as he hated to admit it, he hoped that she would tell Lincoln soon. The only thing worse than losing someone was losing someone with regrets. At the very least, if she was finally honest with him, there would be no regrets in their relationship, even if one of them did end up dying.

Not that Sousa thought that either of them was going to die at this point. Kora’s vision of the future seemed to be something that both Daisy and Lincoln thought was going to happen at this point. The way the whole team reacted...it seemed highly likely that both of them were going to survive. Not that Sousa begrudged them that of course, losing someone you loved for five whole years was bad enough without losing them a second time. 

Deke spoke up, interrupting Sousa’s dark thoughts. 

“We need to find some way to contact them,” he said, glancing around the park. “And some transport. Maybe if we could find some cars or something? Miles and I could connect the servers to the Quinjets.”

Miles gave Deke a mock salute. “On it, boss,” he said. “I’ll see if I can find a car to hotwire somewhere in the parking lot. Coming, Hunter?”

“Yep, let’s go,” Hunter said. 

It was clear that they would need two cars at the very least, seeing as there were nine of them, not to mention that they had different destinations in mind. Provided that Lincoln was alright, Sousa figured that they were still going to the retirement home...which might sound selfish since they had just been caught up in a bombing, but he had a pretty good feeling that Nitramene bombs were unrelated to Hive. 

As Hunter and Miles made their way towards the parking lot, Doctor Johnson turned to Deke.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Watchdogs, I think,” Jemma said, as she and Deke managed to get Lincoln into a seated position; his breathing was less laboured and more even now. “From the way the plane imploded, I think that that was a Nitramene bomb that detonated nearby and sucked parts of the plane into its implosion.”

At least Sousa wasn’t going completely crazy; Jemma confirming that it had been a Nitramene bomb was reassuring that he wasn’t completely useless. Although it had been decades since he had seen the effects of the Nitramene bombing at Roxxon Refinery.

“Was it a coincidence that we had four Inhumans on board?” Sousa asked the group in general. “Can they track Inhumans?”

“No,” Deke said, frowning. “That would be unethical and inhumane and -”

“And Mack did it to me once,” Lincoln realized, his voice a little strained still, but much more normal. “Dammit! We have to check Yo-Yo for trackers. If I was wearing one, it was definitely fried when I went all electrical coat just now.”

“I’ll do it,” Doctor Johnson said; Flint followed him, leaving Lincoln, Jemma, Deke and Sousa as the remainder of their clump. 

“Mack did what now?” Deke asked Jemma. 

“Other timeline Mack,” Jemma explained. “He put a tracker in Lincoln’s arm when he and Daisy went to him at the hospital. Daisy was furious and that was before they started dating, so yeah, it didn’t go down too well.” She paused. “Coulson….”

“Ordered it,” Lincoln agreed. “He was never very fond of me. First the ATCU stuff, then later the testing missions, then murder vests….”

Jemma shook her head. “He knew that you were the only person whom Daisy would choose over S.H.I.E.L.D.,” she said. “You might not know this, Lincoln, but after Daisy rescued you from Hydra and she was sitting with you every day, Fitz and I weren’t sure if she was going to stay with S.H.I.E.L.D.. She told me that she wanted to take you home, which by that, she meant Afterlife. She didn’t just mean Jiaying; she meant the Inhuman community - you were a huge part of that. You helped her accept her powers, see them as a gift, give her a sense of purpose that she lost when she initially feared them. You, Gordon and Jiaying accepted her for who she was, unlike everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. except for Fitz. Coulson came close to losing her to the Inhumans in Afterlife; he saw you as a reminder of what could convince her to leave. It didn’t help that Daisy had betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D. once for Miles or that Ward had turned out to be Hydra. Coulson didn’t have a lot of good experiences with Daisy’s past love interests and he could tell how serious she was about you. She actually went to you when she was swayed. Do you know how much she loved you to have done that? She tried to kill Mack and Fitz and she could have forced you to go with her, but she didn’t. Ironically, because Coulson pushed you away and you died, he did lose her...just not the way he thought he would.”

There was a long silence following Jemma’s speech. Sousa tried not to feel the sting at Jemma’s words. He _had_ told all of them that he was fine with Daisy and Lincoln being together and he also knew that while both of them seemed extremely comfortable in their relationship, there were times that everyone needed some form of encouragement and support. Additionally, he suspected that either Daisy or Lincoln had said something to Jemma that had changed her previous stance about them. Initially Jemma had been on the edgy side with Lincoln, but now she was going out of her way to reassure him about his relationship with Daisy. Sousa had no idea what had happened there, but he knew guilt when he saw it. Jemma was feeling guilty about something. 

After a brief pause, Jemma continued speaking to Lincoln. “After you died, Daisy was never the same,” she said. “She lost so much of her innocence and happiness when you died and Coulson knew how much it hurt her. He knew that if she lost more people she cared about, it would push her away. She would leave. It was and still is her pattern. That’s why when Sousa came along, Coulson tried his best to be accepting. He knew that pushing away another love interest of Daisy’s would not end well. He knew that it would just push _her_ away in the end.”

That was...news to Sousa as well as it was apparently to Lincoln. It made sense though, but at the same time, Sousa wished, for the millionth time, that Daisy had just trusted him enough to tell him about Lincoln. But he knew perfectly well if she had trusted him to do so, they likely wouldn’t be in this mess right now because it would have meant that Daisy had gotten over Lincoln. 

“Wow,” Lincoln said at last. “I had...no idea it ran so deep.” He paused. “I mean...I did accuse Coulson and May of wanting me to die so that when they got Daisy back, they could go back to being one small messed-up family again, but well….” His voice trailed off. 

Sousa didn’t blame him for being speechless. It was a lot to take in and he was only minorly involved. 

“And now?” Deke asked curiously. “If Daisy and Lincoln decide to return, what would the rest of the team do?”

“None of the team liked me very much -” Lincoln began, but Jemma cut him off.

“All of us want Daisy to be happy, Lincoln,” she said. “It wasn’t just you we lost when you died, it was her. All of us would understand that she would choose you again. It’s not the first time our team has dealt with the struggle of multiple guys. May and Coulson and Andrew, me and Fitz and Will, Yo-Yo and Mack and Keller….and each of us -”

She was the one who cut herself off this time.

“You can say it, Jemma,” Sousa said. “You all chose the first guy. That’s what you were going to say, right?”

Lincoln and Deke exchanged a concerned glance; Sousa caught the look.

“Okay, what now?” he asked. “Just tell me.”

There was a dead silence.

“Deke, you owe me,” Sousa said. “Spit it out.” 

Deke grimaced. “It wasn’t just that,” he said. “The second guy...well, all three of them died.”




Daisy was in the process of hacking into NASA satellites in order to see what had happened to Zephyr Three when the tablet that she was using for said hacking flickered in her lap and Miles appeared on the screen.

“Oh my God, Miles!” Daisy gasped. “Is Lincoln with you? Are you guys okay?”

“And _she_ has a one-track mind too!” Miles said, laughing. “Lover Boy’s fine, Daisy, hang on a sec.”

Daisy felt such an overwhelming sense of relief that she didn’t even scold Miles for calling Lincoln “Lover Boy”. After all, there were much worse nicknames that they could be given and as long as Lincoln was okay, she was fine with the teasing. 

There was some shuffling on the other end and then Lincoln appeared behind Miles, his head poking over the side of the carseat, Jemma next to him.

“We’re fine, Daisy,” Lincoln said. “There was a little disaster with the plane -”

“We think it was the Watchdogs,” Jemma said. “The plane’s tail end was sucked into the vacuum of a Nitramene bomb.”

“A Nitramene bomb?” Ward repeated.

“Howard Stark invented them after World War II,” Sousa said; although Daisy couldn’t see him, she could tell, from the trajectory of his voice, that he was the one driving the car, which was a bit of a surprise in and of itself, when Lincoln, Jemma and Miles were all in the car, they who knew technology a lot better than Sousa. “They suck everything within a 500-mile radius into a vacuum that causes an implosion.” 

“How did you know that?” Miles asked, startled.

“I was involved in some of the first cases of Nitramene bombings,” Sousa admitted. 

“Great!” Miles said. “So how do we defuse them, then? You know, in case, we come across them again.”

“Uh, well, I never actually diffused any,” Sousa said a little sheepishly. “Peggy did that once, but I never did.”

“Okay…,” Ward said. “Jemma, have you ever diffused any said Nitramene bombs?” He looked at Daisy, who at this point, was trying not to laugh; on the other side of the screen, Lincoln was also attempting to suppress his smile. “What’s up with you two?”

Jemma sighed; she knew why Daisy and Lincoln were laughing. “I never diffused any said bombs,” she said. “Daisy did.”

And that was the icing on the cake. Daisy and Lincoln started laughing openly. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” Ward said, looking between Daisy and Sousa on the screen; Daisy tilted the screen so that he could look at the others as well. 

“In my defense,” Daisy said. “Fitz was the one giving me directions the whole time. I had no idea how to do it on my own.”

“You’re not helping,” Sousa told her, shaking his head in exasperation. “Because Jarvis was giving Peggy instructions the whole time too.”

Daisy shrugged, her laughter dissipating. “I’m sorry, Sousa, it’s not my fault that we’re so similar!” 

“Seriously, how did you ever compare yourself to the Hulk, Lincoln?” Ward asked, making Lincoln laugh. 

“The Hulk?” Miles repeated. “Lincoln’s Iron Man! He went all Barrel of Monkeys on us when we were falling out of the plane and saved all of our lives when the plane split in half! Daisy, your boyfriend is a hero!”

“You did what?” Daisy repeated, staring at Lincoln. “Are you alright? The amount of energy that needed -”

“I’m fine, Daisy,” Lincoln assured her. “Jemma made sure of it.”

Jemma shot him a look, as if to say that she knew he wasn’t completely fine, but Ward spoke up before she could correct him. 

“Lincoln, man, seriously, what is _up_ with you?” Ward asked incredulously. “First, you can fly through the sky and conduct lightning/electricity like Thor, then you and Daisy go all Captain America and Peggy Carter on the world, now you’re Iron Man? And you compared yourself to the _Hulk_? What’s next? Black Widow and Hawkeye?”

Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma started laughing; even Sousa looked amused.

“It ends with Hawkeye,” Miles deadpanned. “Because we all know how their story ends. Lincoln and Daisy get married and live happily-ever-after with kids, so...yaknow. The farm somewhere out there with little baby Power Rangers running around everywhere.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and for a second, it was so ridiculously accurate it was funny. In the vision that Kora had shown them, they _had_ had two kids, one boy and one girl, and in the last one, Daisy had been pregnant with their third child. Apparently...the Hawkeye comparison was not wrong. 

“I think I hit something there,” Miles said cheerfully as he saw Daisy’s smile and suppressed amusement. “Are you pregnant, Daisy?”

“Shut up, Miles,” Lincoln said, cuffing him on the side of the head; Miles laughed and ducked away. 

“Name your first kid after me!” he joked, but he was grinning.

“We’re just glad you’re okay,” Daisy said, ignoring Miles and addressing Lincoln, but also adjusting the screen so that Ward could see them too. “We were really worried for a while there.”

“You gave us both major heart attacks,” Ward said. “And shaved off quite a few years of our lives. Daisy was hacking into everywhere from NASA to the ATCU trying to find you guys. Where are you guys now?”

“We’re in Washington D.C.,” Jemma said. “We’re heading to the Peggy Carter’s retirement centre; I came along to make sure that Lincoln was alright and Miles came to try and find you guys on the car’s computer. Good thing he’s fast at the hacking too, Daisy.”

Daisy shrugged. “I mean, he did train me in the original timeline, so, he would be fast,” she said and Miles grinned mischievously at her. 

“Round two goes to Miles!” he said, in a teasing voice. “Ready for round three, my young Padawan?”

Daisy smirked. She could do with a challenge. “You’re going down,” she promised. 

“No cheating,” Miles warned. “Sparky here can’t help you.”

“She doesn’t need my help,” Lincoln said, also grinning. “She’s going to kick your butt, Miles.”

Miles smirked in response. “Maybe that’ll be my wedding present to you guys,” he said thoughtfully. “Some sort of communication bangles or something that can’t ever go out of range. And if I create them before Daisy, well, I definitely win.”

“I thought Deke was the engineer?” Sousa asked; as far as he knew, Fitz and Deke were the engineers and Daisy and Miles were the hacktivists. 

“I learned some stuff from him,” Miles said cheerfully. “Although you _are_ right, I might need to go to him for some help on that one.”

“If you get to phone a friend, I do too,” Daisy said. “And I’m going to call Fitz.”

“Oh, good one!” Lincoln said and Jemma started laughing. 

“Oh, grandfather versus grandson, I’d love to see how that one goes down,” Jemma said, laughing. “If Fitz loses, he’s going to _freak_.”

The others started laughing too. 

“I think I know what I’ll do for the wedding,” Sousa said. “I’ll persuade Deke...ah, well, actually, Lincoln could probably persuade him better than me. Still, Deke owes me one. I’ll get him to get his Deke Squad together and have them perform any song of your guys’ choosing, the way they did it back in 1983.”

The mental image of that was so funny that all of them cracked up again. All of them could just picture a 66-year-old Deke trying to wear super-tight red leather pants and a bandanna, surrounded by his old Deke Squad. The image was priceless. 

“That would be _hilarious_ ,” Miles said, grinning, but as he spoke, Ward said, “We’re at the Retreat now; we need to go.”

That sobered them up. Daisy hesitated, her eyes locked on Lincoln’s. 

“Lincoln, I….” she began, her voice faltering a little.

Lincoln smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I know.”

She didn’t want the first time she said “I love you” to be in front of Sousa and Miles. Jemma was different; Jemma was her sister, but the audience of Sousa and Miles was an unwelcome one. Even though Sousa was being supportive of their relationship, feelings didn’t just turn off overnight. Neither one of them wanted to rub it in Sousa’s face. 

She loved that Lincoln knew her so well that he knew why she didn’t want to say it. It wasn’t so much because of her fear; it was out of consideration for Sousa this time. But even as she smiled back at him, she was troubled; she still wanted to tell him something true, something real, before she hung up the call. She hesitated. 

“Daisy, I hate to rush you, but we gotta go,” Ward said. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get back to him, okay?”

Daisy nodded reluctantly. “I’ll see you soon,” she promised and then she ended the video call.

She sighed in relief, placing the tablet on the seat as she stood up. She had been seriously worried for a while that something truly terrible had happened to them. Ward had already unbuckled his belt and was arming himself with real guns, not ICERs.

Daisy caught sight of the weapons. “Ward, if Kora’s there, we aren’t going to kill her,” she said firmly.

Ward sighed. “I know you love your sister, Daisy,” he said. “And if it comes down to you or her? What are you going to do then?”

“Knock her out, not kill her,” Daisy replied and Ward sighed again.

“Don’t worry,” he muttered. “Trip would kill me if I shot her too.” 

There was silence for a moment as he armed himself with splincter bombs.

Then he said, quietly, “You can’t save everyone, Daisy. Sooner or later, you’ll have to make a choice.”

“I can sure as hell try to save everyone,” Daisy said, looking him in the eye as he pushed the button to lower the ramp of the Quinjet.

Ward shook his head. “I know you have dealt with time before, but riddle me this. Has it ever worked out that you’ve changed the future and everyone survived?”

Daisy pressed her lips into a thin line. He had overheard parts of her conversation with Jemma when she had been telling her how much she’d loved Lincoln and how both she and Jemma had lost the loves of their lives. He knew that changing time did not come without consequences.

“We got Fitz back,” she said finally. “And...I got Lincoln back too.”

“Different timeline versions,” Ward said, nodding. “Daisy, I hate to say this, but one day, there won’t be another timeline version of someone to come back. Someday, you might have to choose. I don’t want you to lose someone you care about, but like I said...sometimes a decision has to be made. One life for many.” 

Daisy bit her lip. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Lincoln had made that sacrifice, so had Enoch. Both had deliberately gone to their deaths knowing that they wouldn’t survive, but had done it anyway, for their family, for the people whom they loved. Enoch telling her that their mission with the Chronicoms was to be their final mission together had been hard in-and-of itself, but his sacrifice had reminded her of Lincoln’s, what with his sacrifice for the rest of them and the prediction that the team would be forever changed after their mission. Daisy had changed drastically after Lincoln’s death; that more than anything had shaped her for years afterwards. 

“Not today, Ward,” Daisy said. “We aren’t going to lose someone on the team today.”

Ward nodded. “But someone is still going to die in that Quinjet in space blowing up Hive,” he said. “One day soon, we’re going to lose someone on the team for real.”


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

Ward tapped on the front door of the cabin in the Retreat; Daisy stood behind him, watching his back, arms braced and ready to quake anything that appeared out of thin air. They had arrived there a few minutes ago and, after quickly but efficiently scoping the area with sniper rifles, Daisy and Ward had hurried through the wooded area to the cabin, moving as quickly as possible to avoid being out in the open.

“May, it’s me, Ward,” he called through the door. “And Daisy. Open up, please!”

There was a brief pause and then the door opened. Daisy was overwhelmed at the sight of May. It felt like it had been eternity since she’d seen her, whereas in reality, it had been a few days since she had seen her hologram. There was just something so...different about seeing May in-person. Even though this May didn’t know her.

“Let’s go,” May said, stepping out, pulling a little girl behind her, sheltering her defensively between herself and the door. 

Daisy bit back a gasp. Lexi, May’s daughter, was May in miniature, jet-black hair, Asian features, a beautiful little girl of about eight. It wasn’t even strange seeing May with a daughter; Daisy had already seen her caring for Robin Hinton. It broke Daisy’s heart to see this little girl, to know that it hadn’t happened in the original timeline and that May had lost Andrew and Coulson in that timeline. As much as she liked LMD Coulson, he was not the same as the real Coulson; he was still an LMD.

“I’ll carry her,” Ward said, kneeling down next to Lexi. “May, you’re a lot faster than I am and Daisy has powers that make it best if her hands are free. Okay?”

May’s expression tightened. “Ward-”

“Fastest, safest option,” Ward said. “May, trust me, I’ll get Lexi back to the Quinjet, okay? The longer we’re out in the open, the more dangerous it is for her and all of us. Trust me, okay?”

May hesitated for a split second and then nodded. Ward knelt next to Lexi.

“Lexi, do you remember me?” he began, but Lexi cut him off.

“Yes,” Lexi said. “Momma told me that we’re in danger. Let’s go.”

Daisy hid a laugh behind her hand. Lexi’s personality was very reminiscent of May in personality, blunt and straightforward to a T. Ward didn’t appear too surprised at her attitude; he scooped her up, sheltering her in one arm and carrying a gun in his other hand. They took off across the grassy area of the Retreat, Daisy in the lead, Ward in the middle with Lexi, and May taking up the rear. 

They were halfway back towards the Quinjet, almost home free, when Daisy sensed a shift in the air. Her eyes widened and she whirled around, arms raising. She sent a vibrational quake pulse directly into Ward, Lexi and May, sending them tumbling backwards, just in the nick of time. As they flew backwards, Hive/Kara landed in the middle of them, already raising her hands in the direction of Ward, Lexi and May.

“Get away from them!” Daisy shouted, flinging both arms out. 

A massive vibrational quake flew directly in Hive/Kara, causing the ancient Inhuman to whirl on her. Ward and May rolled, keeping Lexi between them, scrambling away from Hive/Kara as he flew backwards, barely getting out of the way in time. Daisy flung up an arm, but Hive/Kara vaulted over the vibrational pulse, landing in front of Daisy, punching her hard in the chin.

“Get to the Quinjet!” Ward shouted to May as he pulled out his gun. “Get Lexi out of here!”

Daisy didn’t hear May’s response; she was too busy trying to fight Hive/Kara. Not only was the Inhuman healing easily from every hole that she put in him, but he also had all of Kara’s fighting abilities; her S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting skills were substantial. Even as Hive/Kara kicked her viciously in the ribs and she blocked the blow, Daisy could feel the ache in her arms from trying to stop the limb from striking her. Hive/Kara was a lot stronger than she looked.

Daisy dodged the next flew blows, weaving her way backwards; it was easier trying to avoid getting hit instead of trying to block them. On Hive’s other side, Ward’s gun went off; Daisy wasn’t sure if he was trying to hit Hive or not, until she saw, out of the corner of her eye, May and Ward fighting all four clones of Alisha and the original, Lexi sandwiched protectively between them.

“You should come with me,” Hive/Kara snarled. “Your sister misses you.”

Fortunately, at this point, Daisy was well-versed with people trying to bribe her with promises that never came true. It had been different with Kora; she trusted Kora. But, with Hive, she trusted him less than she could throw him, which was not very far at all, even with her powers. 

Daisy didn’t bother attempting to respond. Hive kicked out at her and she dodged, leaping out of the way just in time. She thrust another massive concussive blast at Hive, only for them to start skidding over the floor as he attempted to brace and protect himself from the force of her blast.

“You should just give up now,” Hive/Kara hissed. “You’re never going to defeat me.”

Daisy knew that one pretty well. She couldn’t defeat him on her own, nor had she and Lincoln been able to make a dent in him even with their powers combined. Even if they had Kora with them, she doubted she’d be able to do much. As much as it would benefit the team if Lexi did have Lash’s abilities, there was no way that she would subject a child to that kind of monstrous life. Even though Lash had saved her, his existence had still been as a monster; for the life of her, she didn’t want to torture Lexi like that. And May...there was no way that May would want her daughter to turn into a monster, even if the result was that the world was saved. The safety of children was paramount. 

At that moment, Daisy heard a high-pitched scream behind her. The only person in their vicinity who was capable of making that kind of sound was Lexi. Fortunately, Hive/Kara was simultaneously distracted by her shrill voice; both of them turned to look at what was happening.

Alisha had produced a Terrigen crystal laced with Diviner metals and was using it as a weapon against Ward and May. Both Ward and May were adept at dodging, but Alisha had now decided to simply shatter it, let Ward and May die, and Lexi turn.

“NO!” Daisy screamed, flinging both arms out. 

Hive/Kara landed on top of her, but it was too late. Daisy’s vibrational pulse knocked everyone flying: all the clones of Alisha, Ward, Lexi and May. She wasn’t sure where the crystal ended up, but as long as it didn’t break or come into contact with either Ward or May’s skin, that was good enough.

Daisy forced both wrists up, trying to prevent Hive/Kara from choking her and knocking her out, but Hive was already dragging her backwards, shouting at Alisha to get Lexi. Daisy dragged her heels, trying to kick out and put up more of a fight, but Hive was wickedly strong.

She heard May’s shout Lexi’s name and struggled to turn and see what was happening. Lexi had caught the Terrigen crystal. She wasn’t changing because the crystal hadn’t broken, but she was holding it, unaffected by either the Terrigen properties or the Diviner metal; she was definitely Inhuman.

Then Alisha kicked it out of her hand, the Terrigen crystal twirling in midair, falling down towards the ground, about to shatter, too far for Lexi, a potential Inhuman, to catch it.

May caught it instead.

Daisy screamed, a wordless, primal sound; she had no idea what it sounded like, but she knew it was raw, painful and hideous. She twisted, slammed Hive/Kara’s arm out of the way, and sent such a massive vibrational quake at him that he was blasted backwards into the cabin of the Retreat and part of the front porch fell down on top of him. Then Daisy was blasting a massive quake behind her; she was beside the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in a second.

Ward had already lifted May into his arms and was running towards the Quinjet. Daisy scooped up Lexi and followed, ignoring the ache in her arms from carrying the little girl; Hive’s blows had bruised, possibly fractured some of her bones. Red-headed replicas of Alisha littered the ground; Daisy made sure to blast each one as she passed, even as Lexi clung to her in sheer terror. Then she was scrambling up the ramp that led to the Quinjet and Ward was closing it; the Quinjet took off before Daisy could even set Lexi down next to May. 

“Ward, do you have a knife?” Daisy shouted, even as she took the Terrigen crystal out of May’s hand and shoved it in her pocket for safe keeping.

“What for?” Ward asked; he hadn’t even sat down because he was too busy trying to navigate their take-off as fast as possible. 

“We have to cut it off!” Daisy yelled. “There’s no way humans can tolerate the Diviner metals; Carl Creel was the only one and that was because of his absorbing abilities. Izzy, Coulson, they survived because Hunter and Mack amputated their arms! I need to cut it off!”

Ward turned in the cockpit. “Catch.”

He threw her a knife and Daisy turned back to May.

May’s eyes were lidden with pain, but her face was resolved. “Do it,” she said through gritted teeth. 

“May, bite down onto this,” she said grimly, putting a towel between her teeth. “This is going to hurt.”

Daisy had not been around when Izzy and Coulson had lost their arms. She had been there when Yo-Yo had, but that had been different; Ruby Hale had cut them off and Ruby did not care for Yo-Yo. Hunter and Mack had obviously cared for Izzy and Coulson. She could not fathom the strength it took for Hunter to literally saw off Izzy’s arm; Coulson’s at least had been quick and over in a second. Just before she started, she turned to Lexi.

“Lexi, go be with Ward, okay?” she said. “You don’t want to see this.”

“No, I want to stay!” Lexi protested. “Momma needs me!”

“Lexi, go,” May said, her voice strained; Daisy’s heart tugged painfully as May spoke. 

“No, please, I can help!” Lexi said, her eyes wide with fear and hope at the same time.

Daisy looked at May’s arm and knew they didn’t have much time. 

“Close your eyes,” she told her. “Sweetheart, close your eyes. You can stay here with your Momma, but only if you promise to close your eyes, okay?”

Lexi looked at her. “Okay,” she said. 

Lexi took May’s other hand and, obediently, she shut her eyes. Daisy bit her lip hard, braced herself and began. 

It was one of the most painful things Daisy had ever done. It was one thing to hurt or kill people who had wronged her. But to cut the arm off her mother-figure, even from a different timeline, someone who didn’t know her...it was exhaustingly painful. By the time Daisy was done, the floor was a mess of blood and she had done her best to tie a tourniquet around May’s arm and bandage it.

Ward appeared when she was just done.

“I tried to get in contact with Deke’s team,” he said. “They’re still in Washington D.C.. Lincoln and Sousa are inside the retirement home; I was able to reach Miles and Simmons. Miles is contacting Deke, but we’re still hours away from them. He and Simmons are driving to the Lighthouse as we speak; they’re going to meet us there. It’s three hours plus by car from the Hub to the Lighthouse. We’ll reach the Lighthouse around the same time as Miles and Simmons do. Bobbi and Trip have the Quinjet, but they’re MIA. Lincoln and Sousa will follow as soon as they’re done at the retirement home.”

“How long to the Lighthouse?” Daisy asked. “She’s losing so much blood, Ward….”

“At least three,” Ward said. “We could cauterize the wound if we have a blowtorch something. Have you done anything like that before?”

“No,” Daisy said. “If you can get Simmons on the phone, she can talk us through it.” 

Ward started rummaging through the big black box at the back of the Quinjet, pulling out water bottles, weapons and other equipment. Daisy turned to Lexi.

“Is Momma going to be alright?” Lexi asked; she seemed more her age now, a little girl, terrified that she was going to lose her mother.

“She’s going to be just fine,” Daisy promised, but even as she spoke, she wasn’t sure if May was going to be alright. She had no idea if the tourniquet she had tied was tight enough; she wasn’t sure how much blood May could lose before she couldn’t stand to lose anymore. 

“Will this do?” Ward asked, and Daisy realized that he was still in contact with Simmons. He was holding up a flare to the tablet, asking Simmons’ approval.

“Oh my God, Ward, you want to use a flare?” Daisy asked. Flares were much less reliable than blowtorches. She could only imagine the kind of disaster that would bring about, what with the sparks and the unreliability of the flame. 

“We don’t have a choice,” Ward said, his voice tight. “What do you want to use instead, Daisy? Can you magically cause the blood to not flow out of her arm? Because as amazing as your powers are, I don’t think you can do that.”

He wasn’t being sarcastic. He was genuinely asking. At this point, everyone’s relationships were so messed up that it didn’t even enter Daisy’s head to be confused about the fact that Ward and May obviously liked and trusted each other. 

“Maybe not,” Daisy said, realization dawning. “But I can do this.”

She sat down on the floor next to May and pressed her hand to the wound. A vibrational pulse formed a thin layer just coating the wound. Blood hit the barrier and didn’t spill; the makeshift forcefield prevented May from losing any more blood.

“It’ll act as a scab layer until we get to Simmons,” Daisy said. “Now fly us faster, Ward, because I’m going to have to hold this here for however long it takes for you to get us to the Lighthouse.”




Lincoln and Sousa hopped out of the big black SUV, just outside Peggy Carter’s retirement home. Thankfully the drive hadn’t been too long, but it had been long enough for Lincoln to recover from his Barrel of Monkeys adventure. While he obviously wasn’t back at his full strength yet, he knew he was recovered enough to help Sousa and Peggy if he needed to use his powers. 

“You sure you can do this?” Sousa asked Lincoln as they approached the front door of the retirement home.

Lincoln looked at him. “Shouldn’t that be my question?” he asked.

Sousa gave him a _look_.

“I’m serious,” Lincoln said. “You’re the one who’s going to be seeing your ex, who’s got Alzheimer’s. You haven’t seen her in years. It’s got to be hard….”

Sousa sighed heavily as Lincoln opened the front door of the retirement home and let them into the building. 

“As long as you can do your thing, I’ll be fine,” Sousa said. He didn’t want to open up to Lincoln, of all people, as kind as Lincoln was. It was an awkward enough situation as it was. 

Lincoln looked at him for a long moment. Finally he said, “Okay. Let’s do it.”

They walked into the lobby of the retirement home and Lincoln stepped up to the front desk. 

“Hi...Mrs Carey,” Lincoln said, reading her nametag across the counter. “I’m here to see Peggy Carter?” He flashed her a winning smile at her, handing her his ID. 

Technically, it wasn’t his ID. It was one that Deke and Miles had made him in lieu of him pretending to be Steve Rogers. Thankfully both of them were skilled and quick at their jobs; Miles had made it and given it to him before the Zephyr had exploded. 

The woman behind the counter glanced at the ID.

“One minute, Mr Rogers, let me just check our records and see if you’re permitted to visit her….” Mrs Carey said. She paused, typing away into her computer. “And...yes, you are. Who is this gentleman here?”

“He’s my older brother,” Lincoln said, taking Sousa’s ID from him and handing it to the woman. “He’s allowed to see her as well. He just hasn’t before because he was busy with work.”

Mrs Carey looked at the ID and then glanced back at her computer. “Ah...James Rogers?” she asked.

Sousa suppressed an amused shake of the head. To say that Miles had a sense of humour was the understatement of the year. Not only had he given Lincoln Steve Rogers’ identity, but he had also given him the first name of Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers’ best friend. Inside jokes were Miles’ speciality.

“Alright, you can have ten minutes tops,” Mrs Carey said. “I’ll call for a nurse to bring you two there.”

She reached below the counter and pushed a button to call for the nurse. 

“Thank you,” Lincoln said, smiling. “We appreciate it. A lot.”

Sousa thanked Mrs Carey as well, but as he was doing so, another nurse appeared almost instantaneously at the end of the corridor. She gave both Lincoln and Sousa the up-down and then said, “Visitors for Peggy Carter?”

“Yes,” Lincoln said, walking down the corridor and extending his hand to shake hers.. “I’m Steve, this is James.”

“Let’s go,” the nurse said brusquely; Lincoln saw Sousa smiling wryly as Lincoln’s attempts to flatter her failed. 

Lincoln raised his eyebrows at Sousa as if to say, “Why don’t you try?”

“What’s your name?” Sousa asked as he hurried to keep pace with her.

She glanced at him. “Why do you care?” she asked. “If you’re anything like that guy, you’re just here to charm the nurses and flirt with us to ask for favours.” She nodded at Lincoln. “He probably has a girl back home, doesn’t he?”

Lincoln had to admit that she had spunk and more than a little attitude.

“I have friends who are doctors and nurses,” Sousa said. “My ex-fiancee was a nurse and she saved a friend of mine when she got stuck through with a wickedly long length of rebar. My ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend is a doctor and he just saved nine people from certain death. My ex-girlfriend’s sister is also a doctor and she’s brought so many people back from imminent death, I’ve lost count. I have a great deal of respect for doctors and nurses.”

The nurse looked at him. “My grand-aunt once sewed up a woman who was stabbed with a rebar. Even though her fiance at the time was in love with the other woman. And now I’m looking after that woman. Peggy Carter.”

Sousa took a step backwards and for a second, Lincoln thought that he was going to either throw up or faint.

The woman stopped outside the door that led to Peggy’s room. “So don’t try to charm me,” she said. “You’re a spitting image of your grandfather or your granduncle or however you’re related to Daniel Sousa.” 

She walked away and Sousa stared at Lincoln in shock and amazement. “That’s...that’s Violet’s grandniece,” he said to Lincoln. “How in the world did she end up working at Peggy’s nursing home?”

Lincoln had to admit that he didn’t know much about Violet, although he did know that she was the ex-fiancee who had saved Peggy’s life. While Sousa hadn’t mentioned names, it was pretty obvious that he had been referring to him and Simmons as well when he had been explaining about his respect for doctors and nurses. 

“Well, how in the world did Steve Rogers end up kissing Sharon Carter?” Lincoln asked. “How did Deke end up as my father figure when I’m with Daisy and he used to be in love with her? The world is weird.”

To be fair, _that_ was probably the understatement of the year. 

“Truer words were never said,” Sousa said grimly, staring through the panel of the door to look at Peggy. 

“Listen,” Lincoln said. “I don’t know how long we have. That woman...she might be running background checks as we speak to try and find out how you’re related to Daniel Sousa. I don’t know how deep Miles made our covers. We might have shorter than we think.” He paused. “I might be able to temporarily remove her memories of us, but it’ll only work for so long. It’ll be like….”

“A memory inhibitor,” Sousa said grimly; he was thinking of Doctor Samberly’s invention that he and Peggy had borrowed from him once. “I know.”

Lincoln looked at him quizzically, but didn’t press for more answers. “Are you ready?”

Sousa sighed heavily. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said grimly and they walked into Peggy’s room.




It seemed the second after Lincoln and Sousa had left the car that Miles got a video-call on the car computer screen from Ward. In reality, it was more like a few minutes, but regardless, when Ward appeared, he was covered in dirt, dust and some blood. Fortunately, the blood didn’t appear to be his. 

“Ward, what the hell happened to you?” Miles demanded.

“You need to get Simmons to the Lighthouse ASAP,” Ward said. “Daisy is amputating May’s arm right now. She came in contact with a Terrigen crystal. Simmons needs to do her thing.”

Miles swore, starting the engine. “Simmons, can you call Lincoln?” he asked, tossing her a mobile phone that they had bought while driving to the retirement home. “They’ll need to find another way to the Lighthouse.”

Jemma grabbed the phone from him, already swiping to reach the few contacts that they had plugged into the phone: one was Lincoln’s number, the other was Deke’s. 

“On it,” she said.

“It’s three hours away,” Miles said to Ward, as he peeled out of the parking lot. “We have to drive there. We still haven’t gotten into contact with Bobbi and Trip and the Zephyr’s done for. Does May have that kind of time?”

Ward looked grim. “We’re three hours away by flight as well, Miles,” he said. “It’s the best we can do. The Lighthouse is the closest S.H.I.E.L.D. facility to the Retreat; you know how remote that location is.”

Miles did know that. In fact, he hadn’t ever been there. Only a few select individuals had; Lincoln had gone there immediately following his Terrigenesis, but Miles didn’t know where it was. He had a pretty good feeling that this was Ward’s first time there as well. 

“Is Lexi okay?” Miles asked as he started typing into the keypad with one hand. “I’m making all the lights green for us,” he added to Simmons, who looked at him quizzically. “We’re going to have the fastest exit from Washington D.C. that ever existed in the history of exits.”

“She’s fine,” Ward said, glancing over his shoulder at something off-screen. “May saved her from undergoing Terrigenesis. But she is Inhuman. She caught a diviner-laced Terrigen crystal...whether she’s got Lash’s powers or not, she’s something alright.”

Miles nodded grimly. “Guess we weren’t lucky enough that she didn’t inherit that gene,” he said, at the same time as Simmons hung up the phone; she had been talking in a low voice and very rapidly, to try and not distract Miles from his conversation with Ward.

“I called both Lincoln and Deke at the same time,” she said. “Lincoln and Sousa are just in with Peggy Carter; Deke and the others are almost at the Hub. When Lincoln and Sousa are done at the retirement home, they’ll hitch a ride in the Quinjet with the others and/or steal a car. I’m not sure which one they’ll go for; it depends on whether or not they find Bobbi and Trip and which method is faster for getting Lincoln to the Lighthouse. Do they have other doctors at the Lighthouse or will it be just me?”

“The Lighthouse is a more remote S.H.I.E.L.D. location,” Ward said. “One of the Koenig brothers is there, but not many doctors. If you need an assistant in the operating room, the faster Lincoln gets back, the better.”

“Okay,” Jemma said, leaning into the camera. “You should try to cauterize the wound, Ward, see if you can stop her from bleeding out. A bandage won’t last, not if it’s going to be three hours before we get there.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Ward said; at that moment, both Jemma and Miles heard a muffled scream from Ward’s end of the line. Ward grimaced. “I’ll call you back,” he said, and then hung up the call.

Miles and Jemma looked at each other. 

“Can we make it back in time?” Jemma asked Miles as he raced through a series of green lights, hitting buttons on the console of the car to cause roadblocks and police cordons to ensure that their exit from the city would be faster.

“We’re sure as hell going to try,” Miles said grimly. “And if we get pulled over by a helicopter, well, that’ll be a good thing. We can steal their chopper. I can create some crazy documentation that’ll make us look like the President’s entourage.”




Bobbi and Trip had initially had a fairly easy journey. Both were pilots, the Quinjet was easy to navigate, and they were well-known S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at the Hub. Their landing on the roof had been simple; Victoria Hand had even sent up some of her team to greet them when they arrived. The only thing that felt slightly uncomfortable was the fact that they had to dress up; both were wearing expensive luxury suits and Bobbi was wearing heels, in an attempt to present themselves as official and as agents to be respected. 

“Agent Morse, you said that you wanted to see the research facilities?” one of the agents asked Bobbi as she and Trip started swiping their S.H.I.E.L.D. badges, IDs and going through the retina and thumbprint scans to confirm their identities.

“Yes,” Bobbi said, taking her badge back from the guard once it had passed inspection. “My colleague, Agent Triplett, and I have documentation from the director and Doctor Johnson both that we’re to confiscate any alarm-triggering research Doctor Johnson has done.” 

She handed the guard a sheaf of paper that had been meticulously typed up by both Doctor Johnson and Deke; both men had signed it at the bottom. 

“We’re to bring it to a remote facility to decide what to do with it,” she added.

“The Fridge?” the agent asked.

“That’s classified, Agent Khan,” Trip said, also taking back his badge from another guard. “It’s on a need-to-know basis and you, my friend, do not need to know.”

Agent Khan snapped to attention. “Yes, sir!”

It was actually true. As known members of Deke’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team, both Bobbi and Trip had clearance that most regular agents did not. It would be different if Agent Khan were facing Daisy, Sousa, Kora or Simmons, who weren’t known to be Deke’s regular operatives, but Bobbi and Trip were different. It was not the first time that they or other members of Deke’s team had had to pick up classified intel. 

“Follow me, Sir and Madam,” Agent Khan said, leading them to the elevator. “I understand that this is a time-sensitive mission, but Agent Hand personally requested that you two touch base with her before she lets you into the research facilities….”

Bobbi and Trip traded a glance behind Agent Khan’s back. Political situations never went down well and Hand had always disliked the fact that Deke shared a lot with his agents, more so than Hand usually did. If Hand were running this operation, Bobbi and Trip would probably be clueless about what intel they were gathering. Instead, they had full disclosure about the Centipede serum and its dangerous effects.

“I understand,” Bobbi said. “However, the word of the director trumps that of his second-in-command. And Agent Hand, of all people, understands that sometimes speed takes priority to niceties.” 

Agent Khan hesitated as the doors to the elevator opened.

“I can get the director on the phone right now,” Trip said. “And Doctor Johnson. As you can see from the documentation that we gave you, both are in full agreement that we pick up the research as soon as possible. If you want to deal with the wrath of both high-ranking men, be my guest.”

Agent Khan shook his head. Apparently, although Victoria Hand was a less lenient boss, annoying the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was the last thing anyone wanted. He stepped onto the elevator and held the doors open for both of them.

“Of course not, Sir and Madam,” he said. “Come with me; I will take you directly there myself. Perhaps when all of this is over, you could visit Agent Hand.”

“That would be pleasant,” Bobbi agreed as she and Trip stepped into the elevator. “I think everyone would like that much better than during a mission that is clearly on a time-crunch.”

The elevator doors closed and started its descent. However, as the elevator neared the twenty-fourth floor, an alarm above them started blaring and shouts and screams could be heard up ahead. Almost instantaneously, a voice could be heard shouting over the intercom.

“Two hostiles landed on the roof and are breaking into the facility! They appear to be powered individuals; one can melt metal and the other can move things with his mind! We’re under attack - argh!”

A scream came over the intercom and Bobbi and Trip turned to look at each other, eyes wide. Hive’s Inhuman operatives, Joey and Giyera specifically, had arrived at the party.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

Sousa pulled up a chair and sat down at Peggy’s bedside. Lincoln was leaning against the opposite wall, looking awkward and slightly uncomfortable. He had already plugged in Deke’s headphones and was listening to something, hopefully not Deke singing a tribute to Daisy, although at this point, if he was, it was minor compared to all the craziness that they had already been through. However, similar to how Kora had kept watching Daisy and Lincoln while she had been giving them space for a private conversation, Lincoln was also watching Peggy’s face; he needed to know if/when he needed to assist with his powers. 

“Hey, Peg, it’s me,” Sousa said, taking her hand gently. “It’s Daniel. Sousa. It’s been a long time, but I hope you remember me….”

Peggy turned her head to look at him. She looked pale and tired, but altogether not too bad. Her hair was white and the lines in her face were deep, but all in all, she looked like the same old Peggy that Sousa had known.

“Daniel…?” Peggy repeated, her face a question of confusion. “You...you look like someone I used to know….” Her voice was faint as she spoke.

Sousa smiled faintly. “Yeah, Peg, it’s Daniel Sousa,” he said. “Your old partner. Remember? At the S.S.R.? We worked together. For years.”

She stared at him for a long moment. Finally, she repeated, “Daniel...? Daniel Sousa?”

“Yeah,” Sousa said quietly. “It’s me. Do you...remember me? Peg?”

There was another momentary silence. Then she shook her head. “You don’t look like anyone I know,” she said. “I don’t know you. Who are you?”

Sousa closed his eyes briefly. Then he opened them and looked up at Lincoln. Lincoln caught his gaze and nodded. Carefully, he unplugged one earbud as he approached the bed.

“Hi, Peggy, I’m Lincoln,” he said. “I’m a doctor. I’m going to be helping you today, okay? I just need you to relax. Okay? Can you do that for me? Just relax.”

Peggy looked at Lincoln. Slowly, she nodded her head up and down. Lincoln took a deep breath and leant over Peggy’s bed. He carefully placed both hands on either side of Peggy’s head and allowed electricity to zap her head. Peggy gasped, flinched and then turned back around to look at Sousa.

“Daniel…?” she asked slowly. “Daniel? What are you doing here? I thought you died?”

Sousa smiled. “Hey, Peggy,” he said. “Yeah...it’s a long story. But I’m here now.”

There was a silence for a moment. “To...welcome me home?”

Sousa hid all his complex emotions behind a stoic, but gentle expression. Of course she thought that when he finally returned, it was because it was finally her time to die.

“No, not yet, Peggy,” he said. “It’s not time yet.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Peggy asked, her voice faint. “How are you alive?”

“It’s a long story,” Sousa said. “One that puts our cases with Howard Stark and Dark Matter to shame.”

Peggy smiled at that. “The good old days,” she said.

“Yeah,” Sousa said, squeezing her hand tightly. “The good old days.”

He paused for a moment and then said, “Peggy...I’m really sorry. The way we left things off...we should have kept in touch. I should have reached out again. And after I died...well...we were trying to keep the timeline intact. I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore because we created an alternate one...but yeah. I should have reached out.”

Peggy turned to look at him again. “I’m sorry...who are you?”

Sousa swallowed hard against the lump in his throat and turned back to Lincoln. The younger man was back against the wall, both earbuds in again, but when Sousa looked at him, he unplugged his earbuds again and stepped back towards the bed.

“I think you should keep your speech short,” Lincoln told him. “She’s fairly lucid right now because it’s daytime and I’m helping, but the longer your speech, the harder it is for her to process it.”

Sousa nodded and Lincoln leaned over Peggy again. 

“Hi, Peggy, it’s Lincoln,” Lincoln said. “I’m a doctor; I’m here to help you. Just relax and stay calm, okay? I’m just here to help.”

It was painful for Sousa to have Lincoln repeat the exact same thing to Peggy. Unfortunately, that seemed to be what they had to do to get the message across. Her mind wasn’t it’s old self and Lincoln’s electricity powers could only help for so long. 

After Peggy nodded again, Lincoln channelled electricity between his palms into her head again. There was silence for a moment and then she turned back to Sousa.

“Daniel?” she asked. “It’s...really you?”

Sousa bit his bottom lip hard to prevent the emotions from coming out on his face. “Yeah, Peggy, it’s me,” he said. “It’s Sousa. I’m...back.”

“I thought you were dead,” Peggy whispered. “You haven’t aged a day...is this it then? Am I joining you in the sky?”

“No, not now, Peggy,” Sousa said, but his voice was a little more than a whisper. “It’s not time yet.”

“How strange,” Peggy murmured. “You’re alive, Steve’s alive...who else is alive? Michael? Jarvis?”

“They’re gone, Peg,” Sousa said quietly. “But I’m here now. And I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

Peggy smiled faintly at him. “It’s okay, Daniel,” she said. “I know you’ve had other things going on...I already mucked up your life with Violet and everything...I hope you’ve found someone else. Someone who loves you and cares for the amazing person that you are.”

Sousa didn’t have the heart to tell her that that had fallen through as well. All he could do was hope that Lincoln really wasn’t listening. He didn’t want the latter to feel sorry for him, which Lincoln would undoubtedly be doing, even without listening to their conversation. 

“Don’t worry, Peggy, my life is good,” Sousa said. “It’s really good.”

Peggy smiled faintly. “That’s good, Daniel, that’s good….”

She blinked slowly and Sousa swallowed hard. He didn’t want to lie to her and elaborating on their conversation would be lying to her. He carefully changed the subject.

“Peggy, I’m sorry,” he said. “I...I missed you.”

Peggy smiled at him. “Me too, Daniel, me too.”

Sousa opened his mouth, but Peggy interrupted his speech. 

“So tell me about her,” she said. “This new woman in your life. Who is she? Is she pretty? What does she look like?”

“Uh…,” Sousa began helplessly. “She’s...uh...great.”

Peggy blinked at him slowly. “Who are we talking about again?”

For once, Sousa was almost grateful that Peggy was suffering with Alzheimer’s. Well, not really grateful, but he was just glad that he didn’t have to explain to her that his life was a mess for the second time in two years and he had been taken out of said life...also for the second time in two years. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he also didn’t want to tell her that his life was a complete disaster; he wanted to leave her with good memories of their reconciliation.

Sousa looked up at Lincoln, but even as he mentally asked the Inhuman to help connect the neurons in her brain, he wasn’t sure if he wanted her to come around again. He didn’t want to keep lying to her and if she remembered the road their conversation was taking, lies might be necessary to keep her happy. He didn’t want the last words he said to her to be a lie.

“Hey, Peggy, I’m Lincoln,” Lincoln said, stepping back towards her bed for the third time. “I’m a doctor, I’m here to help you. I just need you to stay calm and relax for me, okay? Just relax.”

As Lincoln leaned over the side of the bed again to place his hands on either side of her head, Sousa noticed that he was sweating. Sousa hadn’t realized it beforehand because his attention had been focused on Peggy, but now he realized that Lincoln looked completely worn out. He definitely wasn’t at his full-strength. Sousa was pretty sure that Lincoln hadn’t slept all night, he had just saved nine people from falling out of the sky and a few hours before that, he had been fighting a war with Yo-Yo, trying to keep her contained with electrical bonds. Lincoln was pushing himself too hard. 

“Lincoln, don’t,” Sousa said, seeing the strain on his face. “You’re exhausted; don’t do it.”

“You deserve a chance to say goodbye to Peggy,” Lincoln insisted. “And...we don’t have much time left.”

Sousa saw the expression on his face, something that he hadn’t picked up on before. Now he felt even more guilty. In addition to not noticing the strain that Lincoln was in, he hadn’t realized that Lincoln had gotten some sort of message from one of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He had thought that Lincoln had been listening to music on Deke’s Walkman, but Sousa knew, thanks to Daisy, that phones could connect to earbuds as well.

“Who called?” Sousa asked. “Lincoln, who called?”

“What? No one,” Lincoln said, but Sousa saw through the lie this time. Lincoln was good, but he was too exhausted to be that good at the moment. 

“Who called?” Sousa repeated, his voice raising. “Lincoln, tell me!”

Peggy jumped at the noise and Sousa lowered his voice, stepping around the bed to speak to Lincoln.

“Lincoln, tell me now,” he said. “It’s not Daisy, if it were, you wouldn’t be this calm. Who’s in danger? What’s going on?”

Lincoln grimaced. “May’s lost her arm,” he said finally. “Daisy and Ward reached the Retreat and were ambushed by Hive and Alisha. Jemma and Miles are on their way to meet them at the Lighthouse now so that she can do surgery on her. I’m supposed to join them as soon as possible so that I can help her with the operation.”

“What are we still doing here?” Sousa demanded. “Lincoln, that’s May we’re talking about!”

“I know!” Lincoln said, his voice tense. “She means a lot to me too, Sousa! She’s my teammate, she was Deke’s righthand woman on the team up until the disaster with Andrew. She’s family! But you deserve the chance to say goodbye to Peggy and Jemma can do the surgery without me if she has to. She’s done it before, with Yo-Yo; it’s just easier if I’m around-”

“We should go,” Sousa said. “They need help; you can help her-”

“We have time for one more,” Lincoln said. “I can do one more.” He nodded to Peggy. “You can tell her anything, Sousa. She’ll forget in a short while, but I can make her lucid one more time before I’m spent. You can tell her anything you want. Anything you need to get closure. Don’t waste this opportunity. In the original timeline, she died before we defeated Hive. I’m sorry, but she did. This could be your last chance, Sousa. Your last chance to say what you want to say.”

A myriad of mixed emotions crossed Sousa’s face, everything from sadness to guilt to misery. “Okay,” he said. “One more time, Lincoln. One more time.”

Lincoln nodded and stepped closer to Peggy’s bedside. “Hi, Peggy, I’m a doctor,” he said. “I’m Lincoln. I’m here to help you. I just need you to relax and stay calm, okay? Can you do that for me? Just relax.”

Peggy nodded and Lincoln zapped her brain one more time with his electricity. Sousa saw the exhaustion on his face this time and he felt a simultaneous wave of sympathy and gratitude for Lincoln. He was really pushing himself too hard. Leaning against the wall apparently wasn’t just for relaxation; it was genuinely for support. Sousa felt intensely guilty for not noticing it sooner. Lincoln was exactly like Daisy in the sense that both of them pushed themselves way too hard trying to do the right thing. Sousa wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing or not. When they were together, they prevented each other from pushing themselves  _ too _ hard, but when one of them wasn’t there to temper the other...well, it didn’t end up looking well for either of them.

“Hey, Peggy,” Sousa said, sitting back down at her bedside. “It’s me. Daniel. Daniel Sousa.” 

There was silence for a moment. “Daniel? I thought...I thought you were dead.”

Sousa’s heart felt like it was breaking. Lincoln was doing his best, but even though he was making Peggy lucid momentarily, he couldn’t do much about her non-lucid moments. Or maybe he could, he was storing some of Kora’s timestream knowledge in his head. But either way, it was not an option at the moment; he was exhausted and, judging from the way he was currently leaning against the wall, completely spent. 

“I’m sorry,” Sousa said. “Peggy...Peggy, I’m so sorry. For everything. And I’m so sorry you’re in this situation right now.” 

“Listen, Daniel, don’t worry about me,” Peggy said, taking Sousa’s hand in hers. “I’ve lived a good life. A long life. But you...you have your life ahead of you to live. You should go out and live it. Stop worrying about me and all those other people who keep pushing themselves too hard. Start worrying about yourself. You need to worry about yourself.”

Sousa smiled faintly. “Always the concerned one, Peggy,” he said softly. “Thank you. For everything. You’re amazing. You always have been and you always will be.” 

He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead. She closed her eyes as he did so, but when she opened them again, her eyes were once more cloudy. 

“I’m sorry...who are you?” Peggy asked. 

Sousa managed a faint smile. “I’m a friend, Peggy, a friend.”

He turned to Lincoln. “Let’s go.”

Lincoln was watching with a sympathetic look on his face. “Are you sure?” he asked. “We could try one more time -”

“No,” Sousa cut him off. “No, Lincoln.” He paused, adjusting his brusque tone. “I appreciate it...but May needs your help. You tried your best, Peggy and I talked...we should go. Plus, you look like you need 10 hours of sleep and possibly a healing pod, so we really should go. Daisy will kill me if you go back looking like the Night of the Living Dead.”

He tried to lighten his voice as he spoke, but despite his attempt to sound more light-hearted, Lincoln gave him a sympathetic look all the same. 

“Nah, she’ll kill me, not you,” Lincoln said, also trying to sound light-hearted, for Sousa’s sake, as they left the room, Peggy lying still on her bed. “She can’t fault you for my choices.”

“That’s true,” Sousa admitted. “But you know Daisy better than I do. She loves you, Lincoln. Anyone with eyes can see it. And right now, as much as you’re trusting Ward to protect her, she’s trusting me to look after you. And I’m not going to have you running into one of those walls without her to pick you back up.” 

The look in Lincoln’s eyes made it clear that he knew what Sousa was talking about. The metaphorical wall that Sousa had told Daisy about, the walls that people like she, Peggy and Lincoln kept running into. Peggy had once told Sousa about how Jarvis had told her a similar thing; everyone had someone to rely on. Captain America’s person had been Peggy and Sousa knew, as much as he had been there for Peggy and Daisy after Cap and Lincoln had been gone, now that Lincoln was back, he and Daisy were that for each other. 

“So we’re going to go and find a way to the Lighthouse,” Sousa said, his voice as even as he could make it under the circumstances. “However we can. Any ideas?”

Lincoln furrowed his forehead thoughtfully. “Have you ever flown in a chopper?” he asked. “Because with my MD, I have an idea -”

He cut himself off as a two security guards came into view around the corner, along with the nurse who was Violet’s grandniece.

“That’s them!” The nurse said. “Imposters!”

“On second thoughts, run!” Lincoln said and they took off at top speed down the corridor with security guards hot on their heels. 




The Hub was a chaotic mess of fleeing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when Deke, Hunter, Flint, Doctor Johnson and an unconscious Yo-Yo pulled up outside. Deke had no idea what was happening inside, but from the look of things, the answer was nothing good.

“What in the world is going on in there?” Doctor Johnson asked, staring up at the building, his eyes wide. As he watched, part of the structure on the side of the building melted, causing bits and pieces of metal to come crashing down into the parking lot. 

“Inhumans, most likely,” Deke said. “Does anyone have any weapons?”

All of them looked helplessly at each other. Not only was Doctor Johnson a doctor and therefore very unlikely to be carrying a weapon, but they had also just fallen out of a plane. It was a miracle that any of them were alive, much less carrying weapons.

“Looks like we’ll have to pick them up inside,” Deke said grimly. “We need a game -”

“Hunter, what are you doing?!” Flint yelped, but Hunter was already out of the car, running towards the building. 

“What is he  _ doing _ ?” Doctor Johnson asked, but Deke swore. 

“It’s Bobbi,” he said grimly. “She’s in there. Dammit, he’s going to get himself killed. I’m going after him.”

“Wait, I thought we need a plan!” Doctor Johnson began, but Deke was already out of the car, scrambling after Hunter.

“We can’t leave Yo-Yo in the car alone,” Flint began, but Doctor Johnson was already opening the car door. 

“They don’t know where my research is,” Doctor Johnson said. “Bobbi and Trip might, but if they can’t get there in time...I’m going in.”

Doctor Johnson raced off after Deke and Flint grimaced. “Okay...guess I’m staying in the car with you, Yo-Yo,” he said. “And as much as I like you...I really hope you don’t wake up.”




Bobbi, Trip and Agent Khan scrambled out the elevator on the twenty-third floor, one at a time. They had pried the doors open and wedged each of Bobbi’s high heels in either side of the door to keep the doors apart; she was barefoot as she slid out, landing like a cat on the ground, despite the fall being about half a floor, since the elevator had been trapped between two floors. Trip followed and Agent Khan brought up the rear, landing lightly.

“We need to get to the research labs,” Bobbi said the second Agent Khan slid out. “What floor are they on?”

“The basement,” Agent Khan said. “We figured they were safer there than on any of the other floors -”

“Stairs,” Trip said, turning to him as well. 

“On the left, but you need a keycard to get that deep -”

“You’re coming with us,” Bobbi said, grabbing Agent Khan’s arm. 

The three agents sprinted for the staircase, taking them as quickly as they could. As they rounded the stairwell on the eleventh floor, they almost barrelled straight into Hunter and Deke, who were bolting up the staircase as quickly as possible.

“Hunter!”

“Bobbi!” 

“Deke, oh my God, you’re okay!” 

Bobbi’s relief wasn’t just for Hunter’s safety, but also for Deke’s. Deke flashed her a quick, appreciative smile, even as he realized, with a twinge of slight amusement mixed with sadness, that it was always his grandmothers who were more accepting of his abrupt grandson status. At least Fitz and Hunter were coming around...slowly. 

“Your communications died!” Deke protested.

“We’ve been in the elevators!” Trip said. “And then we were just trying to get to the research labs -”

“Yep, let’s go!” Hunter said hastily, beckoning towards the others. 

All five of them whirled back around and raced down the stairs, moving as quickly as they could, given the circumstances. 

“Hang on a second, where are the others?” Bobbi asked as they rounded the stairwell on the fifth floor. 

“Lincoln and Sousa are at the retirement home,” Deke said. “Jemma and Miles are on the way back to the Lighthouse. The others are in the car.” 

“Wait, Flint and Doctor Johnson are alone with Yo-Yo?” Trip demanded. “That’s crazy! Doesn’t Hive want them?”

“Go back to them,” Deke ordered. “There weren’t enough of us to stay; the three of us - and Agent Khan - can get the research from the lab. Trip?”  
“Done,” Trip said as they burst out into the lobby on the ground floor. He raced for the main doors, while the other five agents headed for the staircase that led to the lower levels. However, as they split up, a yell came from the parking lot and all of them turned to look. Flint was running towards the building, but as he ran, someone invisible tripped him, knocked him off his feet and caused him to fall face first into the street.

“Oh no,” Bobbi gasped. “Yo-Yo.”

“Dammit,” Hunter said grimly. “Bob, got a gun?”

She tossed him her sidearm. “I’ll use my batons. Go help them.” 

At that moment, the phone at Deke’s belt rang and he whipped it out of his pocket, glancing down at the screen.

“Doctor Johnson is downstairs with Giyera,” Deke said, looking at the screen. “He called me for help; he was trying to destroy his research and Giyera got there before he could finish. Doctor Johnson’s not even an agent, he’s not going to last five seconds against Giyera!”

“On it!” Bobbi raced for the stairs. “Khan, come with me!”

Agent Khan sprinted after her; Hunter took a step after Bobbi, swore and then turned back around. 

“Ideas on how to get Flint back from Yo-Yo?” Trip asked, pulling out his own sidearm. “Do we have license to kill, boss?”

Deke swore. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was hurt Yo-Yo, but really, what other choice did they have at the moment? Flint’s life was infinitely more important at the moment. He was the only Inhuman who could control travel between the timelines and right now...that was looking really bad and really dangerous.




“Are we stealing a police car?” Sousa demanded as Lincoln yanked open the door to the police car, zapped the engine to start with his powers and motioned for Sousa to get in. Sousa tugged open the other door and leapt in as well; Lincoln peeled out of the lot with a screech of tires. “We  _ are _ stealing a police car! Are you nuts?”

“Nope,” Lincoln said. “Just...kinda in a rush!”

“A rush?” Sousa demanded. “These are cops! They’re going to have our faces on wanted posters and it’ll be permanently on our records and -”

“And Deke will cover it up for us,” Lincoln said, even as he drove frantically down the road, swerving around other cars that were, for some reason, piled up, blocking the road.

“What’s with the cars?” Sousa asked, poking his head out the window. “There are so many it looks like a massive roadblock or something!”

“Must be Miles and Simmons,” Lincoln said as he jerked them down a road that led towards the highway. “Sousa, call Simmons on my phone; see if you can get him to open the roads for us -”

At that moment, something came flying through the air and hit the front of the police car. Simultaneously, Lincoln and Sousa yanked open their respective car doors and dove out into the road, landing on their sides and rolling.

Not a split second too soon.

The police car exploded in their wake; James was standing in the road in front of them, wielding his glowing metal industrial chain. 

“Oh, hell no,” Lincoln said as he rolled over, to come face to face with Katya Belyakov. 

“Hello, Lincoln,” she said, reaching down to touch his face.




“Kora, report to me on the status of the other Inhumans,” Hive/Kara snapped, arms crossed as he stared at the computer screen. “Do they have the targets?”

Kora leant over the communications system that she and Hive/Kara had set up; it enabled her to speak with the three groups of Inhumans: Hive/Kara and Alisha, Giyera and Joey, and James and Katya. 

“James and Katya have just caught up with Lincoln and Sousa in downtown D.C.,” Kora reported. “Giyera is dealing with Doctor Johnson as we speak; Joey is in the Hub; and Yo-Yo’s awake and has just got Flint.” 

“Good,” Hive/Kara said. “Because that damn Inhuman child at the Retreat just got away. And so did your sister.”

Kora’s eyes widened and she stared at the screen. She hadn’t been expecting Lexi to get away. The possibility had been there, but still….

“Was she turned?” Kora asked. The chances of that not happening were even slimmer. 

“No,” Hive/Kara snapped. “Her mother prevented the Terrigen crystal from shattering.”

Kora raised her eyebrows into her forehead. The possibility of Lexi not undergoing Terrigenesis...it had been in so few of the different timeline threads that Kora was surprised beyond belief that it hadn’t happened. The odds had been astronomically small. But she wasn’t about to say anything. The last thing she wanted to do was incur Hive’s wrath.

“Do you have any orders for the teams in D.C.?” she asked, even as Doctor Radcliffe checked her arm where blood was being drained.

“Prioritize Lincoln and Flint over the Centipede serum,” Hive/Kara said. “And make sure that James does not kill Lincoln! You know how volatile he is!”

Boy, did Kora know that. She turned to the microphone. 

“James, Hive wants Lincoln alive,” she said. “Acknowledge.”

There was silence on the other end. 

“James! Acknowledge!” Kora shouted. 

Ever since James and Katya had tortured her upon her initial capture, Kora’s relationship with both Inhumans had been bad. However, as long as they were both under Hive’s sway, they had to work together, even if it meant that James and Katya had to take orders from Kora while she was organizing all three raids back in Afterlife. 

“Something’s not right,” Kora muttered, tensing her fingers around the microphone as if it would bring her closer to the disaster site. 




The second Katya reached down to touch Lincoln, he covered his skin with a sheen of electricity. She flew backwards, collided with a wall and slumped to the ground. But even as she struggled to regain her footing, Sousa noticed that Lincoln was not moving. That last expenditure of energy had been too much for him; he was out cold. 

Sousa turned back around to face James, who was coming towards him, wielding a flaming chain. 

“You’re coming back with us,” James said, flicking the chain. “Too bad we won’t have much use for you anymore, Peg Leg. We’ll have the real boyfriend.” He smirked in Lincoln’s direction. “And then we’ll get the girl -”

“Drop it,” a voice rang out and Sousa turned, just in time to see a dozen armed men, wearing some sort of dog masks over their faces, approaching James with guns. “You’re coming with us, Inhuman.”

James glanced over to where Katya had been, but she was slowly getting back to her feet. She was in no shape to be influencing all the soldiers.

“Look, we don’t have to do this -” James began, holding out both hands in a placating gesture, but as he did so, one of the men tossed a stun grenade out in the middle of the lot. James flicked his flaming chain at it; it exploded and Sousa scrambled out of the way, running around the men to Lincoln’s side. 

“Lincoln, get up, come on, we have to go,” Sousa said, shaking the Inhuman, whose head lolled vaguely as he tried to regain consciousness.

Sousa felt another wave of guilt at Lincoln’s condition. He should have noticed earlier that he was pushing himself too hard. Both Daisy and Deke were trusting him to make sure that Lincoln was alright; contrary to alright, Lincoln was pushing himself much harder than he really should be. Admittedly, the Barrel of Monkeys adventure had been necessary to save everyone’s lives, but still...he needed to take a chill pill with the powers. 

“He’s coming with me,” Katya said, staggering towards them; there was a cut dripping down one side of her face. 

Sousa turned, grabbed the nearest thing at hand - which happened to be a metal piece of the car that had just exploded - and swung it hard at her. It didn’t kill her - he had swung, not stabbed with it - but she flew sideways and crumpled to the ground again. Sousa turned back to Lincoln.

“Lincoln, Daisy needs your help,” he barked. “Get up, for her sake, not mine!”

Lincoln’s eyelids flew open. “What?” he spluttered faintly, but at least he was awake.

“Good,” Sousa said, hauling one of Lincoln’s arms around his shoulders. “You’re coming with me. And we’re stealing another car. Let’s go.”

The two men struggled in a sort of three-legged race to the van that the soldiers had come in and got in. By the time the soldiers - Watchdogs really, unbeknownst to Sousa - and James noticed that Sousa and Lincoln had got away, it was too late. To be fair, considering their biggest preoccupation till that point was flying bullets and explosives, it was really lucky that Sousa and Lincoln had gotten away in the first place. 


	51. Episode 14: One Sentence - Chapter 51

**Episode 14: One Sentence**

**Chapter 51**

Sousa was incredibly relieved when Lincoln woke up. Admittedly, he had only been unconscious for ten minutes, but it had been among the most stressful ten minutes of his life. Not only did Sousa not know how to treat Lincoln, but he also didn’t know how to contact Simmons or even know where exactly he was driving to. He was relying on road signs to take him to New York, where he knew the Lighthouse was located. 

“Thank goodness you’re awake,” Sousa said. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been worse off,” Lincoln admitted, massaging his temples with one hand. “Definitely been worse off.”

Sousa glanced at him. “That’s a fair point,” he said; both of them knew that he was talking about his death.

Lincoln looked at him. “Thanks for saving me,” he said, resting his head on his fist. “I don’t remember what happened after Katya tried to touch me...or maybe after you mentioned Daisy. Or something like that.” 

“Yeah, I used her name to get you moving,” Sousa said. “I knew she would get you up and on your feet.”

Sousa felt the usual mixed twinge of sadness and jealousy when he or someone else referred to Lincoln and Daisy being together, but instead of it being a waterfall like it usually was, it was more like a weak surfing wave. Either way, he took it as a good thing. At least he was on the road to accepting it, if not getting over it. 

“How is she?” Lincoln asked. “Is she alright? Are she and May and Ward and Lexi back at the Lighthouse yet? How long has it been since I was out?”

Lincoln’s speech was practically nonstop; Sousa held up a hand to get him to calm down.

“Whoa, one question at a time,” Sousa said. “Daisy’s fine, as far as I know. It’s only been ten minutes, so they’re definitely not back yet, but I haven’t been able to contact either them or Miles. And that’s...uh...well...because I don’t know how to work your phone.”

Lincoln plucked his head off his arm and stared at Sousa. “Wait, you don’t know how to use my  _ phone _ ?” he asked. 

Sousa looked at him. “Don’t give me that; Kora showed you what happened to all of us since you died. You know I don’t know how your fancy smartphones work!” 

“Good point,” Lincoln said, trying to suppress a laugh as he dug his phone out of his pocket. “Sorry. Just woke up and all.” He waved a hand at his disoriented state. “Calling Miles now.”

Lincoln swiped at his phone to call Miles and then put the phone on speaker; he propped it up on the dashboard. 

“Hey, Jemma, Miles,” Lincoln said as Jemma appeared on the screen. 

“Lincoln!” Jemma said. “Where are you guys now? You’re in a car? We can clear a path for you guys -”

“A van,” Sousa said. “We’re in a brown van. I stole it from a bunch of soldiers in masks -”

“Watchdogs,” Jemma said, startled. “You encountered Watchdogs?”

“Whoever they are, they saved our lives from James,” Sousa said. “And possibly Katya as well. Lincoln knocked Katya out and then both of them passed out.”

“Sousa!” Lincoln protested at the same time as Jemma said, “Lincoln!”

“She’s a doctor, Lincoln, and you’re as bad as Daisy!” Sousa said. “You weren’t going to tell her that you’re pushing yourself way too hard; I had to, to make sure that you get the appropriate treatment!” 

Sousa was more than aware that Daisy was the one who kept Lincoln in check. And now that Lincoln was back in Daisy’s life, he was her stopgap too. Sousa knew perfectly well that no one stopped Daisy from doing anything once she had put her mind to it - except Lincoln. The one and only time that Sousa knew of when Daisy had been prevented from doing something she had wanted to was when Lincoln had died for her. There might have been other occasions, but that was the only one that Sousa was aware about. 

Lincoln opened his mouth to protest but Sousa kept talking.

“Daisy cannot lose you,” Sousa said flatly, ignoring the pinch in his heart as he spoke. “As much as I hate to admit it, you’re the only one she wants. You’ve always been the only one she wants. So I’m going to do whatever it takes to save you because she cannot lose you again. It would literally kill her. Even if she hasn’t said it yet, she loves you. She loves you as much or maybe even more than Fitz and Simmons love each other. You know how much they love each other. So, no, Lincoln, I’m going to be a tattletale and I’m going to tell Simmons exactly how long you passed out for and why because Daisy  _ cannot  _ lose you.”

There was a silence following Sousa’s speech. 

“I don’t want you to die for me,” Lincoln protested, guessing that Sousa was thinking that someone on the team was going to die in space and that it had originally been Lincoln. 

“It’s not about what you want,” Sousa said. “It’s not even about what  _ Daisy _ wants. It’s about what all of us want. About what we are willing to do for the people we love. And I know you two. You literally both died in space, protecting the people you love. And this time, it’s not going to be either of you. Not on my watch; not on Jemma’s, because she’s feeling guilty about something regarding you, what I don’t know, but still; not on Deke’s watch, because it would kill him to lose his son; not even on Kora’s watch, swayed as she is. Neither of you are going to die.”

There was another silence for a moment.

“Sousa -” Lincoln began, not even sure of what he was trying to say.

“The team saved me, remember?” Sousa said. “The very first fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. ever. And if they can do that, they can sure as hell do that for you too. Even if it involves a fake body up in that Quinjet. Whatever it takes.”

Another long silence stretched out and then, Sousa spoke again, in a gentler tone.

“Besides, a big part of the reason why you passed out is because you were helping me with Peggy,” he said. “And you can try to reason it away for my sake and say that you spent most of your energy with the Monkey thing, but we all know that precision is harder than bulk. So I owe you. I owe you a whole lot.” 

“You don’t owe me anything,” Lincoln said. “And I’m not saying that because of the whole Daisy fiasco, I’m saying that because we’re friends. And friends help friends. So you can forget about owing me anything, okay? Because you don’t. I meant what I said about helping you not being for Daisy and it definitely wasn’t only because I feel that everyone should get a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. It’s because we’re friends.” He paused. “Or...at least we are friends, if you can get over the whole, I’m-with-your-ex thing.”

“Technically, she was your ex before she was mine,” Sousa pointed out, but he was smiling at this point.

It wasn’t the first time that he’d thought that Lincoln was a good guy. And now that they had gone on a mission together and he had interacted with him outside of the whole Daisy context, it was definitely hard not to like the guy. 

Jemma spoke up before either of them could go off on another tirade.

“Okay, so, Lincoln, you need to hydrate,” she said, changing the subject. “And eat something. And sleep. Sleep the entire drive up to Lake Ontario. Program your phone with the GPS to the Lighthouse, set up the speed dial on your phone for this number and Ward’s, just in case. We’ll call you if there’s an emergency or anything.” She paused. “If I could give you an IV drip, I would, but I have a pretty good feeling that you would be giving yourself that if you could, so that’s clearly not an option right now.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to eat in the van,” Lincoln said, looking around the front seat of the van which was littered with cigarette butts, crushed soda cans and fast food wrappers.

“We could get food and stop for gas at the same time,” Sousa said. “Even if it delays us by two minutes or ten.”

There was no point in speed if they got to the Lighthouse with an unconscious and weak doctor; the whole point of getting Lincoln back quickly was so that he could help Simmons with May’s surgery. 

“I’ll clear the roads,” Miles said, speaking for the first time in a while; Sousa could hear him tapping on the SUV’s computer screen with one hand. “And a drive-through. What do you guys want? McD? KFC? Dominos?”

“Are those food brands?” Sousa asked, well aware that he was showing his ignorance at the moment, but preferring that they think about that than either his or Lincoln’s latest speech.

“Holy crap, you’ve never had fast food?” Miles demanded. “Man, I’m going to clear all of them. Lincoln, what do you want? Deep dish pizza? I can’t get you the exact pizza you and Daisy want from Chicago, but I could definitely get popcorn.”

Sousa was taken aback at how observant Miles was. Miles was such a jokester so much of the time, yet he had been listening and observing well enough to know that deep dish pizza and popcorn were part of a meal that Lincoln and Daisy had history with. 

“No,” Lincoln said, with a surreptitious and slightly awkward glance at Sousa. “I’m...saving that.”

“Tell you what,” Miles said, correctly guessing why Lincoln didn’t want the pizza when Daisy wasn’t around to have it with. “You guys can pick it up and when everyone’s back at the Lighthouse, you and Daisy can have it. Date night or something. I don’t know. And you can pick something else up for yourselves along the way. Burgers? Shakes?”

“Deal,” Sousa said, not wanting to think about Lincoln and Daisy’s ‘date night’. He knew Miles meant well; Miles had been the one who had helped him around most of the time when he had had just one leg. But as much as Miles was a nice guy, he was obviously more loyal to Lincoln, who had been his teammate much longer. It wasn’t anything against Sousa, it was just that Miles cared more about Lincoln. “Just tell me which turnoff to take.”




“Any ideas for how to take down Yo-Yo?” Hunter asked. “Or do we just charge in, all guns blazing and try to save the day?”

Trip looked at Deke, who grimaced. 

“Best I know how to defeat her is cover your skin with electricity and become a bug zapper,” Deke said. “Oh, alternatively, you could quake her into a wall and knock her out.”

“So…basically become Inhuman,” Hunter said. “That’s good. Absolutely wonderful.”

“Your sarcasm is really motivating,” Trip said darkly. 

“Uh, guys, we have a problem,” Deke said. 

“What?” Hunter asked, turning to see what Deke was looking at. 

“Flint’s gone,” he said.

Hunter swore and Trip ran out towards the lot. No one stopped him, which was not a good sign. The very fact that no one was stopping him meant that Yo-Yo was gone as well...or at least going as fast as she could with her boomerang limitations.

Deke cursed under his breath, then turned to Hunter. “Go after Bobbi and Agent Khan,” he said. “Joey’s still in the building somewhere. Trip and I will try and track him to wherever Yo-Yo took Flint. Because the one thing I can say about these Inhumans is that where one goes, the rest will follow.”

On that happy note, he and Trip bolted for the staircase that they had just run down, in the hopes that they would run into Joey on their way back up.




Bobbi and Agent Khan had just reached the basement when sounds of equipment shattering echoed all around the room. Quickly, Bobbi ducked behind a shelf for cover; Agent Khan moved swiftly behind another one. As they hid, Bobbi spotted, out of the corner of her eye, Giyera knocking equipment flying with one gesture of his hand. 

“Come out, Doctor!” Giyera shouted. “Wherever you are!”

She hadn’t thought that it was in Giyera’s nature to mock people, but really, Bobbi was not surprised by much at this point. She moved silently to another table, crouching behind it, but as she did so, she caught the barest glimpse of Doctor Johnson. He did not...look like himself.

Silently, she took a snapshot of him with her phone and then sent the message to Deke, hoping that he would have an explanation why Doctor Johnson suddenly looked like the Mr Hyde version of himself. However, as she did so, Khan’s phone rang out behind her and both she and Giyera whirled around to find the source of the sound.

Seriously, the first rule of espionage was to always put your phone on silent. 

Ugh.

Giyera swung a whole cabinet of folders at Khan, who yelped and ducked out of the way, barely making it. At that moment, Doctor Johnson leapt on him from behind, sending them crashing through several tables and onto the floor. He was really not acting like himself and he was much clearlystronger than he had previously been; Bobbi ran to the back of the lab in pursuit of the Centipede serum, only to find dozens of crushed and smashed vials.

Bobbi’s phone rang and she put it to her ear, only to be greeted by Simmons, instead of Deke.

“Bobbi!” 

“Jemma! Did you get the message that I sent to Deke?” Bobbi asked frantically.

“Yeah, Miles set himself up as the rerouter for every single message that comes through on anyone’s phone...how he’s doing all this programming while driving is beyond me,” Jemma said. “Anyway, that’s not the point. That’s a formula that gives him super-strength. But...it gives him some serious psychological drawbacks.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Bobbi said, her forehead a mess of wrinkles. “Any solutions?”

“Find the Centipede serum and get out of there?” Jemma suggested.

“It’s already been smashed to pulp,” Bobbi said. “But I don’t know if this is the last of it because the only guy who would know, is currently waging war with one of our least favourite Inhumans.”

“Which one?” Jemma asked.

“Giyera,” Bobbi said, turning back to the mess of vials, searching for any that were scavengeable. “I don’t know if - ugh!”

Bobbi barely managed to dodge a giant pipe that swung her way; Giyera had sent it straight at her. She dropped her phone in her haste to get away, but whipped out her batons in response. Giyera aimed another blow at her, but she ducked under a table, rolling to her feet to face him from another direction.

“Agent Khan, you’d better -” Bobbi began, at that moment, Giyera picked up two rifles from a nearby table and started firing. 

“Aliens, I pine for the days when we didn’t have to fight bloody aliens!” 

Hunter had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and slid behind a counter with her, just out of range of the bullets.

“Hunter! How did you get here?” Bobbi asked, surprised, but pleased to see him.

“You’re supposed to be a spy, love, didn’t you notice me come in?” Hunter asked, but he was smiling as he pulled out his gun.

Bobbi gave him a  _ look _ . “Cover me,” she said.

Hunter aimed his gun above the counter and started pulling the trigger. As he did so, Bobbi slid out from behind the counter, aimed her batons and threw them straight at Giyera’s telekinetically aloft guns, knocking them flying. She caught said batons as they returned to her, only to leap out from behind the counter to fight him. 

“Good luck, mate, you’re gonna need it,” Hunter muttered, diving for Bobbi’s dropped phone, where Jemma was speaking in an anxious voice on the other end of the line.

“Jemma! It’s Hunter!” 

“Oh, thank goodness,” Jemma said. “Is Bobbi okay?”

“We’re kind of waging a war against Giyera right now,” Hunter said, even as Giyera sent a whole crate of scientific equipment crashing into the wall. “It’s Round Two in here and this time we don’t have you or Deke. What’s up?”

“Miles is accessing the security cameras at the Hub,” Jemma said. “And you guys need to get moving. Joey is literally melting the entire building above you. If you don’t get out of the basement soon, you’re going to be trapped.”

“Copy that, loud and clear,” Hunter said, before turning back around. Neither Doctor Johnson nor Agent Khan were anywhere in sight, but he and Bobbi would have to take out Giyera before they could get out. 

Bobbi and Giyera had knocked over tables and medical equipment and had basically caused a disaster of the lab. Not that it hadn’t been a mess already, but now...now it was seriously a mess. Hunter started sneaking around behind a long lab counter to get behind Giyera, scooping up a fire extinguisher as she went.

At that moment, Bobbi flung her batons at Giyera, who caught them telekinetically with both hands. Silently, Hunter snuck up behind him and promptly slammed his fire extinguisher into Giyera’s neck, knocking him into the ground.

“That...went well,” Hunter said. 

Bobbi smirked in response, but her smile faded when she realized that Doctor Johnson had disappeared.

“Wait...where’s Doctor Johnson?” she asked.

There was no sign of him whatsoever. Both pivoted on the spot, trying to see where he might have gone, but he had quite literally vanished, which did not bode well.

“They might have taken him to make more Centipede serum,” Bobbi said anxiously. “If so, then it doesn’t matter that he destroyed all the samples, because they can just force him to make more.”

Before either of them could speculate any further, a scream came from upstairs, a familiar scream.

“Khan,” Bobbi said, recognizing his voice.

“That little git,” Hunter muttered. “Let’s go save his sorry hide.”

They raced for the stairs, taking them two at a time. 




If Bobbi and Hunter had been facing a disaster downstairs, Deke and Trip weren’t having an easy time of it upstairs either. They had run for the staircase, only to climb about five stairs, before being greeted with Victoria Hand and a whole slew of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents coming down from the upper floors.

“Hand! What are you doing?” Deke demanded.

“What am I doing?” she asked. “More like what are you doing? You assured me, you assured all of us that these Inhumans were under your control, Deke! I tolerated your pet project in Lincoln because he’s a really good agent and admittedly a nice kid, but this has gone on long enough! The Inhuman upstairs, he just melted his way through half our equipment and I just got reports that two of your agents and one of mine were fighting another one in the basement! This is clearly out of control!”

“We have got this under control,” Deke tried to assure her. “This is why we have agents like Lincoln, so that they can -”

Hand interrupted him. “Where is Lincoln now then?” she demanded. “If the whole point of having some powered individuals is so that they can fight the ones who really matter, then where is he? I had to call it in. This has gone on long enough.”

“Wait,” Deke said, fear rushing through him. “Who did you call in, Hand? And from where?”

“That would be me,” a familiar voice said and Deke took a step back in the stairwell, shocked beyond belief that this was happening. 

“Director Shaw,” the woman behind the man said, holding out her hand. “It’s high time the ATCU stepped in. We’ve captured the rogue Inhuman upstairs and put him in our gel matrix, but I think it’s time you turned Lincoln over as well. And the new girl you have working for you.”

“What girl?” Deke asked, attempting to play dumb.

The woman scoffed, turning a tablet around for Deke to look at. “That girl,” she said, tapping her finger against the image of Daisy and Lincoln in Bucharest. It had been caught before Lincoln had blacked out the building; Deke could see the miniscule vibrations from Daisy’s fingertips that she had been performing against Lincoln’s arm. “They look very...close.”

That was the understatement of the year. Even though Daisy and Lincoln were undercover, their affection for one another looked way too genuine for it to be faked; they were standing in one another's personal space and the way they were looking at each other left little to the imagination.

“Neither of them need to get involved in this,” Deke said. “She’s not Inhuman -”

“Don’t lie, Deke,” Hand interrupted. “I know who she is.”

The look in Hand’s eyes was enough to petrify Deke. Hand was threatening to tell the ATCU about the different timelines if Deke did not give up Lincoln or Daisy; she had been there all those years ago with him, Daisy and the rest of the original team. She knew who Daisy was and why she barely appeared to have aged at all. 

“What do you want?” Deke asked, swallowing hard.

“Like I said,” the woman said, tapping her finger against first Daisy’s face, then Lincoln’s. “Them.” She paused. “If you don’t turn them over, we’ll issue a nationwide manhunt for these two Inhumans and, even though they’re your agents, they won’t be able to hide very long from us.”

“You’re after the wrong -” Trip began angrily, but Deke held out his hand in a placating gesture. 

“Trip, stand down,” he said. 

“Who the hell are you two anyway?” Trip asked, staring at the duo in front of him; Deke grimaced and turned to Trip.

“Agent Triplett, meet Phil Coulson and Rosalind Price,” he said. “Our S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison and the head of the ATCU.”




“Okay, this is not good,” Jemma said, shaking her phone and turning to look at Miles. “I can’t reach any of them at the Hub. Not Bobbi and Hunter, not Deke, not even the car that you hacked your way into. There’s some sort of security lockdown over there.”

Miles cursed. “Can you still reach Lincoln and Ward?”

Jemma nodded, tapping the computer car screen to double-check that her messages to Ward were still getting through and then checking her phone to make sure that Lincoln’s phone had just received her update on their location status.

“Yes,” she said. “I don’t want to call either of them because Ward’s last update was that Daisy is doing some quake thing on May and I don’t want to distract her, and Lincoln needs to sleep. But yes, I can still reach them.”

“I’ve been kicked out of the cameras as well,” Miles said, glancing down at the computer in his lap; he had stolen it from a store along the way. “They must be putting some kind of tech net over the area….”

“Wait, Miles, hands on the wheel!” Jemma protested, seeing that he was not holding the steering wheel at all.

“Relax, Jemma, I programmed the car to drive itself,” Miles said, looking back down at his computer.

“You did what?” Jemma objected.

“The car’s on autopilot,” Miles said. “Like the Quinjets. Only, it’s picking the fastest route and taking us on the fastest journey and it’s not going to crash because I programmed it.” He paused. “Has Daisy never done that? Do I win Round Three?”

“Different timeline, different rules,” Jemma said, waving her hand, not in the mood for Miles’ jokes. “Maybe I should drive if you need to do all this hacking stuff.”

“Nope, I got it….” Miles said, tapping away at his computer. “Hmm. The closest camera is someone in the street, so let’s see…. Oh no. That’s not good.”

“What?” Jemma demanded; Miles swivelled the computer to show her the screen.

“Deke and Trip just got taken in by the head of the ATCU,” he said; the screen showed the two men climbing into a big black SVU, accompanied by none other than Luther Banks.

“Wait,” Jemma said, magnifying the image on Miles’ touch screen laptop. “That’s Rosalind Price. And….”

“Yep,” Miles said, spinning the computer back around. “Her right hand man. Phil Coulson.”




The phone on the dashboard rang and Sousa swiped it carefully to pick up the call, not wanting to wake Lincoln. After they had picked up the food, the Inhuman had passed out and had been sleeping solidly while Sousa had been driving; it had been almost two hours on the road at this point.

“Sousa!” 

It was Jemma.

“Hey, what’s up?” he asked in a low voice. “Lincoln’s asleep; I don’t want to wake him. Is something wrong with Daisy? Or May?”

“No,” Jemma said. “They’re fine. I’ve been checking in on them and I’m going to call Ward after I finish speaking with you. It’s not that.”

“What is it then?” Sousa asked, more than a little stressed by the urgency in her voice.

“Deke has been taken into ATCU custody,” Jemma said.

“ATCU?” Sousa repeated. “What’s that?”

“The Advanced Threat Containment Unit,” Jemma said, her voice tense and worried. “They basically...deal with Inhumans. Not always bad methods, but certainly...different.”

“And Deke went with them?” Sousa demanded.

“I don’t know if he had a choice,” Jemma said. “Miles and I have been tracking them for the last hour, trying to find out more information about them, where they’re taking them and why, but basically, the last time we encountered the ATCU when they were after Inhumans, Coulson had to trade himself and all his S.H.I.E.L.D. information for Daisy because Lincoln refused to go with them. There is no way that Deke would give either Lincoln or Daisy over to the ATCU. I don’t know if Rosalind Price is after Lincoln, but if she is, you might encounter some unfriendlies sooner or later. She could be tracking or trying to track you as we speak.”

“Oh, that’s just peachy,” Sousa muttered darkly. “Should I wake Lincoln then?”

“No,” Jemma said quickly. “Because if you do, he’ll want to turn himself in for Deke - I don’t know if Deke’s a prisoner or not, hopefully not - and we need his help with May’s surgery; not to mention that the last thing Deke would want is for him to turn himself over to the ATCU. I’m going to tell Ward the same thing. He’s not allowed to tell Daisy about where Deke is. It’s what Deke would want. Bobbi and Hunter are tracking Deke and Trip as we speak.” 

She paused. “The sooner Daisy and Lincoln get underground, the better. Knowing our luck, we’ll soon have General Talbot on our tail. Also, if the ATCU finds out about the Centipede serum or about the dangerous combination of Daisy and Lincoln’s powers, it won’t be just Hive we have to worry about. We’ll have everyone from the ATCU to the CIA to the FBI on our tails.”

“Great,” Sousa muttered. “So you want me to hide from Lincoln that his surrogate father just turned himself over to the ATCU possibly for him.” He sighed. “Just wonderful. Is there any way I can get to the Lighthouse faster?”

“Miles already cleared all the highways for both of our cars,” Jemma said. “He’s trying to make it look as unsuspicious as possible. He’s also clearing other highways and the like all around the country to make it look like a program malfunction, but yeah...it does not look good right now.”

“Meaning what?” Sousa asked. “Will we have to hide in the Lighthouse indefinitely?”

“Possibly,” Jemma admitted. “We might have to go back into the shadows if Deke can’t clear up this disaster with Coulson and Rosalind soon.”




When Jemma hung up the phone with Sousa, she immediately called Ward. She was lucky that Daisy did not notice; Daisy’s attention was fixated on May. Ward listened to all that Jemma had to say, responded minimally and then ended the call when she was done. He glanced over his shoulder, but Daisy wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to him. Instead, she was talking to Lexi. 

“Lexi, honey, I need you to do me a favour,” Daisy said, her voice strained; Ward immediately tuned into their conversation out of concern for her. 

“What can I do?” Lexi asked immediately, sitting up straight. For the last two hours, she had been sitting at May’s side, holding May’s hand, but when Daisy spoke, she immediately jumped to help her.

“I need you to talk to me,” Daisy said. “Talk to me, distract me, say something, say anything. Tell me about your life. Tell me about your Momma. Tell me...tell me anything.”

“Okay,” Lexi said. “Uh...who are you? Momma said that you’re a friend of Deke’s, but how come I’ve never seen you before?”

“That’s not telling her stuff, Lexi, that’s asking her stuff,” Ward said, sounding tense, even though he was grateful that Daisy was talking; she had been so pale and silent for a while that Ward had been worried she might be about to faint. 

Daisy laughed weakly as she tried to distract herself from the ache in her arm from having kept the vibrational quake pulse steady for two hours straight. Ward frowned, pushing the Quinjet even faster, despite the whining of the engine; Daisy did not sound good. 

“Sorry,” Lexi said a little sheepishly. Then she perked up. “You’re Inhuman, right? Like Lincoln?”

“You know Lincoln?” Daisy asked, curious despite herself.

Lexi grinned mischievously, looking like an eight-year-old girl for the first time that Daisy had ever seen her.

“Ooh, do you like him?” she asked teasingly. 

“Lexi!” Daisy was blushing, why, she wasn’t even sure, since the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. team knew about her and Lincoln. Maybe it was because an eight-year-old had picked up on their relationship within the first two hours of knowing her. 

“You do!” Lexi said, her eyes aglow with delight. She paused, thinking. “You’d look super cute together. Does he know that you like him?”

“Lexi, they’re the epitome of Romeo and Juliet,” Ward called over his shoulder, attempting to keep the conversation going. At least if Daisy was talking, she wasn’t passing out. “I’ve never seen two people more disgustingly in love.”

“Okay, enough laughing at my expense,” Daisy protested, but Lexi giggled.

“It’s distracting you,” she pointed out and Daisy had to admit that Lexi was right. The short while of Lexi teasing her had taken her out of herself enough to realize that talking with Lexi or getting teased by Lexi had helped.

“Okay, okay,” Daisy said, shaking her head. “Keep talking.”

Lexi giggled again and turned back to Daisy. “So how long have you two been together?” she asked.

“Uh...it’s a long story,” Daisy said.

“Well, unless he was keeping you secret from the rest of us, it can’t have been long,” Lexi said. “But...something tells me it has been super long.” She was watching Daisy as she spoke and Daisy suddenly frowned.

“Are you...guessing this, Lexi, or do you know this?” she asked tentatively. For a split second, she was afraid that Lexi had already undergone Terrigenesis and they just didn’t know it yet. It would not be the first time that an Inhuman had inherited the gift of precognition. 

Lexi shook her head. “My dad is...was...a therapist,” she said, her eyes suddenly welling with tears. “He taught me how to read people. I know how people feel. I can tell when they’re hurting. You’re hurting. You’re hurting because you’re helping Momma. I’m...I’m so sorry, Daisy. I’m sorry I can’t help you help her.”

Although Lexi was May’s daughter, she was still a little girl. Ward knew it, Daisy knew it...and she needed comfort right about now. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Daisy said soothingly. “It’s really okay. I’ve done much crazier things with my powers. Once, I stopped an atom bomb from exploding. So really, doing this to your mum is nothing in comparison.”

“I don’t think you prevented a bomb from exploding for two hours,” Lexi said, her chin trembling.

“You know what?” Daisy said. “That’s true. I didn’t. But you know what’s also true?”

“What?” Lexi asked, her voice shaking.

“Your mother was the person who made me a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent,” she said. “She’s saved my life countless times. And I  _ will _ do whatever it takes to save her.” Daisy paused for breath, her breathing already laboured. 

“What can I do to help?” Lexi asked, reaching for Daisy’s free hand and squeezing it tightly. “Tell me, Daisy. What can I do to help?”

“Uh…,” Daisy wasn’t sure what to say.

“Tell her about your first time at the Playground,” Ward suggested helpfully from the cockpit. “Talk to her about your Momma. Talk to her about Lincoln.”

“Ooh, Lincoln,” Lexi said, giggling again. “Do you love him?”

“I -” Daisy was completely taken aback by the question. It appeared that Lexi had a complete mix of her parents’ personalities; she could be as stoic as May one second and the next, be pushing for as many answers as Andrew had pushed her for in therapy. 

“Well?” Lexi asked.

“Lexi, that’s rude,” Ward chided her, but Daisy cut him off.

“It’s okay,” she said, swallowing the nerves in her throat. “I do...I do love him.”


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52**

When the Quinjet reached the landing zone in the Lighthouse, Ward had never been so relieved in his life. He was pretty sure he had just busted one engine in the Quinjet and had also damaged other parts of the plane pushing it to fly so fast and so hard. But he’d had no choice; even with Lexi’s help, after two hours of constantly quaking May’s arm, Daisy had started shaking. After two and a half hours, it was all she could do to maintain the barrier between May’s stump and the floor of the Quinjet, even with Lexi supporting her shoulders. 

Ward lowered the ramp of the Quinjet before it had even landed; Lincoln and Jemma leapt onto the ramp as soon as it came within range. Both were wearing medical scrubs, hairnets and looked every bit like the doctors he knew they both were. 

“Oh, thank God,” Daisy whispered as they raced towards her and May. Her hand that was maintaining the quake pulse was trembling and shaking; Lincoln practically flew to her side, dropping to his knees next to her, catching her hand.

“Daisy, you can let go now,” Lincoln said. “Jemma and I can handle it. Daisy - _Daisy_!”

The second Lincoln reached her, Daisy slumped backwards, unconscious. Lincoln caught her before she could fully collapse on the ground; supporting her limp frame in his arms. He pressed his fingers to her neck, checking her pulse, frantically trying to make sure that she was alright. 

“Lincoln, I need your help,” Jemma said, already applying pressure to May’s wound. “Lincoln! Doctor Campbell!”

“Jemma, Daisy’s unconscious!” Lincoln said, lifting her eyelids to check her pupils. He snapped his fingers and a spark of electricity appeared between his fingertips; he shone the light in her eyes. “She’s like I was a few hours ago.”

Ward had no idea what Lincoln was talking about, but whatever condition he had been in a few hours ago, it clearly hadn’t been good, given that Daisy was unconscious. 

“Well, give her whatever treatment you would have done if you had all this medical equipment then!” Jemma said, but Lincoln was already standing up, lifting Daisy easily in his arms. 

“I’m putting her in the healing pod,” he said. “IV drip cycle. I’ll be with you after I set her up, I promise.”

Jemma glanced over and her expression softened; she looked more like a concerned sister than a doctor. “You don’t have to be,” she said. “You can stay with Daisy if you want to -”

At that moment, May bucked and then stilled; Jemma cursed, already starting to perform CPR. “She’s not breathing!” 

“Is she going to be okay?” Lexi cried tearfully, but even as she spoke, Ward lowered the Quinjet onto the ground, giving Sousa and Miles the opportunity they needed to climb on board as well, Miles pushing a gurney.

Lincoln swore, turned, and shoved Daisy into Sousa’s arms. “Take her to the healing pod, prep it for the IV drip and anesthesia for a 30-minute cycle and if you don’t know how it works, don’t touch anything. Come and get me straight away. Do _not_ risk her life because you want to be the one to save her. Okay?” 

“Do you really think that low of me?” Sousa demanded.

Lincoln ignored him, turned to May and zapped her chest with electricity. He knelt down and put his stethoscope to her chest to check her breathing. 

“Her heart’s beating again,” he said to Jemma. “Miles, Ward, get her on that gurney now!”

Lincoln was clearly better than any defibrillator. 

As Lincoln stood up, clearing the space for Ward and Miles, he turned to Sousa. 

“No, Sousa, I don’t think that lowly of you,” he said sharply. “I think that _highly_ of you. I’m trusting you to save the life of the woman I love. Even though you’re not a doctor and you don’t know anything about our Deke-ified healing pods. I’m trusting _you_ with Daisy. Understand?”

Sousa looked completely taken aback, but he nodded. “Yes.”

“Good,” Jemma said, taking charge of the situation as Ward and Miles loaded May onto the gurney; she climbed on top as well, holding a clump of bandages to May’s wound. “Ward, you and Miles are scrubbing in with us. Koenig’s already prepped the O.R.. Lincoln and I need your hands in there.”

Ward stared at her. “Neither Miles nor I have even had basic med training -”

“There are no other doctors here,” Jemma said. “And I don’t have time to argue. So let’s go.”

Lincoln turned to Lexi as Ward and Miles started shoving the gurney out of the Quinjet. 

“Lex, take my pager,” Lincoln said, shoving it into her hand. “Page Jemma’s if you or Sousa or Daisy need anything. Go with them and help me keep an eye on Daisy, okay?”

“Okay,” Lexi said, her voice small. “And you keep an eye on my Momma, ‘kay, Lincoln?”

Lincoln knelt down to give her a quick hug. “I will. I promise. Now I gotta go.”

“Wait, Lincoln!” Lexi called.

Lincoln turned. 

“Daisy loves you,” Lexi called after him. “She told me so. Me and Ward. I thought...I thought you should know. Because you’re saving my Momma. Who I love. And I’ll make sure that we save Daisy. Who you love.”

There was literally no way for Lexi to know that if Daisy hadn’t told her that. It was not new for Daisy to tell people that she loved him or was in love with him; she had told both Deke and Sousa that. But it was definitely the first time she had voiced it since it had been him and not her old Lincoln...which technically, they had agreed he was as well. It was complicated, to say the least. A thousand different emotions whirled through Lincoln’s head, but before he could speak, Jemma called after him.

“Doctor Campbell!”

She only called him that when she needed him to focus on being a doctor first and boyfriend second. Lincoln turned back to Lexi for one last second.

“If she wakes up before I’m back, tell her I’m sorry I’m not at her side and I would be if I had any other option,” Lincoln said. “And...and tell her I love her.”

Lexi smirked as he ran off after Jemma.

“I could tell that one from a mile away,” she said to Sousa, who suppressed a roll of his eyes with difficulty. That kid definitely seemed like a handful. 




Once Sousa had reached the medical room with the healing pods, Lexi took charge. Apparently her parents had had a healing pod in their house and she knew what cycle Lincoln had been talking about. Sousa laid Daisy in the pod and then Lexi pushed the buttons for the anesthesia and then the IV drip. 

“It’ll knock her out while the IV gives her fluids and nutrients that need replacing,” Lexi said, settling into a chair to wait. 

“You know a lot about this stuff, don’t you?” Sousa asked, curious about what kind of upbringing a daughter of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had.

“Yeah, Momma and Daddy had one at our house,” Lexi said. “They said it was important that I know how to help heal people...as well as training to know how to protect people.” She paused. “I’m Lexi. And you are?”

“I’m Sousa,” he said, sticking out his hand. “Daniel Sousa.”

She shook it, but she was eyeing him sceptically as she did so. “I’ve never seen you before,” she said. “I know all the people on Momma’s team and you aren’t one of them.”

“It’s...it’s a long story,” Sousa said, suppressing a sigh.

“That’s what Daisy said about her and Lincoln,” Lexi said. “A long story. Can you tell me about them?”

Oh, great. Even better. Now this little girl wanted to know all about their reams of history, not that Sousa even knew much, because Daisy had kept everything about Lincoln to herself. Except for the bits and pieces that had come out since...which had mostly been about how almost everything that they’d been through together had been similar to something that she’d gone through with Lincoln. And Sousa really didn’t want to tell Lexi that. 

“How well do you know Lincoln?” Sousa asked curiously.

“A fair amount,” Lexi said. “He’s a doctor. Momma trained him to learn how to fly and she helped a lot with his fight training as well. Deke’s his S.O., but he wanted Lincoln to get the best training there is, which is why Momma trained him in fighting. Daddy helped him in therapy after he got his powers as well, so I know him decently, I guess. He babysat for me a couple of times when Momma and Daddy had date night.”

That sounded like Lincoln knew her pretty well. No wonder he had called her ‘Lex’; he knew her better than most of the other agents did.

“No one ever told me that before,” Sousa said, frowning. He was still playing catch-up with everything that had happened in this timeline.

“Lincoln’s a nice guy,” Lexi said. “If he’s never mentioned us before, it’s probably because Momma is mad at Deke and Lincoln’s like Deke’s son, so he didn’t want to have to pick sides.”

That was a fair enough point. Lexi was observant for an eight-year-old, Sousa had to give her that. But then again, with a spy for a mother and a therapist for a father, of course she would be observant. 

“Why is your Momma mad at Deke?” Sousa asked. “What exactly did he do?”

Lexi’s face fell. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, hopping off her chair and walking to Daisy’s bedside. Her face looked so emotionless that Sousa was well-reminded of when May didn’t want to talk about something and just gave the rest of the team a _look_. 

Her not wanting to talk about it also made sense. Sousa knew that May at least partly blamed Deke for Andrew’s Terrigenesis, so it was understandable that Lexi didn’t want to talk about something so traumatic, especially since her father was now dead. He really shouldn’t have been pushing an eight-year-old for answers.

“I’m sorry,” Sousa said. “We can talk about something else if you want.”

Lexi crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay,” she said. “Daisy and Lincoln are Inhuman. What powers does Daisy have?”

“She can, uh...quake things,” Sousa said.

Lexi gave him a look that read something like _Elaborate you fool, because I have no idea what you mean_.

“She can cause things to vibrate,” Sousa explained; he liked the spunk that Lexi was showing. She definitely didn’t take things standing down. “And create pulse blasts. Stuff like that.”

“So, cool stuff,” Lexi said, frowning. “She’s like Lincoln. A hero.” She paused, thinking. “You’re human, aren’t you? And you know both Daisy and Lincoln pretty well?”

Not as well as he had thought, apparently. But Kora had told him that aside from Lincoln, she didn’t think Daisy had deliberately kept anything from him. And he had gotten to know Lincoln a little. So he nodded.

“Yeah, I know them,” he said. “Why?”

Lexi paused. “Lincoln’s a doctor,” she said. “He helps people. Like he’s helping my Momma. Do you think...do you think he could remove that Inhuman-ness from me?”

“What?” Sousa asked, startled by her question. 

“The Inhuman thingie inside me,” Lexi said. “I know it’s something bad. I know it’s like whatever bad thing consumed Daddy. Momma took that crystal for me because she didn’t want me to turn. Lincoln and Daisy have good powers. Powers that they can use to help people. But more than that, Lincoln’s a doctor. If anyone can remove the Inhuman thing inside me, it would be him. So, Sousa, do you think he could do that for me? Because if he doesn’t, sooner or later, I’m going to become like Daddy and kill people.”




Lincoln finished in the surgery maybe five minutes before Daisy’s IV drip and anesthesia cycles wore off. Jemma released him - both of them had agreed without speaking that she was the head while in the surgery because of Lincoln’s preoccupation with Daisy and his recent fainting episode - and he full-on sprinted to the room with the healing pods. Lexi hugged him the second he flew in the door. 

“Hey, Lex,” Lincoln said, hugging her back. “How’s Daisy?”

“She’s doing good,” Lexi said. “She’s going to be under for just a few more minutes...I know she wants to see you when she wakes up.”

Lincoln laughed. “Since when did you become the expert on all things romance?” he asked. 

Lexi grinned as Lincoln walked past her to the healing pod. “Since she told me she loved you,” she said laughingly.

Lincoln glanced at Sousa, who was carefully not looking at either of them. Apparently Sousa had not let Lexi know about his past history with Daisy - Lexi would not be teasing him with this magnitude if he had - but Lincoln didn’t want to hurt him any more than he likely already had been hurt by Lexi...on top of the whole disaster of the Peggy visit. 

“Sousa, why don’t you take Lexi to see May,” Lincoln suggested. “She’ll be waking up soon.”

“Really?” Lexi asked, perking up instantly.

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “Jemma’s setting her up in a room as we speak. Tell her that you have my permission to be with your Momma when she wakes, okay? Jemma would understand though...she’s a mother herself.”

“Okay!” Lexi said brightly, turning to go. Then she paused. “No funny business while I’m gone, okay?”

“Lex!” Lincoln protested.

Sousa couldn’t help laughing. An eight-year-old was telling Lincoln off. She was so very like May and so very unlike May at the same time.

“Nut up, you,” Lexi said to Sousa, who immediately stopped laughing. She was a scary May in an eight-year-old body...plus a whole lot of cheerfulness as well. “You didn’t earn the right to laugh. Let’s go.”

It was Lincoln’s turn to laugh, but he suppressed his laughter; he didn’t want Lexi on his case. Eight-year-old May was terrifying. 

When Sousa and Lexi had gone, Lincoln turned his attention back to Daisy. She was just starting to stir in the pod; her eyelids were fluttering. At that moment, the lid of the healing pod lifted and Lincoln bent over her immediately.

“Hi,” he said softly. “It’s okay, I’m here….”

Daisy blinked, a little disoriented and then smiled up at him. “Hey, you,” she said, equally softly, reaching out to take his hand. “It’s good to see you.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” Lincoln said, caressing her cheek with one hand. “I would have been here through the whole thing, but May needed my help and we had to operate and -”

“No, I get it,” Daisy whispered, touching his hand on top of her cheek. “I’m glad you did it. As long as May is okay. She is okay, right?”

“She’s going to be just fine,” Lincoln said, stroking her cheek with his thumb. “We saved her. She’s going to be okay.”

Daisy smiled faintly. “That’s great,” she said. “You did the right thing, Lincoln.” 

Lincoln smiled back, still looking slightly troubled, as he took her free hand with his free one. “I’m glad you think so,” he said. “Because I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

Daisy sat up slowly; Lincoln eased her upright, one hand on her back and the other on her shoulder. 

“Sousa and Lexi put you in the pod,” Lincoln said. “I wish I could have done it...but they were the ones who saved you, really.”

Daisy placed her hand atop his. “And I heard you telling them what to do,” she said. “I might have been groggy and almost unconscious, but you were the one who trusted them to help me. That was you.” She paused. “And I’m glad you trusted them. Because as awesome as you are, it always goes better when we have people whom we trust on our side.”

Lincoln smiled back. “Different timeline, different teams,” he said softly. “I trust my team...I trust your team too. And Sousa. As strange as that might sound to you. But either way...I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you,” Daisy said, reaching up to touch his cheek. 

They just stared at each other for a long moment, so much passing between them without words having to be said. Then Daisy smiled again and spoke quietly. 

“So,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to tell you...and now is as good a time as any...and well...um….”

There were very few things that Daisy had to say that would cause her to stutter or stumble over her words. And all those were related to personal moments, things that she feared to say aloud because she was afraid she might lose them. And Lincoln knew that. 

“Hey, if you’re not ready, you don’t have to say it,” Lincoln said, leaning into her touch. “I know how hard it is for you to admit that you want something because you’re afraid you’re going to lose it. I know that voicing the words makes it more real and gives you more to lose. You don’t have to say anything. I know how you feel.”

Lincoln was right about her fear of voicing her desires, but Daisy wasn’t about to let it conquer her this time. Not this time. She wanted to tell him the truth; she wasn’t afraid of it anymore. Or well, the closeness and intimacy did scare her, but only because she wanted him so badly. But as much as it scared her, she equally wanted to be honest with him. 

He leaned in to kiss her, just the lightest touch of his lips against hers. Their lips met, briefly, but Daisy pulled away after half-a-second.

“I don’t want to bury this,” she whispered, her lips a hair’s breadth from his. “Not this time. You deserve to know how I feel...and I want to tell you how I feel. Just because you know me better than anyone else here doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t tell you.” She paused, taking a deep breath. “Lincoln...I...I love you. I’ve loved you for ages, for years really and I’m sorry I never told you, never voiced it aloud before Hive because I was scared and afterwards...I’m so sorry you didn’t get to hear me say it back before you died because I did and do love you - as you and as him, but we don’t need to get into that again - and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner after you came back into my life and -”

Lincoln cut off her rambling with a kiss, fingers tangling in her long hair, pulling her closer. Daisy responded in kind, wrapping her hands around his neck, looping her legs around his waist to pull him closer to the healing pod where she was still sitting. 

“That,” Lincoln said, pulling away when breath became a necessity, “Was the best way you could have told me. Because it was you. Because it was genuine and no one was making you say it. Because you meant it. And because I love you too.”

He kissed her again, gentler this time, softer. Both of them completely forgot about the fact that there were other agents on the base; it was only when Jemma exclaimed, “What are you two doing? You’re supposed to be resting from over-excessive use of your powers, not engaging in...I don’t know, tongue-wrestling!”

Daisy and Lincoln pulled apart, but only far enough that their foreheads were resting against each other; Lincoln’s hands were still on her waist and Daisy’s were tangled in his hair. 

“Not sorry, Jemma,” Daisy called, but she was smiling as she dropped her legs from where they had been wrapped around Lincoln’s waist. 

“We’re going to pick this up right where we left off,” Lincoln whispered in her ear, making her laugh; then he spun around to lean against the pod, facing Jemma. 

Jemma eyed their dishevelled appearances with the slightly amused expression of a scolding mother figure, as opposed to a sister. Or perhaps the more accurate term would be surrogate great-grandmother figure. 

“May’s going to wake up soon,” she said. “I figured she’d respond to you better, Lincoln, when she wakes up; she knows you. Plus...well, it would be better for Lexi if you were both there. Ward mentioned how she really bonded with Daisy on the flight over and Miles mentioned that you two are friends, Lincoln….”

“Of course,” Lincoln said, his professional demeanour taking over. “I’ll be right there.”

The corner of Daisy’s mouth ticked up in amusement. “Go do your thing,” she said. 

Lincoln laughed at the inside joke that all three of them got; it was not the first time that Jemma had interrupted a...heated moment. “You can come,” he said. “In fact, you should come. Lex likes you. And the IV cycle’s done its job; you won’t be any worse for the wear coming with us.”

Daisy smiled. “I like her too. She’s really sweet. She’s...so similar to May and at the same time, so different.” 

Jemma gave them both a suspicious side eye, but didn’t say anything. This situation felt frustratingly similar; another timeline, a different base, but still the same old Daisy and Lincoln, flirting, making out when they should have been doing something else, only to be interrupted by Jemma. The only thing she could think was that she was glad she hadn’t told them that she needed a doctor who understood Inhuman biology. Because she felt like she was reliving enough stuff already.

The three of them hurried through the corridors of the Lighthouse. Lincoln had not been wrong; Daisy now felt much more energetic after whatever cycle the healing pod had done on her. They entered May’s room; Sousa, Ward and Miles were standing around her bed, not too close, but close enough so that they could monitor her condition. Lexi was sitting at her bedside and when she saw Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma enter the room, she ran to them straight away and hugged Daisy as tightly as she could.

“You saved my Momma,” she said. “Thank you.”

Daisy knelt down to hug her back. “Lincoln and Jemma did all of it,” she said. “They were the ones who operated on her.”

“No, you saved her,” Lincoln corrected her. “Lexi’s right. If you hadn’t done what you did, Jemma and I wouldn’t have been able to help her; she’d have lost too much blood. You’re the one who saved May, really, Daisy.”

“Thank you, Lincoln,” Lexi said, now hugging his knees from the height she could reach; Lincoln knelt down to hug her as well. “I already thanked Jemma, but you also saved her. Even though Momma never liked meds.” 

Daisy bit back a laugh. No matter the timeline, May’s hatred of medicine apparently never changed. 

“Well, your Momma is about to wake up now,” Lincoln said. “And I’m sure your face is the first one she wants to see. Come on.”

Daisy, Lincoln and Lexi headed over to the bed, Lexi in the middle, and Miles leaned over to whisper in a very low voice to Ward, Sousa and Jemma.

“I’m not kidding, those two are already acting like freaking parents,” he whispered. “It’s almost terrifying.”

Jemma gave him a look, but Ward was speaking in a low voice as well. 

“Well...I mean, Lexi was a huge help to Daisy on the flight over,” Ward said quietly. “She was talking to her, keeping her awake, and Daisy was reassuring her that she would be able to keep May alive…. It’s hard not to come out of a situation like that without some sort of bond.”

“And Lincoln’s even babysat for Lexi a couple of times,” Miles said to Jemma and Sousa in a low voice. “May and Andrew trusted him with her...especially because he’s a doctor. And you’ve seen how...bad an influence I am. Ward’s not exactly normal either.” He paused. “No offense.”

Miles was not wrong. If he had been the babysitter, he would probably have taught Lexi how to hack into the Pentagon; silent, but deadly Ward would not have made a very good babysitter either, even if Kara had been with him at the same time. 

“None taken,” Ward muttered. He paused, thinking. “Lexi could even pass off as their kid. It’s like...we’re seeing the future. The future in the present or something.” 

Ward was not wrong. Seeing as May and Daisy were both Asian and Lexi resembled May very closely, Lexi could very well pass off as Daisy and Lincoln’s child. 

“If Lexi had been in Daisy and Lincoln’s vision of their future with kids...well, would he have told us?” Miles asked Jemma, Ward and Sousa uncertainly. “Did he tell you, Jemma? Would he have?”

Jemma did not know. There were some things that Lincoln had kept from her, but she knew that he would have told Daisy at least if he had seen Lexi with him and Daisy in the visions that he’d seen in Kora’s head. Even if he hadn’t told the rest of them, out of courtesy for May; seeing that in Kora’s head meant that May would likely have been dead. 

“We still don’t know all of the visions Kora showed them,” Sousa muttered back in a low voice. “Unless...did either of them tell you any more details, Jemma?”

“Some,” Jemma whispered back as Daisy lifted Lexi onto the side of the bed and perched on the edge behind her, Lincoln standing just behind them. “But none involving Lexi. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. Does that mean that May survives? Or does it mean that Lexi dies? I don’t know.” She paused. “But it’s not the first time that someone on the team has adopted an Inhuman child. In my timeline, May adopted Robin Hinton after Polly died. I...as much as I hate to admit it, I could see it happening again.”

The others could too. All four of them turned to look at Daisy, Lincoln and Lexi, at the edge of May’s bed, watching them with troubled and worried eyes. 




Once Koenig entered the room after having cleaned up the O.R., Jemma pulled Miles, Ward and Sousa out of May’s room to give them more space and make sure that when May woke up, she didn’t get shocked by a giant audience of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, two of whom she didn’t know. It was just as well Jemma did, because a minute later, her phone rang; it was Bobbi, contacting them about the status of the teams in D.C..

“We’re following Deke and Trip,” Bobbi said, once Jemma had put her on speaker phone. “We bugged the van, but it’s not looking or sounding good. Flint and Doctor Johnson are gone. I think Joey’s been taken into captivity by the ATCU. Not sure where Giyera is. But either way...Hunter and I are following them. I don’t think Deke’s a prisoner, but it sounds like they want Lincoln and Daisy. They want all the Inhumans.”

“Oh my God,” Jemma whispered.

“We can’t do that; we can’t just hand them over,” Sousa protested.

“We aren’t going to!” Ward objected, and then he glanced quickly at the door where Daisy and Lincoln were inside with Lexi and May. 

“Shhh,” Jemma hissed; she tugged the three of them further away from the med room. This was definitely not a conversation that Daisy and Lincoln should be listening to. 

“What do we do?” Miles asked. “Bobbi? Is there a game plan?”

“Trip’s been contacting us discreetly and sporadically,” Bobbi said. “Hunter is in contact with him right now. According to him, Deke’s bargaining Hive’s Inhumans in trade for Lincoln and Daisy. If he can get at least two - I think he’s aiming for Giyera and Yo-Yo because they were both at the Hub - then Lincoln and Daisy will be safe, at least for a while.”

“And if he can’t find them?” Sousa asked, voicing what all four of them were thinking.

“That’s where Miles comes in,” Bobbi said. “Find them, Miles. Tonight. Or Deke’s going to come up with some other drastic plans for keeping them out of danger. You know how protective Deke is about them.”

If there was anyone on the team that Deke would do absolutely anything for, it would be Lincoln and Daisy. All four of them traded worried glances.

“So I’m guessing I should keep Daisy in the dark and find Hive’s Inhumans on my own,” Miles said.

“You guessed right,” Jemma told him. 

“How exactly are we supposed to do that?” Miles asked. “She’ll want to help, you guys know that.”

“We could come up with something else to keep her and Lincoln occupied,” Ward began, but Bobbi interrupted.

“That’s not all,” she said. “Doctor Johnson and Flint are missing as well.”

Although Bobbi had mentioned it earlier, the bigger concern at the time had been the fact that the ATCU wanted Daisy and Lincoln. Now that the news had time to sink in, that worry leapt to the forefront of everyone’s minds. 

“And to make matters worse,” Bobbi added, “Jemma, I didn’t mention this before because I didn’t think it would be an issue, but now that the ATCU is here, well, it’s being led by Rosalind Price. And the S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison is Coulson.”

While this was not news to either Ward or Miles, it clearly had a worrisome effect on Jemma, who started twisting her hands together agitatedly. 

“We definitely can _not_ tell Daisy about this,” she said to Ward and Miles. “Coulson is her father-figure. Just think about Lincoln’s relationship with Deke. That’s Daisy’s relationship with Coulson.” She paused. “Not to mention that Doctor Johnson is Daisy’s biological father. Even though he’s not her father in this timeline, she still cares about him and this news would be disastrous. So yes...we absolutely, definitely must keep them both in the dark.”

“What about Flint?” Sousa asked, addressing another concern. “Didn’t you say that he can transport people between the timelines? Doesn’t that mean that now Hive has him, Hive can go between the timelines as well?”

Jemma’s face contorted like she was dealing with some sort of inner struggle. “We set up some...precautions. Flint can’t just create a Monolith with a snap of his fingers and transport Hive and his Inhumans back to our original timeline. We weren’t _that_ stupid.”

“So how does it work?” Sousa asked.

Jemma pressed her lips together, looking guilty. “I’m not...exactly sure. It’s complicated.”

Sousa stared at her incredulously. “Are you seriously telling me that once again, you’re playing with time and you have no idea what you’re dealing with? Are you seriously doing this _again_?”

Sousa’s voice had risen with each word he had spoken; Ward intervened.

“Sousa, calm down -” he began, only for Sousa to cut him off again.

“Well, Jemma?” Sousa demanded. “Is this another Diana the implant situation? Are we going to die if we try to get that information from you? Is Flint the Enoch in this situation? Or is it Bobbi?”

“Cut it out, she’s trying!” Bobbi interrupted, only for footsteps to sound down the hall; Daisy and Lincoln appeared on the scene in seconds. 

“What’s going on in here?” Daisy asked. “We could hear you guys shouting from May’s room!”

As angry as Sousa was, all of them had agreed not to tell either Daisy or Lincoln anything about Deke, Coulson or Doctor Johnson. In unison, all four of them looked at each other, and then chorused, “Nothing.”

“ _Right_ ,” Lincoln said sceptically. “And Miles is the world’s biggest expert on tact. What’s really going on here?”

All of them traded glances and then Jemma raised her hands in exasperation.

“We were trying to do something nice for Daisy,” she said, addressing them both. “And got into a little spat about how to do it. Because it’s July 7th, Daisy’s birthday was five days ago and I have never celebrated her birthday with her before.”

“Wait, you’ve known her for like seven years and you never celebrated her birthday with her?” Ward said, staring at Jemma.

“Yeah,” Daisy said wearily. “The first year, I didn’t even know when my birthday was; the second year, Jemma was on an alien planet; the third year, I ran away from S.H.I.E.L.D. because of Lincoln; the fourth year, we were dealing with the end of the world, _again_ ; the fifth year we were hunting for Fitz in deep space; the sixth year, Coulson returned, but didn’t really return; and then this year, _I_ was on an alien planet with Kora and Sousa while Jemma was on Earth.”

“And I thought that I had weird birthdays,” Miles muttered. “That...that sounds...like...a whole lot of bad birthdays.”

Daisy shrugged. “I didn’t like advertising my birthday even after I found out when my birthday was,” she said. “My parents, well...I had a complicated relationship with them, but everything about my parents was associated with death, not just my mum’s, but Lincoln’s. And the first year that I found out when my birthday was, I didn’t want to advertise it either to my S.H.I.E.L.D. friends either, but Lincoln knew; he’d been my...confidant when I was at Afterlife and he knew about my parents, so my celebration that year had been with him. It was also the day that I went to him for help about Jemma and the Monolith, so yeah. An unintentional birthday celebration with him that turned out great, but after his death…well, it wasn’t something I wanted to celebrate anymore.”

There was silence for a moment. At long last, Sousa spoke.

“That explains a lot,” he said finally. “When Kora mentioned that you didn’t like your birthday, I thought it was your mum, but it wasn’t just her apparently.”

Daisy winced. “Sousa, I’m sorry -”

Sousa shook his head. “Daisy, we’ve been over this,” he said. “It’s fine.”

It...really wasn’t. Daisy had been with Sousa five days previously on her birthday and while Kora had told Sousa that she really didn’t like celebrating her birthday, he had tried to do something nice for her all the same. Now he understood the real reason why she hadn’t enjoyed her birthday and she felt incredibly guilty...again. 

Daisy was spared from answering by Koenig, who poked his head around the door. 

“May’s waking up,” he called. “Agents Campbell, Johnson, are you two coming? Lexi wants you both here.”

“Of course,” Daisy said, suppressing the obvious stress and anxiety in her voice as she spoke. 

Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder and they turned, heading back into the med room. The second they were gone, the others rounded on each other.

“That was your excuse, Jemma?” Ward asked. “Now in addition to tracking down the rogue Inhumans, we also have to plan a birthday party?”

Jemma waved her hands. “It was the best excuse I could come up with on the fly!” she protested. “Besides, if Sousa did what Miles suggested, he has deep dish pizza and popcorn in the back of the van.”

“Yeah, it’s in the van,” Sousa muttered. 

“See?” Jemma said. “Now they even have their ideal date night food.”

Ward shook his head in disbelief. “Well...I guess Daisy _did_ tell Deke that he owed her and Lincoln vacation time when this was all over. We could say that tonight is their vacation time.”

“Deke also owes Daisy a free spa day,” Jemma said thoughtfully.

“There’s a swimming pool here,” Miles interjected. “I saw it on the Lighthouse cameras; if I’m not much mistaken, it’s the swimming pool that Lincoln heated up in this timeline.”

Jemma looked at him quizzically. “How did you know that he heated up another pool in our timeline?”

Miles had the decency to look embarrassed. “I, uh...can read lips,” he admitted. “Sousa, Deke and I spied on Daisy and Lincoln while they were in the containment module.” He paused, saw the look on Jemma’s face, and continued speaking. “What? I’m positive Ward and Hunter did as well!”

Ward looked more than a little guilty. “Hunter definitely did,” he admitted. “And I...may have snuck a peek once or twice. But not to the point of reading their lips!”

Jemma shook her head in amazement. “You guys are impossible.”

“Deke and I just looked!” Sousa protested. “Briefly! Reading their lips was all Miles!”

“Still impossible,” Jemma said, raising her hands above her head. “Are all guys like this?”

“Hunter definitely is,” Bobbi said, making all of them jump; they had forgotten that Bobbi was still on the phone. Fortunately, she had remained silent while Daisy and Lincoln had been around, but now that they were gone, she was speaking again.

“Okay, okay,” Jemma said, sighing. “So plan for keeping Daisy and Lincoln out of it: we set them up to go swimming, have Lincoln make the pool into a spa, and give them their favourite date-night food. And Miles will track down Hive’s Inhumans, I’ll do antitoxin research and -”

“And I will try and see if I can fix the Quinjet, because I busted parts of it breaking the record for how fast someone can fly from the Retreat to the Lighthouse,” Ward supplied. 

“Great,” Bobbi said. “I’ll update you guys on Deke and Trip’s statuses as we go. Over and out.”

Bobbi hung up the phone and the four of them looked at each other.

“Before we divide and conquer,” Jemma said, “Miles, could you stream _Terminator_ on a laptop? Lincoln never watched it in our original timeline and I think they would enjoy watching it.”

Miles smirked. “Of course, Jemma,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “But just so you know? Lincoln is the only one of us who has stayed at the Lighthouse for an extended period of time. He’s the only one of us who has a bedroom here. Just saying.”

There was dead silence for a moment. 

“And, I’m out,” Ward said, turning to go.

“I’m...going back in to check on May,” Jemma said, pivoting on her heel.

“And I’m...getting the food out of the van,” Sousa said. 

All three of them moved in opposite directions: Ward heading to the airplane hangar, Jemma to May’s room where Daisy, Lincoln, Lexi and Koenig were, and Sousa towards the garage. 

Miles watched them go with an amused expression on his face.

“Did I say something?” he asked rhetorically and sarcastically once he was alone.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

When Daisy and Lincoln reentered May’s room, her eyelids were fluttering. Lincoln immediately went to Lexi’s side; she was sitting at May’s bedside, on the edge of the bed.

“She’s going to be a little confused when she wakes up,” Lincoln warned Lexi, as he put both hands on her shoulders. “So don’t be surprised if she doesn’t seem like herself, okay, Lex?”

Lexi nodded. “Okay,” she whispered. “Okay.”

Daisy joined them, standing beside Lexi. Guilt was still crowding her insides about the whole birthday fiasco; Lincoln saw the expression on her face and slid one arm around her waist in a half-hug from where he was sitting behind Lexi. Daisy allowed herself to be drawn into his embrace, relishing in the comfort of his touch, even though she still felt guilty. 

Lexi looked up at her. “Are you okay, Daisy?” she asked. “Are you scared? Because you look scared. And I’m scared too.”

Daisy smiled faintly at Lexi. “May’s going to be just fine, Lexi,” she said, rubbing Lexi’s back gently. “Lincoln and Jemma are great doctors. Even if she’s confused right now, she’s going to be fine.”

At that moment, May’s eyelids opened all the way and she caught sight of them. 

“Momma!” Lexi gasped.

“Lex…?” May whispered, her eyes confused. “Where am I? What’s going on? Where are we?”

“Hey, May,” Lincoln said, leaning in a little so that she could see his face. “We’re in the Lighthouse. We brought you here after the attack at the Retreat; how are you feeling?”

“I’m...I’m okay,” May said, her voice a little hesitant; she winced as she spoke.

That small facial gesture was enough to indicate to all of them that she was in a lot more pain than she was letting on. Lincoln stood up so that he could check the medical equipment that she was hooked up to.

“I’m going to up your painkillers a little,” he said. “You look like you could do with some more morphine.”

“No more meds,” May snapped, but Lincoln was already twisting the dial. “Dammit, Lincoln!”

“Momma, it’s okay,” Lexi soothed. “Lincoln’s trying to help you.”

May relaxed a little at Lexi’s words and Lincoln stepped back around to the bed. 

“You cut off my arm,” May said, staring at Daisy.

“I had to,” Daisy said, even more guilt and anxiety threatening to overwhelm her. “I’m so sorry, May, but I had to. The Terrigen crystal that you caught was killing you -”

“I know,” May said quickly. “What...I meant...to say ‘thank you’.”

Hearing May say ‘thank you’ was about as shocking as her having a daughter. Or about as shocking as her losing her arm in the first place. It was May, after all. The Cavalry. The Warrior. The person who had been stabbed, leaped through a portal and proceeded to kill Izel. May was the strongest fighter Daisy knew. 

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said. “I know prosthetics have come a long way...but I’m sorry you had to lose your arm.”

“Saving me!” Lexi interrupted, squeezing her mother’s prosthetic arm. “It...it even feels real.” She looked down at her mother’s arm and then up at Lincoln, fear written all over her face.

“Lex, it’s okay,” May began, but Lexi was looking fearfully at May, then at Lincoln, and then at Daisy. 

“We gave her the very best prosthetic we could make,” Lincoln said reassuringly. “It looks real, it feels real and she’ll regain full mobility of her arm within a few days. She’s going to be just fine, Lexi. She’s going to be even more of a kick-ass warrior now that she’ll have super-strength.” 

Lexi gave a half-giggle, but worry was still written all over her face. She was too young for that kind of worry. Daisy’s heart went out to her; she squeezed Lexi’s shoulder reassuringly.

“In a few minutes, we can try a little movement of that arm,” Lincoln said. “I would ordinarily not encourage this for a day or two, but I know you, May. You’re going to be trying to test your arm if I weren’t here and that would be much much worse than you testing your arm with me here.”

May gave him another one of her infamous stern looks and Daisy suppressed a laugh. It was just like May to not say anything and let her face convey her message. 

“Momma, I’m sorry,” Lexi said, tears spurting down her cheeks. “Momma, I’m so so sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough to protect you -”

“Lex, it’s not your fault,” May said, but her voice was uneven with the pain. 

Lincoln glanced at May and then said, “Daisy, why don’t you take Lex outside and get something to eat? May needs her rest.”

“No, please, I want to stay,” Lexi pleaded. “I’ll be quiet, I promise. Please, please, please can I stay?”

Lincoln looked at May and then said, “Okay, Lex. Two minutes, okay? Tops. Then May needs to rest and you can either sleep in here with her or Daisy and I will find you another room to sleep in. It depends on how you behave for the next two minutes.”

“Okay,” Lexi said and then she fell silent, just staring at her mother and holding her hand.

May didn’t show a lot of emotions, but Daisy knew how much she loved her daughter. It was obvious: the slight relaxation of her shoulders when Lincoln said that Lexi could stay, the relief when Lexi calmed down from being worried or upset about May’s condition. Daisy was glad that May had a daughter in this timeline; Lexi brought out the best in her. 

The four of them - and a silent Koenig in the corner - would have stood there for goodness knew how long - likely longer than two minutes - but then Jemma came into the room. She beckoned to Daisy and Lincoln; they quietly left May’s bedside to go into the corridor with her again.

“You guys have the night off,” Jemma said abruptly. “The pool is yours; you can hang out there or in Lincoln’s room, it doesn’t matter which. Pizza, popcorn and  _ Terminator _ are waiting for you guys in your room.” 

Daisy and Lincoln stared at her incredulously. 

“The night off?” they repeated in unison. 

“Yes,” Jemma said. “You have the night off. So go enjoy it!”

Jemma pushed past them back into May’s med room, shutting the door in their faces. Daisy and Lincoln stared at the closed door, confusion written all over their faces.

“Is she...do you think she’s kidding?” Daisy asked. 

Lincoln shrugged. “I have no idea. Do you want to...see if we can find the others? And see if she’s kidding?”

“Sure,” Daisy said, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Because I didn’t think that vacation time was really part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. job description.”




Miles had just set up a centre of confusion to everyone but himself (and Daisy) when Daisy and Lincoln walked into the room, both looking puzzled. And that was before they saw his system set-up.

“Hey, Miles, Jemma just said we have the night off,” Lincoln said. “Is she serious?”

“What?” Miles asked, turning to face them. “Yes, you heard right.”

“Wait, are you looking for Hive’s Inhumans?” Daisy asked, looking at the nearest computer screen. “I can help, I know -”

“Nope!” Miles said, stepping in front of the computer before she could reach for it. “Your job is to relax, go skinny dipping, have sex and, well, not get drunk, because Lincoln doesn’t drink, but -”

“Miles, I’m going to murder you,” Lincoln said, but he didn’t sound half as threatening as he could have done. At this point, everyone was resigned to Miles’ jokes. 

Miles smirked at him. “What? It’s obvious you guys just want to have together-time. So go have it.” He waved them off. “And I promise, I’ve switched off the cameras at the swimming pool. Daisy can check if she likes. The night is you-rs.” He sang the last word in two syllables, turning back around to look at his system set-up.

“But Kora -” Daisy began. 

“Would want you guys to be happy,” Miles finished. “Seriously. Don’t be so annoying about it. Just go take the night off.”

Miles was not wrong that Kora would want them to be happy. But Daisy was worried about her sister; Kora had been with Hive for over 24 hours now. The longer she was with Hive, the stronger the addiction became. Daisy wanted her sister back. Desperately. 

In addition to her worry about Kora, it was confusing that everyone was trying to encourage them to do nothing and to take the night off. At night off in the middle of ‘the end of the world’ was practically unheard of. 

“What did Deke say?” Lincoln asked; Miles’ hand slipped where he was picking up a Twinkie and he dropped the candy on the floor.

“Damn,” Miles said, picking up the food and tearing open the wrapper. “He said he’s on his way back, but he wants you guys to chill tonight. He said he owes you guys a vacation. And he owes Daisy a spa day. So Lincoln can heat up the pool and la-di-da.” Miles waved his hand at them in a dismissive gesture before taking a bite of his food.

“And you guys are working?” Daisy asked, gesturing towards his set-up.

“Yes,” Miles said. He paused. “Look, seriously, just go chill. You guys both passed out from overuse of your powers today. Just...chill.”

“You probably haven’t slept in two nights either,” Lincoln said, frowning. 

“Jemma and I traded on-off while we were driving here,” Miles said. “And I programmed the car to drive itself. Besides, I didn’t go all Barrel of Monkeys on everyone or hold a quake pulse on May’s bleeding arm for three hours. Just go, you two. Seriously.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded confused looks, but started backing out the door.

“If you’re lying to us, Miles,” Daisy began.

“If I am lying to you, you have my full permission to kick my butt afterwards,” Miles promised. “Just go, guys.”

With another confused look at him, Daisy and Lincoln backed out of the room. Once they were out of earshot, Miles quickly scanned up and down his camera set-up of the Lighthouse and then pulled out his microphone. 

“Ward, they’re coming to you next,” he said. 




“Copy that,” Ward said, as he looked at one of the smoking engines of the Quinjet. To be absolutely honest, he was no engineer; the job that he was attempting to do was more Deke’s, Mack’s or Miles’ than anyone else’s. However, seeing as he knew how to fly the plane, he had a little knowledge of how a fixed engine was supposed to look. 

“Hey, Ward?” Lincoln called to him, just as Ward ducked out from under the Quinjet’s engine.

Ward looked up. “Did you want something?” he asked, although he knew perfectly well why they were there; the earpieces that Miles had distributed allowed all four of them to hear each other’s conversations. Ward had listened to both Jemma and Miles already tell Daisy and Lincoln that they had no jobs for the night, aside from relaxing, but apparently neither of them had been convincing enough. Ward just had to get the message through to them without them going to Sousa, because that wouldn’t be fun for any of the parties involved, even if Sousa had metaphorically already let Daisy go. 

“Uh, just wondering why -” Lincoln began, but Ward cut him off.

“Didn’t Jemma tell you that you have the night off?” he asked, even though he knew perfectly well that she had. “If you’re going around to ask all of us, do not go to Sousa, let me tell you that. That guy might have accepted that you guys are together and is supportive of your relationship, but regardless, he does not want to hear about your guys’ night off.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded guilty glances and Ward saw the look.

“Come on, guys, is it really so surprising that Deke wants you to have the night off?” he asked. “Jemma’s husband is in another timeline, Hunter just got shot and almost died, both Andrew and Kara  _ are  _ dead…. Is it so surprising that he wants you guys to enjoy what time you have together? I’m not saying that either of you is going to die - that is the last thing any of us wants - but really, you guys have a rare opportunity here. Don’t question it. Do what you want to do. Watch a movie, go swimming, just talk, eat, whatever. Miles even switched off the cameras at the swimming pool so you guys can have privacy and that is coming from the guy who deliberately spied on you guys while you were in the containment module. Seriously. If not for yourselves, do it for the rest of us who can’t be with the people we love tonight.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Ward -” Daisy began, but Ward cut her off.

“I didn’t say that to make you guys feel guilty about May and me and Sousa,” he said. “You heard Sousa; he’s as over it as he’s going to get without more time, so just enjoy yourselves tonight. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. The four of us have even gone out of our way to make sure that our sleeping quarters are in the east one, not the west wing, where Lincoln’s room is. Koenig is staying with May and Lexi all night. No one is going to disturb you guys. The night is literally all yours. Don’t waste it.”

Lincoln turned to Daisy. “What do you want to do?”

Daisy smirked at him. “The last time I was at a pool, it was frozen,” she said. “Let’s see what happens if you heat it up.”

She interlaced her fingers with Lincoln’s, the flirtatious look in her eyes unmistakable. As they turned to leave, Ward called after them.

“Just...you know, be careful,” he called after them. “I don’t want to remind you about the possibility of your potentially super-powered Inhuman babies, but -”

“We know, Ward!” Lincoln called, but both of them were smiling as they ran out of the room.

Ward exhaled a sigh of relief as they left. On the bright side, they seemed to have at least reached some sort of agreement about their Inhuman babies who might be the most powerful Inhumans in the world after Hive. Or maybe they were going to discuss it. He didn’t know. Either way, at least they didn’t seem  _ that _ upset about it. 

“It’s done,” he said into his coms. “They’re probably going to be distracted all night, so, Miles, get moving. Jemma, the lab is yours; Sousa, you can choose to help Miles or Jemma, or I can give you a flying lesson.” He paused. “If I can fix this Quinjet.”

“On it,” Miles said promptly. “Already running searches.”

“That was skillfully done, Ward,” Jemma said, the relief in her voice palpable. “Well done.”

“I was honest,” Ward said truthfully. “And straight to the point. Clearly more effective than Miles.”

“To be fair, they definitely weren’t going to come to me,” Sousa pointed out. 

“Yeah, that’s why you weren’t with me earlier,” Ward said. “But you can come now if you want. If I was a betting man, which I am not, I would wager that we’ll see them tomorrow morning and that’s that.”




“What do you mean Joey’s been taken?” Hive/Kara fumed over the communications system; Kora winced at the anger in his voice.

“The ATCU,” Kora said. “They took Deke and Trip into their custody; Joey is in their gel matrix system right now. Giyera, Yo-Yo, Katya and James are still in D.C.. Giyera’s tracking them right now. Do you want them to engage with the targets and take Joey back?”

“Do they have any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with them?” Hive asked.

“Doctor Johnson,” Kora said. “He juiced himself with his own concoction that gives him super-strength, but Yo-Yo was still able to take him down.”

“And the Inhumans?” Hive asked.

“Daisy and Lincoln evaded capture again,” Kora said, choosing her words carefully so Hive did not think that she was blaming him for Daisy’s escape. “Yo-Yo knocked out Flint, but when she boomeranged back to him, he knocked her out temporarily. He’s in the wind...somewhere in D.C.. Katya and Yo-Yo are trying to find him. James is with Giyera.”

“They are not leaving D.C. until you confirm that they have Flint,” Hive instructed. “Have them fall back, don’t alert the ATCU to their presence. Let the ATCU think that S.H.I.E.L.D. is the enemy. Update me as soon as you have news.”

“Yes, sir,” Kora said. “What about Daisy, Lincoln and Lexi?”

“Where are they?” Hive asked. “Kora, tell me now.”

Kora winced. While Hive was not with her to ‘encourage’ her to tell him, she still had no choice but to inform him of where they were...or at least where she thought they were. The parasites in her brain were forcing her to obey, whether or not she wanted to. 

“I think they’re at the Lighthouse,” she said. “The paths that Miles cleared from D.C. all lead to Lake Ontario and it’s close enough from the Retreat that Ward could have flown the Quinjet there too. Are you going to go after them with Alisha or are you coming back to Afterlife?”

“You tell me,” Hive said. 

Kora grimaced again. He was testing how accurate her abilities were. While she had no choice but to tell him what she knew, he was still experimenting with her timestream knowledge. She didn’t blame him; her limitations changed regarding every single vision of the future she had, but still, it felt like a test, one that she wasn’t sure she would pass. 

“You’re coming back to Afterlife,” Kora said, sounding more confident than she really was. “You originally weren’t sure where Daisy, Ward, Lexi and May were going, so you headed back to Nepal. Am I right?”

“Do you need to ask?” Hive challenged.

“Yes,” Kora admitted, waiting to hear his reaction. 

There was silence for a moment, then Hive changed the subject. “Check in when you’re done with the teams in D.C..”

“Done,” Kora said. “Over and out.”

When Kora switched off her microphone to Hive, she heaved a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been too sure how that conversation with Hive was going to go, but she was grateful that, at the least, he didn’t appear too angry at her for being unable to predict the future with too much accuracy. She turned to Raina and Doctor Radcliffe, both of whom were in the room with her. Seeing as the three of them and Robin were the only ones left at Afterlife, she and Raina had let Doctor Radcliffe out of the red room so that all of them were gathered in Kora’s communications centre instead. 

“Did you find out anything about my blood?” she asked, sliding back in her chair so that she could look at Raina and Doctor Radcliffe. “We don’t have long before Hive is back in Nepal and once he’s back, we can’t work on it anymore.”

“It’s very potent,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “The GH. is very visible in your blood.”

“It’s a lot stronger than Lincoln’s was,” Raina said. “Even allowing time for it to be absorbed into your system. But part of the problem is your healing abilities; your ability to manipulate life energy. I do not know if your injuries from James and Katya healed because of your powers or because of the GH..”

Kora herself was uncertain. She guessed, thanks to events that had passed, that her blood, even prior to the GH.325 injection, had healing properties; it was what Lincoln, Jemma and Doctor Johnson had discovered in one of the timelines. She suspected that it was one that they had gone down, but obviously, she wasn’t 100% certain. But regardless, she wasn’t sure if that was what was preventing her true bonding with Hive. The parasites didn’t weaken Inhumans; they acted like a drug and kept them addicted to him and happy. Technically speaking, there was nothing to heal. Or maybe there was something going on with her powers still that she didn’t understand.

“What are you going to do even if you find out what makes you so different?” Raina asked Kora. “You cannot disobey Hive.” She paused thoughtfully. “Have you tried?”

“What do you mean?” Kora demanded. “Of course I’ve tried!”

“No,” Raina said. “Not necessarily. None of the other Inhumans have ever tried. They are happy to serve him; he makes them feel happier than they have ever felt before. He dopes them up. He makes them happy to serve. But you...you are different. His connection with you does not make you happy. You obey him because you have no choice. The parasites control you, yes, but they do not dope you the way they do others. Because of that, you are an unwilling slave. So...can you break free?”

Kora was silent for a moment. “Is that what you think it is?” she asked. “I’m controlled, but I’m not drugged? Not addicted to him?”

“It would explain why you cannot disobey him, yet you still have your own mind,” Raina said.

“But how is that happening?” Kora asked. “My powers? The timestream in my head?”

Doctor Radcliffe spoke up. “I might have a suggestion,” he said.

Both Inhumans turned to look at him. 

“Think about it this way,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “The timestream in your head; that’s not your mind. The memories and occurrences there...you see things that you could not possibly know. You can see a vision of your sister and Lincoln. You can see a vision of Deke and his agents. But you’re not there.” 

“You’re saying that my mind isn’t always my own,” Kora said. “So I can voice my own opinions and thoughts because the parasites can’t control that part of my brain where the timestream is housed. So they have...fluctuating control.”

“It’s possible,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “And this is hypothetical, Kora. Besides, I don’t think it would help you escape from Hive’s control. The parasites are ultimately still controlling your brain, even though the drugs might not be affecting you.”

“That’s not true though,” Kora said, tugging a hand through her long black hair. “When Hive comes...I feel a fresh wave of control and I crave his presence like a drug…. I don’t get it.”

“Do  _ you _ crave his presence?” Raina asked. “Or is it the parasites that crave his presence?”

That was an excellent question which Kora did not know the answer to. However, before she could speak, the communications system buzzed as one of the D.C. Inhumans tried to speak to them.

“And...back to work,” Kora said grimly. 

“Do what you have to do,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “Just let us know when we have to hide all our results and testing data. Because none of us want Hive to find out what we’re up to.”




“Coulson, Rosalind, look,” Deke said. “These Inhumans who we are after are the dangerous ones. Daisy and Lincoln are working for S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“Daisy Johnson,” Rosalind Price said. “Banks?”

Deke and Trip were in the D.C. headquarters of the ATCU with Rosalind, Coulson and Luther Banks, who was Rosalind’s second-in-command. After the disaster at the Hub, they had been ‘escorted’ to the ATCU headquarters; they were currently in the lobby of Rosalind’s private offices. 

Luther Banks handed Rosalind a tablet. “This is all we have on Daisy Johnson. She’s Doctor Calvin Johnson’s biological daughter with an unknown woman; born on July 2, 1988; is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; is engaged to Lincoln Campbell and has been dating him for six years….”

Trip looked up in surprise; Deke trod deliberately on his toes to prevent him from showing any more surprise than he already had been. The information that Banks was looking at was the cover that he, Doctor Johnson and Daisy had set up for Daisy and Lincoln’s undercover mission in Bucharest. Based on the cover story that Daisy and Lincoln had spewed while they were with Radcliffe, Deke had updated her files, hence why their records now stated that they were engaged and had been together for six years. 

“Shake and Bake are engaged?” Hunter asked over the coms, looking at Bobbi in surprise from where they were sitting in a car, listening to Deke and Trip’s conversation with Coulson, Rosalind Price and Luther Banks.

“Say what now?” Miles asked, from where he was hooked up back at the Lighthouse. 

It was a chain of connection. Trip was in contact with Hunter, who was with Bobbi; she was connected to Miles back at the Lighthouse. Even though there was a roundabout connection, Miles was the key to the connection and was the one updating information on Daisy as quickly as he could based on a profile that Jemma gave him. However, the engagement was news to him since it wasn’t on the files.

“When did that happen?” Miles asked, as he scrolled back through the data files that he was manufacturing.

“Don’t worry about that,” Bobbi said, grabbing the microphone. “Hurry up, Miles, you don’t want Banks to see you updating the files as he scrolls through them.”

“Yes, I know that!” Miles protested. “Dammit.” He scooted over to his other microphone set-up, the one that connected him to Jemma, Sousa and Ward. “Sousa, get over here. I need your help with Daisy’s files.”

“Sousa doesn’t know computers,” Jemma warned from where she was working in the lab. “Give me a minute; I’ve got a sample that needs to set for a second -”

“I’m on it,” Sousa said; Miles could hear the thud of his footsteps as he ran down the hall. 

“Why can’t you get Daisy?” Hunter asked. “Isn’t she a hacker too?”

“They’re at the pool,” Miles said. “Or Lincoln’s bedroom. It’s a long story. Trip, stall.”

Back at the ATCU headquarters, Trip extended his hand for the tablet. “Ms Price, may I see that?” he asked. “I want to see if your information is accurate.”

“Accurate?” Banks asked. “Of course it is accurate! We have the best technical operators in the country working on these profiles -”

“And there are hacktivists who can break into any technical system,” Deke said. “You should let my operative check the files.”

“He can check the system with Banks, not the files,” Rosalind said. 

“Rose, I know Agent Triplett,” Coulson spoke up. “He’s not a technical operator; he has no idea how our systems work. He might be able to check the accuracy of the information because he knows Agent Johnson, but not via our technical systems.”

Coulson was technically part of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the ATCU, so he did have knowledge about Deke’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team. That was both a blessing and a curse; at times, it could help them, like now, but it also made lying more difficult.

Rosalind eyed Trip sceptically and then nodded to Banks. “Give him the files.”

Trip took the tablet gratefully and adjusted his body posture so that he was the only one viewing the screen.

“Hurry up, Miles,” he muttered in a low voice. 

“I’m on it, I’m on it,” Miles replied, typing at breakneck speed. “Come on, baby...sing for Papa….”

“Did he just say what I think he said?” Sousa asked as he raced into the communications centre.

“Yep, he always does that,” Hunter replied. “Miles?”

“On it, on it,” Miles muttered, still typing away. “And here...we...go!”

Trip glanced down at the information. Daisy’s records now confirmed everything from her birth in Nepal to her engagement to Lincoln to her S.H.I.E.L.D. badge number. 

“Good job, Miles,” Bobbi said as Miles exhaled a sigh of relief and spun away from his computer.

“I am going to have grey hair when this is all over,” Miles said wearily, raking his fingers through his hair. “ _ I’m _ going to need a vacation!”

“I think we all will,” Jemma muttered as Sousa turned to Miles.

“Is there anything you need my help with after all?” he asked.

Miles looked at him. “Yeah. You can get me a coffee. Black. Because I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.”

“Miles!” 

Jemma, Bobbi, Ward and Sousa all objected at the same time. Meanwhile, Hunter snickered in amusement.

“Not sorry,” Miles said, his voice serious for once. “I have all the servers in the Lighthouse divided, trying to track Flint, Hive’s four Inhumans in D.C., Doctor Johnson  _ and _ Kora, wherever the hell she is. Not to mention that I have programs connecting me to Hunter and Bobbi, another one linked to Deke and Trip,  _ and _ I have the cameras in the hallway warning me if Daisy and Lincoln come anywhere near the communications centre, the lab or the airplane hangar. I also have equipment monitoring sonar and radar in case anyone comes too close to the Lighthouse  _ and _ monitoring all the disasters that we caused - the major blackout in half of Bucharest, the bombings in D.C. and the explosions in the Badlands - not to mention keeping tabs on the news about the Academy and the Playground. And tracking Hand, because she’s one of the few other agents who knows about the different timelines. And trying to see if we need to do damage control with the public since S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the news on basically every television channel. Also trying to erase any footage of Jemma that I can find, because she’s supposed to be in Scotland right now. So, no, I’m not joking when I say I seriously need coffee.”

There was silence for a minute.

“Coming right up,” Sousa said. “Is there anything else you need, Miles?”

“More bodies,” Miles said grimly. “But it’s okay. I can manage. I just need coffee. And food. And more coffee.”

“On it,” Sousa said, leaving the communications lab.




Flint sprinted through the streets of D.C. trying to keep his head down. He had eluded Yo-Yo after he had managed to erect a wall of stone to block her and knock her temporarily out. Now he was doing his best to stay on the move because with her powers, it wouldn’t be long before she caught him. 

Unfortunately, even with his year in the original timeline training at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, Flint didn’t know D.C. in this timeline all that well. It didn’t help that he was a young teenager, trying to elude cops, security cameras and anything that would alert Hive or Kora to his presence. On the down side, evading them also meant hiding from Miles and Daisy, if they were even trying to find him.

There were too many Inhumans in D.C.. Aside from Yo-Yo, Flint knew that Giyera and Joey were somewhere around the Hub and the explosions downtown implied that James was somewhere in the city as well. Hive wouldn’t have let James go alone, it was likely that either Alisha or Katya was with him; neither were good combinations.

Flint raced around a corner and hurtled to a stop when he saw a series of people walking towards him. They were moving like they had a pack mind; he backed up, cursing under his breath. He knew who was controlling them and why. And he also knew that this was a huge disaster; he knew his S.H.I.E.L.D. history, especially since May had been one of his teachers at the Academy. 

Katya was exerting her influence on a whole bunch of humans in the area in pursuit of him. Flint knew perfectly well that this was worse than Bahrain because she was not inside a building and she wasn’t just controlling S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. These were normal human beings. Normal human beings who were going to wake up and realize that they had hurt, maybe killed their friends and relatives in pursuit of an Inhuman teenager. 

This was seriously bad. 


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54**

It was a good thing that Jemma, Sousa, Ward and Miles were occupied with the various tasks that they had to do that night and had zero desire to drag either Daisy or Lincoln into any of them. Because any attempt to do so would have been extremely awkward and embarrassing for all parties involved.

Lincoln’s bedroom was dimly lit; neither Daisy nor Lincoln had bothered to turn on the main lights after their adventure in the pool. _Terminator_ was playing on the laptop that Miles had left for them, but neither of them were paying attention to it; they were lounging on Lincoln’s bed, casual touches and kisses between them as easy as breathing. Although the pizza box and popcorn bowl were on the table, neither had made move to eat; they had just gotten back from swimming/making out in the pool and were still half-naked and wet. 

“I can’t believe we finally have time to relax,” Daisy said, shifting closer to Lincoln so that her leg looped over his. “And I have to say, having time off together doing this is so much better than training. Even though we didn’t do much training that time.”

Lincoln laughed, sliding his hand down her back and over the curve of her hip; her breath caught at the contact. She didn’t think she was ever going to get used to the effect he had on her; she wasn’t even sure she wanted to. 

“I don’t think we’re doing much binge-watching of a show though,” Lincoln murmured, his lips at her ear.

“Hmm,” Daisy whispered, pressing her lips to his bare shoulder and working her way slowly downwards; it was his turn to inhale sharply at her actions. “Do you want to?” Her eyes were teasing as she looked up at him. “We could always go back to watching _Terminator_.”

She pulled away at that moment, sitting up, her back to him and Lincoln groaned. 

“Daisy!” 

She laughed as he caught her around the waist, pulling her back to him. She twisted, straddling him on the bed, leaning down to kiss him. As he ran his hands up and down her back, she shivered as electricity seemed to dance on her bare skin; both of them were still only wearing their undergarments after their ‘spa’ time at the pool.

“Are you doing that?” Daisy whispered. “The electricity? Or is it just you?”

“Just me,” Lincoln smirked, his fingers toying with the hook of her bra. “No powers.”

A smile curled Daisy’s lips; she leaned down to kiss him again, pressing her body up against his. Even as she did so, she couldn’t help wondering what was going to happen when they had sex; was she going to get pregnant? Protection wasn’t 100%, but there was no way that abstinence was going to happen. Yes, they’d had sex before, but now that they knew about the future, were things going to change because of it? She wanted their future with kids, marriage, the whole shebang, but now was certainly not the time to get knocked up. Not when it was possible that Hive wanted their super-powered Inhuman babies.

“Daisy?” 

Lincoln knew her better than anyone. He knew when she was thinking about something other than him.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy sighed, shifting to curl against him instead. “I was just thinking...our kids...and I want it, Linc, but I don’t think now’s the time or -”

Lincoln shifted as well, so that he was lying on his side, facing her. “Hey, I never once thought we were going to have sex without protection tonight,” he said, sliding one arm around her waist to pull her closer. “We still need to figure out the whole ‘our kids might have crazy powers’ thing. And Hive. Now’s not the time to have said kids.” He paused. “But that doesn’t mean that it can’t happen in the future.”

Daisy smiled. He always knew what to say to make her feel better. He had already told her that he wanted their future marriage, their future kids...he’d even told her that he would propose in the future. It still scared her how much she wanted it, but at the same time, she loved how much both of them wanted that future and how they were on the same page about almost everything. 

“I...I know protection isn’t 100%,” she said quietly. “But you’re the doctor. You’re the one who knows Inhuman biology. I trust you. If you tell me that we can have sex tonight and I most likely won’t get pregnant and we won’t be fulfilling Hive’s evil master plan, I believe you.” She paused. “Or maybe you can’t tell me that because you don’t know it either. But either way, if you’re sure protection still works with us despite our powers and everything...I want you.”

She kissed him again; he pulled away after a brief moment. 

“As a doctor, I can tell you that protection still works on us as well as it ever could and as much as it works on other people,” Lincoln said seriously. “But I don’t want to do this if you’re worried about it.” He touched her cheek gently. “We can go back to watching the movie.”

Daisy laughed at that, rolling over so that she was on top of him again. “I’m not worried,” she said. Catching the look in his eyes, she amended her statement. “I’m not _that_ worried. And we’re _not_ watching the movie.”

She pressed her lips to his again and he rolled over, supporting himself on his elbows so that his weight did not crush her. 

“I love you,” Lincoln said softly, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. “And I always will.”

That was the clincher. It felt so good to hear him say that, to know that he meant it. What with her parental disasters and the lack of love in her life prior to joining S.H.I.E.L.D, hearing that Lincoln loved her meant the world to her. She would never ever get tired of hearing him say that.

Daisy kissed him, hard, feverishly, wanting, yearning for more. He responded in kind, his touch gentle, but slightly rougher than before as his desire for her took over. As Lincoln shifted from kissing her to press his lips against her neck, she whispered in his ear, “I love you.”

Ironically, saying that made her feel even more exposed than being half-naked in front of him. But the happiness, love and longing on Lincoln’s face was more than enough to make up for her fear. Even the way he was holding her made her feel loved and cherished; she never wanted him to stop touching her that way. As she arched up towards him to kiss him again, a knock sounded on the door, causing both of them to freeze. 

“I thought they were leaving us alone tonight,” Daisy whispered against his bare shoulder.

“I thought so too,” Lincoln groaned. They lay there for a moment, still intertwined and tangled up together, not wanting to move, hoping that they had been mistaken. 

The knock sounded again.

Daisy sighed in defeat, resting her forehead against Lincoln’s shoulder.

“What is it?” Daisy called. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me,” Lexi called through the door. “Lexi. I’m sorry...Koenig fell asleep and Momma wants to talk to you both.”

Daisy lifted her head off Lincoln’s shoulder to meet his eyes, which were wide with shock. Of all people to come across them when they were about to have sex…. If it had been anyone else, they would not care. Jemma, Ward, Miles, Sousa...all four of them knew what they were up to. But Lexi...she definitely did not need to see this. Daisy scrambled off the bed, once again trying to find her clothes, only to remember that they had left them at the pool. Lincoln dug out a S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket for her and a pair of oversized yoga pants; she stepped quickly into them, using the drawstring to tighten the pants around her waist. Lincoln was dressed first this time; once Daisy was presentable, he opened the door. 

“Hey, Lex,” Lincoln said, none of the sexual frustration that he was feeling showing on his face. “Of course we’ll come. You want something to eat? Pizza?”

Lexi’s eyes lit up at the sight of the pizza. “Can I?” she asked. “Really?”

“Of course,” Daisy said, offering her the bowl of popcorn as well. “Take whatever you want, then head to the lab, okay? Stay with Jemma till we come and fetch you, okay?”

Lexi hesitated. “I don’t really know Jemma,” she said.

“Jemma saved your Momma’s life too,” Lincoln reminded her. “She’s a really great person and she has a daughter too. You’ll like her.”

Lexi eyed him. “And if I don’t, do I get another slice of pizza?” she asked.

Daisy laughed. “Already bargaining, huh?” she teased. “Take the pizza, Lex. We’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Lexi grinned at both of them, grabbed a second slice, and then ran off. Daisy turned to Lincoln and smiled ruefully at him.

“Is this what it’s going to be like when we have kids?” she asked, slipping her hand into his as they walked down the corridor in the direction of the med rooms. “Them interrupting our alone time?”

“Hmm,” Lincoln mused, pausing and toying with a strand of her hair. “Guess we’d better make the most of it while we have the free time, then.”

He said this last sentence close to her ear, causing goosebumps to erupt on her skin with the closeness. 

“Lincoln…,” Daisy began warningly, but her voice was more needy than threatening at that point.

“Don’t worry,” Lincoln said, smirking at her; he knew the effect he had on her. “I can’t imagine whatever May has to say will take long. And then….” His voice trailed off, but both of them knew exactly what he was talking about. 




Koenig was indeed asleep in the corner of May’s room when Daisy and Lincoln entered. Neither of them said anything about it, even though he technically should be awake and watching May. The medical equipment was monitoring her condition; she was safe even though Koenig was asleep. She even had a call button that would contact Jemma if she needed more meds or if some emergency happened. 

Even though Koenig was asleep, May was awake; her eyes were wide open and alert. She nodded in a way of greeting when she saw them.

“I’m glad you came,” she said. “I appreciate it.”

“Did you need something, May?” Lincoln asked. “Meds? I’m sorry Koenig fell asleep; he’s supposed to be on duty -”

“No,” May interrupted, adjusting herself on her pillows so that she was sitting up better. Lincoln moved to her side to make the bed prop her back up, before stepping back again. “I’m sorry I interrupted your alone time….”

“You didn’t,” Daisy began, but May gave her a look.

“Right,” May said sceptically. “Because those are your clothes, right?”

Daisy glanced down at her outfit. May was a spy and there was no fooling her. Her outfit screamed Lincoln in every single way; it was obvious to everyone but Lexi what they had been doing. 

“That’s not the issue,” May said, waving away Daisy and Lincoln’s sheepish expressions. “I wanted to talk to you both about Lexi.”

“Lexi?” they repeated in unison. 

“Yes,” May said as Lincoln pulled up two chairs and both of them sat down at May’s bedside. “Lexi.”

There was silence for a moment as May attempted to gather her thoughts.

“Lincoln, how is Doctor Johnson’s research on the Inhuman vaccine going?” she asked.

“I’m not 100% sure,” Lincoln replied, not questioning why she was asking; she was still his superior within S.H.I.E.L.D. even though he was her doctor. He trusted that she had her reasons for asking. “Human, or well, Inhuman trials haven’t been conducted yet. I know he’s tested many blood samples, but without pre-Terrigenesis Inhumans volunteering, we can’t conduct any tests to confirm or deny its success rate. Additionally, there is no knowing how the vaccine might react with different Inhuman powers; for all we know, it might trigger a defense mechanism in the blood. There’s no way of knowing without testing. And said testing hasn’t happened yet.”

May nodded. “Has Lexi told either of you that she believes that she holds similar powers to her father’s?”

Daisy and Lincoln traded concerned glances. 

“No,” they replied simultaneously.

May nodded again. “She was hoping that Lincoln, you would be able to remove that gene from her blood. But I don’t think you can; it’s ingrained in her DNA. The best you could do is to suppress it permanently with a vaccine or something.”

Lincoln was already shaking his head. “As a doctor, I can’t, with a clear conscience, give the experimental vaccine to Lexi,” he said. “I’m not even the head researcher on this program; I don’t know enough about the science. I can’t even test it on myself because I’ve already gone through Terrigenesis. Plus, Lexi’s still a child. There is no knowing what the vaccine might do to her in the long-term. It would be different if she were an adult, but she’s still maturing, still growing. I can’t give it to her, May.”

May nodded for a third time. “I also thought as much.” She paused. “Would you be able to test and see what powers she might have post-Terrigenesis?”

Lincoln looked at Daisy and then back at May. “We have a working theory,” Lincoln admitted, bringing up the conversation that he had had with Jemma and Doctor Johnson when they had been considering the problem of Daisy and Lincoln’s children, as well as Lexi’s powers. “For powers like Daisy’s and mine, our blood, after Terrigenesis, displays our powers. Daisy’s are in constant motion; mine are constantly sparking. If I took a blood sample from Lexi, added Terrigen to it and compared that blood sample with one of Lash’s, I could tell you if she is going to get similar powers to her father. But do you really want to know that? What are you going to do if you know? None of us want Lexi to undergo Terrigenesis if she is going to end up on a -”

“A killing spree,” May supplied, the shadows under her eyes huge. “It’s not that, Lincoln. I don’t want her to undergo Terrigenesis. At all. But I saw your struggles. With the Inhuman void. I want to spare my daughter those struggles if I can. If she has powers like yours or Daisy’s, I think she could safely undergo Terrigenesis and feel complete. But if her powers are anything like Andrew’s….”

“May, Terrigenesis is more than just about getting powers,” Daisy said worriedly. “Sometimes if Inhumans undergo Terrigenesis too young, it can have horrible consequences. In the timeline where I’m from, Katya Belyakov - wait, do you know about the original timeline?”

“Yes,” May said. “Deke told me. Keep going.”

“Okay, so Katya Belyakov, she underwent Terrigenesis as a child; she was maybe eight at the time,” Daisy said. “It was too much for her mind to handle. She literally went insane. And some powers aren’t visible from a blood test, May. I think Lexi’s too young to handle Terrigenesis.” She paused. “Another child who underwent Terrigenesis, Robin Hinton, she barely talked afterwards. Admittedly, she was younger than Lexi when she went through Terrigenesis, but the effects lasted all through her life, until she was an old lady. She mixed up the past, the present and the future all the time. Even my sister, Kora, who has powers similar to Lincoln’s and mine; in my timeline, she went through the Mist and was unable to control her powers. She committed suicide. Lexi’s too young right now, May.”

May nodded, her face tense and worried. “I know there are dangers,” she said. “As a mother, I want to do everything I can to protect my child. But there are things that I cannot protect her from and Terrigenesis is one of them.”

“You did protect her,” Lincoln said. “You lost your arm because you were trying to prevent her from transforming -”

“And I would do it again if I could,” May interrupted. “That’s not the point. I won’t be around to protect her forever. And even if I am, how can I protect her from something I cannot touch?”

“You’ve defeated Inhumans before,” Daisy said. “Maybe not in this timeline, but in mine. You were the one who defeated Eva and Katya Belyakov; you actually shot Andrew to save Lincoln; you kicked Alisha’s butt to protect both me and Lincoln. If you’d wanted to, you could have defeated both me and Lincoln countless times. You’re more than capable -”

“Not against Hive,” May said. “And not if I’m dead.” She paused. “I know this is a lot to ask. But you two understand Inhumans; you understand Lexi in ways that I could never. Daisy, I know I have just met you, but you saved my life and Lexi speaks so highly of you…. Would you two consider, if, just in case something happens to me...would you two consider looking after Lexi? Making sure she does not undergo Terrigenesis until she is ready, or not at all even; protecting her from Hive and any other Inhumans; protecting her from anyone, really? I wouldn’t ask but it’s -”

Lincoln stood up and placed his hand on May’s arm. “May, nothing is going to happen to you -” he began, but May cut him off.

“Something already did,” she said, gesturing towards her prosthetic arm. “Just as a precaution. Just in case. Please.”

That was the deciding factor. May hardly ever said please. Daisy and Lincoln didn’t even have to look at each other to know what the other’s response was going to be. 

In unison, they both turned to look at May.

“Yes.”




“Okay, we have a problem,” Miles said, spinning around in his revolving chair from his equipment set-up. “Shake and Bake are on the way to me now.”

“Distract them!” Ward interjected. “And why are they after you? What did you do? Set up spy-cams?”

“No,” Miles said indignantly. 

“They were just in with May,” Jemma said, cutting Miles off. “Or at least I think they were. I have Lexi with me now. Why are they after you?”

“Beats me,” Miles said. “But someone has to stall because I have way too much going on in here to be able to hide what I’m doing -”

“I’ll do it,” Sousa said, standing up; he was still in Miles’ communication centre, watching several news channels reporting live from D.C. and alerting Miles to any important information. “Any clues as to why they’re coming here?”

“Maybe they’re after Lexi?” Ward suggested; he was still in the airplane hanger, tinkering with the Quinjet. “The labs are in the same direction as the communications centre.”

“Maybe Daisy used the laptop I left for them to hack servers and find out that I made her records permanent,” Miles said, mock-horror in his voice. “Maybe they want to kill me for making them engaged before they’re, you know, actually engaged.”

Jemma gasped as he spoke.

“What?” Ward asked, concerned. 

“I just remembered,” Jemma said worriedly. “Fitz and I got married at the Lighthouse. And we are now...at the Lighthouse.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Miles asked.

“Bucharest,” Jemma said. “The first law of thermodynamics. Psychically linked. Never splitting up again. Lincoln and Fitz dying. Another timeline version of themselves. The one thing people have known is that they belong together. Knowing about future kids before Daisy or I even become or became pregnant. Sousa and Will. Being cursed.” She paused briefly. “And probably a lot more parallels that I’ve forgotten.”

“I’m really confused,” Miles decided, but even as he spoke, he was entering a long stream of code into one of his seemingly endless computers.

“I think she means that Daisy and Lincoln are Fitzsimmons in this timeline,” Sousa said. “But that doesn’t solve anything, Jemma, because we still don’t know how to stall them.”

Sousa was taking this revelation remarkably well; Jemma did not feel nearly as guilty as she originally had felt when Daisy had told her that she had never once gotten over Lincoln. At this point, Sousa had dealt with so much craziness, she was just grateful that he was being understanding. The news that Daisy had always been in love with Lincoln and simply hadn’t told Jemma had been among the most painful in Jemma’s life; she still felt incredibly guilty that she had never realized the truth. As much as Jemma cared about Sousa, her priority was Daisy, for obvious reasons. And now she was a little afraid and simultaneously excited that she might be attending the wedding of her sister and surrogate great grandson in a few days. 

While Jemma was lost in her confusing thoughts, Lexi hopped off the stool next to her. 

“I’ve got it,” Lexi said; the others could hear her via Jemma’s communications. “I’ll distract them.”

She skipped out into the hallway before Jemma could stop her and then all four of them heard her speaking to Daisy and Lincoln in the hallway.

“Is Momma better now?” she asked them. 

“Yeah, she’s ready for you to see her now, Lex,” Lincoln said, a faint strain of anxiety in his voice as he spoke. “But she needs to rest. She might be asleep. Are you sure you want to stay with her? We could set up a room for you or something….”

“No, I want to stay with her,” Lexi said. “Please, Lincoln. Please let me.”

“Okay,” Lincoln said. “But like I said last time, you have to be quiet, okay? And make sure that Koenig stays awake.”

“Okay!” Lexi sounded much more cheerful this time. There was a slight pause and then Lexi said, “Daisy? Are you coming?”

“Of course,” Daisy said; her voice was also a little tense. “I was just wondering if Miles had any documentation...but then, I guess I could find it myself. He left a laptop in the room for us.”

“I thought tonight was your night off?” Lexi asked innocently. “Jemma told me...and I already disturbed you guys enough. I know date night’s important. Momma and Daddy...when they had date night, Lincoln always babysat for me. I shouldn’t be disturbing your date night. Work shouldn’t be disturbing your date night.”

Jemma, Miles and Sousa could all see Daisy and Lincoln trade glances; Jemma was watching them from the lab, Miles via the cameras, and Sousa around the corner of the Lighthouse corridor. Only Ward couldn’t see them, but then again, it didn’t really matter because he could hear them speak. 

“Okay, Lex, you’re right,” Lincoln said, laughing. “We won’t do any work until tomorrow. Okay?”

“Promise?” Lexi asked, staring at Lincoln and Daisy with wide, innocent eyes.

“We promise,” Daisy said, smiling at her. “Come on. Your Momma is probably waiting for you right now.”

As the trio moved off down the hall, Miles let out a low whistle. “That baby S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is a force of freaking nature. She just persuaded Daisy and Lincoln to go back to their date night. I don’t think any of us could have done that, given the circumstances. That’s...absolutely insane.”

There was silence for a moment. 

“You’re not wrong,” Jemma said at last. “That girl is going to be one hell of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent when she’s older.”

“And...there’s another problem,” Sousa said. “What documentation did they want from Miles?”

All four of them remained silent as they tried to figure out what kind of documentation Daisy and Lincoln wanted. 

“I could create literally any kind of documentation,” Miles said. “Wedding documents, marriage certificates, anything really. The question is...what documentation did they want? And how can we ask them without revealing that we were eavesdropping? And are she and Lincoln really not going to find whatever they are looking for on the laptop that I left for them?”

“There is no way that they would get married without us,” Jemma said firmly. “Absolutely no way.” She paused. “Even if Lincoln proposed tonight, which he actually might, because he mentioned that he will propose in the future, there is no way that they are going to elope tonight. Not even if they somehow managed to get high on alien puffs.”

“Alien puffs?” Sousa, Ward and Miles repeated confusedly.

It was a testament to how inevitable the three of them thought Daisy and Lincoln’s marriage was that alien puffs were the biggest shocker in Jemma’s sentence. 

“Yeah, it’s a -” Jemma began.

“Long story,” all three of them finished.

That was the story of their lives. 




“So you’re telling me that you’ll help us capture these...rogue Inhumans, in exchange for amnesty for Lincoln and Daisy,” Rosalind Price said, folding her arms over her chest.

“Yes,” Deke said. “All the field agents at the Hub, Hand included, will join forces with your teams, Trip and I, and track down the four Inhumans in this city. If we get at least two, Lincoln and Daisy go free. They’re innocent. They have literally done _nothing_ wrong.”

“We have footage of them in Bucharest,” Rosalind said, tapping her finger against the tablet that displayed the picture of Daisy and Lincoln fighting Hive and his Inhumans at the Transhumanists’ Club. “Lincoln blacked out half the city. He’s not innocent.”

“Miles, scrub the feed,” Bobbi said grimly. “All the feed from Bucharest.”

“It’s too late,” Miles said, scooting from one computer set-up to another on his sliding wheelie chair. “If Price already has it, then she has copies. I’ll just be tipping my hand to them that I’m in their systems if I erase it now.”

“Damn,” Bobbi muttered. “Do damage control then. Find EMP attacks from Watchdogs and see if you make it seem like Lincoln only was attacking the Inhumans in the room or something.”

Miles muttered to himself as he started typing into one computer, codes and words appearing on his screen as he worked. Tabs and images popped up as he typed; the stress was evident on his face as he tried to make progress. 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Sousa asked.

“Learn how to hack,” Miles muttered darkly. “I need Daisy, actually, but I don’t think that’s an option, is it?”

There was silence for a moment. 

“No.” The others all spoke in unison.

Miles sighed. “Okay, okay, hang on,” he said wearily.

“Trip doesn’t have time,” Hunter warned. 

As the six agents over the communications argued about the situation, back at the ATCU headquarters, Deke was still attempting to pacify the situation with Rosalind, Coulson and Luther Banks. 

“Lincoln was fighting hostile Inhumans,” Deke said. 

“Is that the best argument you have?” Rosalind asked. “What about the bombings in D.C.? We have footage of him attacking a woman and then passing out. This woman did nothing to hurt him; she literally leaned down to help him after he was nearly blown up in a car explosion.”

Deke did not know about James and Katya’s attack on Lincoln and Sousa, but it wouldn’t be good to let the ATCU know that. Rosalind saw his hesitation and pressed her advantage.

“We also got information from the nurses at Peggy Carter’s nursing home to say that he and an associate impersonated Steve Rogers and his...brother today,” she said. “There are protocols in place for a reason, Director Shaw. What excuses do you have for his actions now? Either you authorized them or you didn’t; if you didn’t, he is clearly out of control, if you did, then you’re breaking laws that you set up yourself.”

“Miles, hurry up!” Bobbi hissed. “Lincoln is going to be in serious trouble if you don’t do something about this!”

“I’m trying!” Miles snapped. “I just don’t know how much she knows! And if she knows too much, then even if I erase it, it’s redundant! She already has the knowledge, has the footage; I can’t do anything about what she already has!”

“If you’re trying to make Lincoln a public figure for how S.H.I.E.L.D. agents can be crucified, then you’re not getting that,” Deke snapped. 

“We all know how much you care about Agent Campbell,” Coulson interjected. “Everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. knows. The public needs to see someone getting punished for this.”

“Lincoln is innocent,” Trip interrupted. “If you want a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to blame, it’s Raina, not Lincoln.”

“We haven’t seen evidence of Raina at any of these attacks,” Rosalind said.

“There’s footage at the Playground -” Deke began, only for Coulson to interrupt.

“Do you want to release that footage to the Playground, Director Shaw?” Coulson asked. “There are numerous reasons why that would be a bad idea. Firstly, Raina is one of the most public Inhuman figures and is a physically different Inhuman. You have been promoting the idea that Inhumans are not so different from the rest of us. If you put forth to the public that she is behind these attacks, they will never trust Inhumans again, especially since she is one of the most physically different ones. Secondly, that is footage of the Playground, which is not a public S.H.I.E.L.D. base. We have allowed the public to see the Hub, the Triskelion, some parts of the Academies. Do you really want them to see the Playground too?”

“So you’d rather destroy an innocent man’s reputation to the public?” Deke demanged. “Lincoln is innocent. He’s one of the most public figures as an Inhuman as well, but as a heroic figure, not as a scientific one. Today, he just saved nine people from falling to certain death from an airplane that the Watchdogs blew up. They are another enemy here, but are you going after them? No! You’re targeting innocent Inhumans!”

“The Watchdogs are not our concern,” Rosalind said. “We deal with Inhumans, not humans who are targeting said Inhumans.”

“Deke needs a scapegoat for Lincoln,” Sousa said, raking his fingers through his black hair. “Jemma, what happened in the original timeline? Did this happen before in the original timeline?”

“Coulson tried to trade Lincoln for Daisy,” Jemma said. “But Deke is not going to trade Daisy for Lincoln. Lincoln would never forgive him -”

“How did Daisy forgive Coulson?” Sousa asked in shock.

“It was before they started dating,” Jemma said. “Although they had kissed already. Ah, it’s complicated…. Coulson never liked Lincoln because, well, like I said. Lincoln was the only person whom Daisy would choose over Coulson and Daisy’s exes were seriously bad. Actually, now, if Coulson knew everything that Daisy and Lincoln have been through, well, to be frank, I think he would do whatever it takes to save Lincoln as well. But anyway, Deke is happy that they choose each other over everyone else. But regardless, Coulson’s attempt to trade Lincoln for Daisy didn’t work out. He ended up giving up his knowledge and information to keep Daisy safe. Can Deke do that?”

“I don’t think he has enough power in this situation,” Bobbi said. “Or enough information for Price. It sounds like she’s got way too much on Lincoln. We need another solution.”

“Erasing the camera footage is not the answer,” Miles said. “Price wasn’t kidding; there is too much footage of Lincoln out there. We need an alternative.”

“Katya,” Sousa suggested, putting aside all personal feelings about the complications of Daisy and Lincoln’s relationship. “She’s in D.C.; she was the one who attacked Lincoln and me. Price mentioned that they have footage of that attack. Well, she can influence people; if we can deliver her to the ATCU, we could declare that a lot of things are done under her influence. She would be easier to find than Hive.”

“Would that work?” Hunter asked. “Bob and I can try to track her down, but even if we did, that would be lying to Price. How would that even work?”

“Not lying to Price,” Jemma said. “Just to the public. There’s only so much footage that can go out to the public. But it depends on what the public saw when she attacked you and Lincoln. What did she do, Sousa?”

“Not enough,” Sousa said darkly. “She just reached down to touch Lincoln and he fried her. To the public eye, it’ll look like he attacked an unarmed civilian. Which is exactly what Price said.”

“Damn,” Miles said.

“What about James?” Ward suggested. “Or Giyera? James threw explosives in public -”

“And was uninvolved in the attack at the Academy,” Bobbi said. “That’s one of the places that is shown to the public; what do you want to do about that? We need a scapegoat that caused a lot of attacks openly. No one did that. The attack in the Badlands was in a remote location, the attack at the Hydra base and at the Playground is classified…. What can we do?”

“Disavowing them is not an option,” Hunter said suddenly. “Not like what happened with Bobbi and I. Speaking of, we don’t have nanomasks on us now. If Bob and I get seen by the public, this is seriously all going to hell.”

“Hey, guys?” Miles said. “I think we have a bigger problem than that.”

“What?” Jemma, Sousa, Ward, Bobbi and Hunter asked simultaneously.

“Katya’s swayed half of D.C.,” Miles said. “Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but still...she’s swayed a lot of people. And it’s on national television. She’s after Flint. He’s on one of my cameras right now. But I don’t think this is something S.H.I.E.L.D. can cover up. I’m erasing footage as we speak, but still….”

Jemma swore violently all of a sudden. “This is the Cambridge Incident,” she whispered.

“The what incident?” Ward asked.

The stress in Jemma’s voice was obvious to all of them when she spoke. “We need to stop her and now. Like right now. If the public finds out that Katya is behind this, they’re going to persecute all Inhumans, experiment on them and turn the world into hell. Lincoln and I are going to die, May is going to end up working for Hydra, Mack is going to lose Nicole, Trip and Ward end up working for the Resistance and...oh, that’s a strange one.”

“What?” Miles asked. 

“I don’t think that one could happen,” Jemma said. “Daisy’s already undergone Terrigenesis. There’s no reversing that.”

“Is that a good thing?” Ward asked.

“Well, seeing as she’s already been outed as an Inhuman, no,” Jemma said. “She’ll probably end up dead with me and Lincoln. Considering the alternative is she ends up together with Ward, I honestly think death looks more likely right now.”

There was a brief silence and then Ward said, “Yeah, death definitely looks more likely. She’s great, but that’s never going to happen. I would never do that to Lincoln or Sousa.”

“You might,” Miles said suddenly. “If Lincoln was already dead and pretending to be with Daisy is the only way to protect her and keep the woman Lincoln loves safe? You would do it for him, even if neither you nor Daisy harbour any romantic intentions towards one another.” 

There was silence for a moment and then Ward, Jemma, Bobbi and Sousa said in unison, “He’s right.”


	55. Episode 15: Agents of ATCU - Chapter 55

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!! Regardless of whether or not you celebrate HAHA. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and happy holidays!!! Happy and SAFE ones!!!! 
> 
> Looking forward, as always, to hearing what you guys think about this latest bombshell. 😍😍😍
> 
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY READING EVERYONE!!!

**Episode 15: Agents of ATCU**

**Chapter 55**

“Ms Price, there is a serious problem in downtown D.C.,” Banks said, holding out another tablet to Rosalind. “There’s an Inhuman seemingly controlling a lot of civilians; we need to get there as soon as possible.”

Rosalind, Coulson, Deke and Trip turned to look at the screen that Banks was holding out. On the screen was live footage of Katya and her army of influenced humans. The only silver lining was that Flint was not on the live footage; Deke didn’t even know that she was after him. Trip knew, since he was the one hooked up to Bobbi and Hunter, but he had no means of communicating as such to Deke without alerting Rosalind, Coulson and Banks as well.

Rosalind shook her head and turned to look at Deke. “How many agents do you have in D.C.?” she asked. “And how many Inhumans?”

“More than enough agents,” Deke said. “And as for Inhumans, we have three.”

Back at the Lighthouse, all four agents in the communications centre stared at one another in horror, hoping against hope that they had misheard Deke. 

“Three?” Miles yelped, even though Deke couldn’t hear him. “Is he kidding? Dammit, Deke! How are we supposed to cover that one up?”

“We can’t,” Jemma said, her face white. “Daisy and Lincoln need to be in D.C. in, like...ten minutes tops.”

“It’s a one-hour plus flight,” Ward said, cursing under his breath. “Even if the Quinjet was working at top capacity. Which it’s not right now. Daisy and Lincoln have a lot of powers, but I don’t think teleporting is one of them!”

“I’ll get them,” Sousa said, getting to his feet. “We can’t keep this from them any longer. It was a bad plan from the get-go.”

“Wait, Sousa, you can’t -” Jemma began, but Sousa shook his head at her.

“Jemma, thank you for your kindness, but really, it’s high time that I accepted that Daisy and Lincoln are together and nothing is going to change that,” he said. He glanced around the room at the three agents, all of whom had a mixture of sympathy and panic on their faces. “Everything I have learned in the last three days has shown me that Lincoln is really the only person Daisy has ever or will ever want. Please stop treating me like a wounded puppy because that’s not going to help me get over her any faster. What’s best for me right now is if all of you try to forget that Daisy and I were ever involved because every time one of you brings it up again, it’s like starting from scratch.”

Sousa left the room, following his speech; all three of them looked at each other grimly.

“He’s not wrong,” Ward admitted. “After I found out that Kara is Hive….” His jaw tightened as he spoke. “Well, every reminder that she’s now the host for an ancient Inhuman is like a fresh punch in the stomach. And it’s not easy for Sousa because Daisy and Lincoln are constantly throwing it in his face. It’s not even their fault because we had to talk about their potentially super-powered Inhuman babies, and we’re all responsible for it to a certain degree and more responsible than them even sometimes, but yes...if I were him, I’d want everyone to stop reminding me about what once was.”

It was a dark reminder that everyone had been through hell over the last few days. Ward and May had lost Kara and Andrew permanently; Hunter had almost died; Bobbi had disappeared to another timeline and given birth in said timeline; Kora was swayed; no one knew how Trip was feeling at the moment, although nothing good was a pretty fair assessment; Deke had lost countless S.H.I.E.L.D. agents  _ and _ bases; Sousa had not only been influenced by Katya, but had also lost Daisy  _ and _ had just said goodbye to Peggy. In all honesty, Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma had probably gone through the least ton of crap that no one was prepared to deal with, even though bombshells like returning fathers and evil transitioners and swayed sisters were in the mix. 

There wasn’t much else any of them could say. However, Ward himself changed the subject, turning to Jemma; they had more pressing matters than Sousa’s feelings at the moment. 

“Do you have any solutions for getting Daisy and Lincoln to D.C.?” he asked. “Something from your timeline maybe?”

“I don’t know,” Jemma said, pressing her hands to her forehead as she tried to think. “If we had Gordon or even Garrett, maybe we could but….”

Her voice trailed off as a thought struck her.

“Jemma?” Ward asked; Miles was swiping things across his giant flat-screen computer, pulling up records of S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment at the Lighthouse and considering how useful it might be.

“Teleporting,” Jemma said slowly. “The ShawDrive!” 

“What’s the ShawDrive?” Ward asked, but as she spoke, Miles was already pulling it up on his computer.

“It’s here,” he said.

“Fantastic,” Jemma said, rushing over to the computer where Miles was. “Deke invented it. It’s a teleportation device. He knew that Daisy was nowhere near D.C., but I guess he figured from whatever that you guys might come here. It  _ is _ the closest S.H.I.E.L.D. base to the Retreat, after all. Where is it?”

Miles and Ward looked at each other.

“Koenig,” Ward said. “He’d know.”

Ward ran out of the room; Miles swiped the screen to dismiss the hologram of the ShawDrive, turning his attention back to the computer system. Unfortunately, the negotiations between Deke, Trip, Rosalind and Coulson were still not done. 

“If we do this, then you will not put an APB on either Lincoln or Daisy,” Deke warned. “You will do everything to make sure that they are not prosecuted by humans, Inhumans and any organization that you are running or are a part of or have any influence in. You will wipe their slates clean. Is that clear?”

There was silence for a moment. “ _ If _ we capture this Inhuman,  _ if _ they assist in her capture and  _ if _ the public sees them as heroes,” Price said. “Then yes.”

“My Inhumans are the ones going on the line here!” Deke snapped. “Your Inhumans are all in gel matrix cells right now. So, Price, if you want their help, you will do this. Because there is no way that you are going to take down that Inhuman bitch queen without the assistance of my Inhumans.” 

There was a momentary pause and then Rosalind spoke to Coulson. “How much do you know about Agents Campbell and Johnson? Do you trust them?”

“I know Agent Campbell but I have never met his fiancee,” Coulson replied. “However, I think that you can trust her to do the right thing. With the amount of trust Director Shaw has in her, it sounds like she is a reliable agent.”

Rosalind turned back to Deke. “I will not put any APB of the sort on Agent Johnson,” she said. “Aside from the files we currently have on her, there is hardly any footage of her. If both Agents Campbell and Johnson show the public that they can be trusted and help us capture this rogue Inhuman, then I will not put any APB on Agent Campbell. Does this compromise please you, Director Shaw?”

There was a pause for a moment, then Deke spoke. “Deal.”

“Dammit,” Miles muttered. “Deke traded Lincoln for Daisy. I thought you said he wouldn’t choose!”

Jemma was wringing her hands. “He did the only thing that he could,” she said. “Lincoln would never forgive him if Deke tried to bargain for Daisy over him.”

“Do you think Daisy will forgive Deke?” Miles demanded.

“Daisy is not Deke’s daughter,” Jemma said. “He is protecting her because that’s what Lincoln would want him to do.”

“That’s not answering the question,” Miles pointed out.

“I don’t know, Miles!” Jemma protested. She paused. “Actually, no, I do. If the situation was reversed, I would have protected Lincoln. Because Daisy would never have forgiven me if I had chosen her over him.”

“Dammit,” Miles said again, staring at the screen. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.” 

“Who would you have picked?” Jemma countered. “Lincoln’s your teammate, you know him better than you know Daisy, but he would want you to choose Daisy. You know that. What would you do?”

Miles cursed. “I don’t know.”

“My point exactly,” Jemma said as Miles hunched over another one of his computers, typing something into the program. She paused. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to see if I can remotely fly a Quinjet here if the ShawDrive falls through,” Miles said. “The closest base is the Hub...which means two hours to get the aircraft here and back. This is not going to work.”

“We need a plan B,” Jemma muttered. “If the ShawDrive isn’t here.”




Daisy and Lincoln were lounging on Lincoln’s bed, eating popcorn and throwing popcorn at each others’ mouths. The movie was still playing in the background, but once again, neither of them was paying any attention to it.

“What constitutes working?” Daisy asked, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “If I look up a file on Lexi, does that count as working?”

Lincoln grinned. “I think you know the answer to that one,” he said.

Daisy sighed. “I don’t want to break a promise I made her, but at the same time, I want to learn more about her and what powers she might get after Terrigenesis. No matter what, we’re going to look after her, but I want to know how much information S.H.I.E.L.D. has on her -”

“Dais.” Lincoln put his hand in hers, causing her to stop talking. “S.H.I.E.L.D. has nothing on Lexi. We haven’t run any tests on her yet. Your dad, Jemma and I were considering testing her blood to see what powers she might have post-Terrigenesis, but we haven’t done any tests yet. We can do it...after midnight.”

Daisy burst out laughing and walloped him with a pillow. “You’re as bad as I am,” she said. 

“Oh, you’ll pay for that,” Lincoln said, laughing as he tackled her; she let him grab her, even though she was more than capable of fighting him off. They weren’t really sparring, of course; in a fair fight, she had no idea who would win, but she didn’t really care. Not this time. He ended up on top of her, pinning her to the bed; she grinned cheekily up at him.

“Am I still your thing?” she teased. 

Lincoln laughed. “You always were,” he said. “And always will be.”

He leaned down to kiss her and she smiled, anticipating his kiss. However, before he could, a voice could be heard on the other side of the door. 

“So sorry,” Sousa called through the door. “But, um, there’s something up with the teams in D.C.. And they could really use -”

“Inhumans with powers,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison, still frozen in place on the bed.

“I hate parallels,” Daisy grumbled as Lincoln sighed, rolling off her. 

“I think this is the third variation of the same thing,” Lincoln said, offering her his hand to pull her upright. “First Deke, then Jemma, now Sousa.”

“I give up,” Daisy said, sighing as they made their way to the door. “Actually, does Lexi count as a fourth?”

She opened the door to Sousa, who was awkwardly waiting for them outside the room. 

“Sorry,” he said, carefully avoiding meeting either of their eyes; Daisy wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t want to see them half-dressed or if it was because he didn’t want to see what they looked like potentially post-sex. Both of them knew perfectly well that Sousa was a gentleman, but this time, they hadn’t really been doing anything. At least it wasn’t like the situation with Deke or Lexi. That would have been...terrible.

“Sousa, you can look, we’re both, um, presentable,” Daisy said, fighting a blush.

“Yeah, we were eating popcorn,” Lincoln said, closing the door behind him to hide the messy bed; while they had been eating popcorn, if Sousa had been there instead of Lexi earlier, he would have been interrupting a very different situation and the bed reflected that.

“Right, sorry,” Sousa said, turning to look at them. “They really need your help. As in seriously need your help. It’s, uh, urgent. Like seriously urgent. Like….”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at him. 

“Urgent,” Daisy muttered. 

And then the two of them took off at top speed down the hall, leaving Sousa chasing after them; he hadn’t realized that they were going to take ‘urgent’ quite so...urgently. 




When Daisy, Lincoln and Sousa reached the communications centre, it was to the sound of Miles and Jemma arguing.

“I’m telling you, she needs a ring,” Miles snapped. “We’re trying to hide from the ATCU the fact that she just appeared in this timeline a few days ago. The more secure her cover, the better! And I’m telling you, the daughter of Doctor Johnson, one of the world’s most famous experts on Inhuman biology, will not be going around, even on S.H.I.E.L.D. missions, without a freaking engagement ring!”

“A what ring?” Daisy asked, bursting through the door. “I need a what ring?”

Jemma and Miles stared at one another guiltily. “Uh….”

“Um...it’s the cover you set up in Bucharest,” Miles said. “You and Lincoln pretended that you were engaged. And -”

“Wait, what does that have to do with anything?” Lincoln asked.

“You two are going to D.C.,” Ward said, rushing into the room with Koenig and the ShawDrive in tow. “Like right now. Deke needs you two to prevent Katya from swaying any more humans and/or Inhumans. And make a public rescue because if you don’t, you’re both going to be wanted Inhumans and -”

“And have APBs put on us,” Lincoln supplied. 

“And our photos will be all over the news,” Daisy added. “And there’ll be no one to call in this time.”

She and Lincoln traded anxious looks.

“I take it this has happened before?” Ward asked. 

“Yes,” Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma said in unison.

“I miss Mack,” Daisy said. 

“Me too,” Lincoln and Jemma said at the same time.

There was a slight pause.

“Just, you know, not interrupting us kissing,” Lincoln added, making Daisy laugh and swat at him with her hand. 

“Okay, so do we need to know anything else before we go to D.C.?” Daisy asked, her demeanour becoming more serious as she turned to face Jemma, Miles and Ward; Sousa was standing behind her and Lincoln in the doorway. 

“Flint is in D.C.,” Miles said. “Katya’s after him.”

“Bobbi and Hunter are there as well,” Ward said. “They know you two are on the way.”

“You should change your clothes,” Sousa said from behind them. “Because those are very obviously not yours, Daisy.”

Daisy glanced down at her outfit; she was still wearing Lincoln’s S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket and his oversized yoga pants. 

Oops. 

Before anyone else could speak, Jemma intervened. 

“Daisy, I’m sorry to have to break the news like this, but...well, Coulson is going to be there,” she said. “He’s with Rosalind Price. Both professionally and personally.”

Daisy’s face changed, but not in the way Jemma thought it would. She turned to Lincoln; she looked concerned for him, not for herself. “Oh my God, Lincoln -”

Lincoln’s face was stoic. “It’s fine,” he said. “It’s totally fine.”

It was Jemma’s turn to be bewildered. She had thought that, of all people,  _ Daisy _ would be horrified by the news that Coulson was working with Rosalind Price and the ATCU, but Lincoln was the one who looked like he had had the rug pulled out from under him instead. 

“She doesn’t know,” Lincoln said flatly. “And she doesn’t have to know.”

“Wait...who?” Jemma said, voicing what everyone in the room apart from Daisy and Lincoln was thinking. 

“Deke is my father,” Lincoln continued, addressing Daisy and no one else. “Just because Rosalind gave birth to me does not make her my mother in any way shape or form. She walked away; she does not get the right to be a part of my life now.”

Jemma gaped at him. Ward gave a sharp intake of breath, a remarkable show of emotion, considering he rarely openly expressed his feelings. Sousa’s eyes widened; Koenig raised his eyebrows into his forehead, nodding his large head rather slowly. Interestingly enough, the only person in the room aside from Daisy and Lincoln who did not look shocked was Miles, but Jemma did not have the time to wonder way. 

“Oh my God,” Jemma muttered, almost to herself. “How did I not know -”

Daisy glanced at her. “She gave birth to Lincoln and Amanda under a pseudonym,” she explained. “Margaret Campbell. One of her many aliases. I did undercover digging after we found out her many covers, way back when we first encountered her. She had already covered it pretty well; after her death, I kept on covering it, for Lincoln’s sake. After  _ his _ death, I kept on hiding it from the rest of the world. Why do you think there was only Amanda to send alimony to? Their mother had never been present in either of their lives at all.”

“She chose to give us both up,” Lincoln explained flatly. “To leave us with the man whom she had an affair with before she ever met her husband. Who developed cancer and led her to figuring out the gel matrix thing with the ATCU.” 

“Oh my God,” Jemma repeated. “Lincoln, all that time that Coulson was mourning her -”

“She’s not my mother,” Lincoln insisted. “Biologically, sure. But in the ways that matter, no way. It’s the same way Daisy considers Coulson her father and not Cal. The same way Deke is my father and not the alcoholic who got me into the whole addiction disaster to begin with. There was no point in letting the S.H.I.E.L.D. team know that she was my biological mother. Coulson was closer to her than I was; she didn’t even know I was her son.”

“The APB she put on you!” Jemma gasped.

“Yeah, great Mum, right?” Lincoln muttered darkly. “Still not as bad as Daisy’s.”

Jemma sat down hard in a chair. “Coulson didn’t know either.”

“That he was dating my mum?” Lincoln asked. “No, he did not.”

“Oh my God, I thought my family was screwed up,” Jemma said. “This is so messed up. Like so so so messed up. Basically Lincoln’s father was an alcoholic, his mother vanished, and the first mentor he got was Jiaying, who is Daisy’s mother. Then in this timeline, your father figure is Deke, who is my grandson, who was in love with Daisy.  _ Daisy _ ’s first father figure/mentor is Coulson, who ended up dating Lincoln’s biological mother in the original timeline. And now Lincoln’s father figure is bargaining with Daisy’s father figure’s doppelganger, who is with Lincoln’s biological mother. That takes the cake for messed up families.”

“Yeah, I think we already established that our family trees are screwed up,” Daisy said darkly. “Trust me, it’s hella strange.”

There was silence for a moment, then Ward spoke up.

“How did you cover it up?” he asked Lincoln. “Does Deke know? Does Raina? Does Doctor Johnson?”

“No,” Lincoln said. “To all three accounts. Although...I don’t know if Raina knows now. She might. Because she can predict the future. But like we were talking about...not everyone’s blood is in the S.H.I.E.L.D. system.” 

Lincoln was not wrong. Deke, Bobbi and Hunter’s blood weren’t in the system, neither was Kora’s apparently, and now it appeared that Rosalind Price’s wasn’t either. 

“How did you cover it up?” Jemma asked, repeating Ward’s question. “I mean, Rosalind obviously covered her tracks in our timeline and then after she was gone, Daisy hid it, but -”

“I did it,” Miles said. “I’ve been covering it for Lincoln since the ATCU was formed and Price became a public figure.” 

“And I am incredibly grateful,” Lincoln assured him. “I could not thank you enough.”

The very fact that Miles had been keeping this secret for Lincoln for almost a year proved how much they trusted each other. Lincoln had found out about Rosalind in this timeline around the same time that she had become the head of the ATCU; getting his memories back from Kora hadn't revealed the identity of his mother. Once again, Jemma was stunned by how Daisy had kept from her surrounding Lincoln; it was just more proof of how much Daisy had loved Lincoln that she had continued to keep his secrets after he had died, not only from Sousa, but from all of them. 

“Wait, why are you telling us this this time?” Jemma asked, clearly still trying to wrap her mind around what was happening. “You didn’t tell us the first time -”

“I didn’t know at the beginning,” Lincoln explained. “Daisy figured it out; she told me. And after Rosalind went all APB on me, I decided I didn’t want people to know. It was in no way as bad as what Jiaying did to Daisy, but really, we had enough screwed up parental figures as it was.”

The difference between Daisy’s parents and Lincoln’s mother was that there was a reason that both her parents had been murderers. They hadn’t chosen to give her up; she had been taken away from them. Jiaying’s nature had been explained away by her torture under Daniel Whitehall. Lincoln still didn’t have that closure as to why his mother had given him and his sister up. 

“And now -” Jemma began.

“Well, now we’re really in for it, aren’t we?” Lincoln said grimly. He sighed. “It’s fine. It’s really fine. It’ll be no different than -”

“Than me meeting my dad,” Daisy said, slipping her hand into his. “Or Coulson.” 

That was technically very true. And at least Rosalind had never tried to kill Lincoln, unlike Jiaying. Or had murdered hundreds of people like Cal. She was just an...absentee mother figure. 

Lincoln gave Daisy a faint smile, but when they looked back at the others, Daisy caught Jemma and Miles glaring at one another like they were trying to have an argument without speaking. She couldn’t imagine that it was working very successfully, but she knew that Jemma and Miles had been paired up together when she had been with Ward and Lincoln had been with Sousa. Extremely unlikely combinations, but it seemed that all three pairings had worked out decently in the end. 

Daisy tilted her head in Jemma’s direction. “Jemma, what is it?” she asked. “What are you hiding from us?”

“Nothing,” Jemma said quickly. 

“They need to know,” Miles insisted. “Lincoln, Daisy, Price is threatening to out you both as alien threats to the public if you don’t publicly and heroically save those humans from Katya Belyakov. Like Lincoln just said, she doesn’t know that Lincoln’s her son, but...yes. She threatened to suggest to the public that you’re both the ones responsible for the disasters at the Transhumanists’ Club, the Academy, the Hub…if you don’t prove to the world that you’re good guys and not evil Inhumans.”

Apparently it was more serious than what Ward had briefly mentioned. Daisy and Lincoln traded grim looks. It wasn’t the first time that they were facing something of the sort, but it was the first time they were dealing with it as a team. Lincoln had been an Inhuman wanted by Price briefly; Daisy had become a vigilante after Lincoln’s death, but that had been with them working solo. Now apparently, they were being framed together. 

“Okay,” Lincoln sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “We’ll figure something out.” 

“Is that it?” Daisy asked; it was a testament to how badly their worlds had been turned upside down by the fact that this revelation was a ‘that’s it’ situation. “Because if so, I’m going to grab my clothes from the pool and then we can get out of here -”

“That’s not it,” Miles spoke up quickly.

“Miles, not now!” Jemma insisted.

“Yes now!” Miles snapped back. “You do realize that Lincoln’s background checks, while legit, are also built on fabrications? Fabrications that started because of Price, but basically, both their IDs are shaky. Can you imagine what would happen if Price started digging into Lincoln’s background because of discrepancies in Daisy’s? The more secure their cover appears, the better. And there is no way that Daisy, the daughter of Doctor Calvin Johnson, one of the richest men in the world, would be without an engagement ring, especially since yesterday was their anniversary, her birthday was five days ago and their cover states that they’ve been together for six years. Six years! She needs an engagement ring!”

At that moment, both Daisy and Lincoln realized what cover Miles was talking about. It was the cover that they had fabricated together in Bucharest, the one that Daisy, Deke and Doctor Johnson had set up together. They had pretended that they were an engaged couple and that they had been together for six years; apparently Deke had made that cover permanent. Technically speaking, since they were the ones who had come up with the engagement cover, it was their fault, although they hadn’t asked Deke to make their covers that realistic. But...it wasn’t like either of them had much of an objection to it. 

“Okay,” Daisy said, interrupting Miles’ tirade. “I’ll wear an engagement ring.”

“Daisy!” Lincoln and Jemma said in surprise; both had been expecting her to put up more of a fight.

Daisy turned to face Lincoln. The expression on her face was raw and naked; she looked simultaneously nervous and terrified. The vulnerability in her expression made everyone else in the room feel as though they were intruding on an incredibly personal moment; each and every one of them averted their eyes, even Miles, which was saying something.

“Linc, I know you want this to be for real,” she said, holding his gaze. “And not just because it’s for a cover. So...so do I. But right now, we have to do this for our cover.” She took a deep breath. “I know it’s not ideal. But either way...if we both live, this is going to be for real. You want it, I want it...we’ve talked about this. Pick...pick a ring you know I’ll like. I’m going to change clothes because I have to; you pick a ring. And...it doesn’t have to be an engagement ring to both of us because we’re not ready, but it can be a….”

“A promise ring,” Lincoln finished, realizing what she meant. “Daisy, it doesn’t even have to be that if you don’t want it to be….”

Daisy’s face shifted slightly; Jemma saw the fear on her face. Lincoln wasn’t thinking straight because he was still preoccupied with the news about his mother, otherwise he would have realized what she meant. But now Daisy was retreating back into her fear of telling people how she felt because she was afraid that Lincoln didn’t want that future too. 

“Daisy, you should get changed,” Jemma said immediately. “Ward, go with her -”

“I can do it on my own,” Daisy said, her voice uneven and shaking. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

She hurried out of the room before Lincoln or Jemma could stop her. The second Daisy was gone, Jemma rounded on Lincoln.

“Lincoln, I know you’re off your game because of the whole Rosalind Price thing, but let me tell you this, you need to go after her and reassure her that you want this just as much as she does.”

“What?” Lincoln looked confused. 

“You are normally so in tune with Daisy’s feelings and emotions,” Jemma said. “And I know the reason you aren’t this time is because you’re not focused; you’re thinking about your mother. But let me tell you this: Daisy telling you to choose a ring is her basically telling you that she’s ready to say yes when you propose. She never would have told you that if she didn’t want it. You’ve seen everything that has happened to us since you died. You even overheard Daisy telling me why she never once told me that she was still in love with you, all those years after you died. You know that all she’s ever wanted is what I have with Fitz; she wants marriage, kids, a happily-ever-after with you. It’s her deepest desire, as much as losing you was her deepest regret. It’s all she’s ever wanted; that’s why Aida offered it to her in the Framework. And you know how much it means for her to voice her desires aloud. Now she’s afraid that you don’t want her. Because you backed down.”

“I didn’t want to scare her!” Lincoln protested. “Daisy told me she loved me yesterday for the first time ever; I didn’t want to push her away by scaring her with the future!” He stopped talking suddenly. “Oh my God. The future.”

“What?” Jemma asked. 

“Oh my God, the future,” Lincoln said, raking his hands through his hair. “Oh my God. Kora was right.”

“Kora?” Jemma said, confused. “What are you talking about?’

“Is Daisy pregnant?” Miles asked, his brain jumping to conclusions. “Christ, Lincoln -”

“No,” Lincoln said. “It’s not that. Oh my God. I have to go.”

“What?!” Jemma repeated, but Lincoln turned to Koenig.

“We will be here,” he said. “In five minutes tops and we will take the ShawDrive to D.C.. But right now, I need to talk to Daisy. Because the future is coming true.”

He turned and ran out of the room, leaving behind a stunned silence and five supremely confused S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

“I’m really confused,” Miles said at last. “How is the future coming true? What vision of Kora’s is coming true? What did they see? The wedding? His proposal? Because either way...what vision is coming true? Because even if they saw that, he still hasn’t proposed yet. So how could it be coming true? I’m so confused.”

“I think…,” Jemma said slowly. “I could be mistaken. I could be very much mistaken. But even though neither Daisy nor Lincoln has told us everything about their glimpses into the future, they’ve told us all some stuff. We know about their future wedding, about their kids, about their happily-ever-after. And we know that that stuff is stuff that couldn’t possibly be happening now. Not yet. But there was one thing that they let slip a short while ago. When Daisy and Ward were flying to the Retreat. You three were there. Do you remember...Daisy and Lincoln mentioned eating popcorn. On a bed. They joked about it, but Daisy mentioned Kora and her visions.” 

Sousa turned to look at her. “You’re right. Lincoln mentioned that they were...eating popcorn when I went to speak to them. At first I thought they might be making excuses for my benefit, but really...I don’t think they were kidding anymore.”

“Oh my God,” Jemma whispered. “The future that Kora showed them is starting to come true. They hadn’t even realized...but the future is becoming the present. Which means….”

“Hive is going to get his super-powered Inhuman babies?” Miles asked, making Jemma want to whack him upside down on the head for his stupidity.

“No,” Jemma said. “It means that they’re going live. Neither of them is going to die in the Quinjet with the warhead. They’re going to  _ live _ .”

Even though all of their lives were in danger and there was still the possibility that one of Kora’s visions might happen and the others not, Jemma was elated. Her eyes were shining with hope and happiness as she looked up at the others. 

“They’re both going to live,” she whispered.




Kora was watching Flint on her computer screen when a thought suddenly struck her and she sat straight upright in her chair. 

Doctor Radcliffe was watching her; he looked sharply at her.

“Kora? Is everything alright?” he asked.

Kora massaged her temples with one hand; her other hand was still strapped to Radcliffe’s machine that was draining her blood. “I think so. I just...I think...I think something happened.”

“Kora?” Doctor Radcliffe repeated, looking at her.

Kora frowned. “Flint is in D.C.,” she said slowly. “Katya is after him. I think Daisy and Lincoln will be joining them in D.C. soon.”

“Is that good?” Doctor Radcliffe asked.

Kora nodded. “I think the future is coming true,” she said, glancing down at the machine that she was bound to and then back up at the screen. 

Doctor Radcliffe looked at her curiously. “What is going to happen?”

“I don’t know what is going to happen, I only know what might,” Kora corrected him. She paused. “That’s why I can tell you theoretically when Hive is going to return, based on my knowledge of what is happening in the present and what I’m predicting might happen in the future, but I can’t tell you why my blood is different. If we aren’t able to figure it out in any different timelines, then I don’t know the reason why the sway affects me so differently.”

Doctor Radcliffe studied her. “I don’t have the machinery to test the timestream theory in your head, Kora. You’re the only one who can fight it.”

“I don’t know if there is machinery that can test it,” Kora said thoughtfully. “I mean...the machine that originally housed the timestream was destroyed, but well...the timestream exists in my head and only mine. I can share it with Lincoln, but that’s because he can conduct electricity and he has recently done a lot of crazy stuff with memories and stuff, but….”

Doctor Radcliffe turned to look at her with a fascinated expression on his face. He was actually studying her, like she was a science experiment. Truth be told, she technically  _ was _ an experiment, but Doctor Radcliffe was clearly a scientific doctor first and human being second. Which was not surprising, seeing as he was the one who had invented the Framework and LMDs in the first place.

“Are you two connected?” Radcliffe asked.

“What do you mean?” Kora asked, turning to look at him.

“Is it separate?” Radcliffe asked. “Does the timestream exist in Lincoln’s head independent to yours? Or is it a co-existing connection?”

Kora shook her head. “It has to be separate. The timestream that was housed in the machine is now existing in my head independent of said machine. There is no way that I am still connected to Lincoln or to Daisy.”

“Could you try to reconnect to them?” Radcliffe asked curiously.

“How would this help me break free from Hive?” Kora asked. “Lincoln and Daisy are both immune, yes, but that immunity cannot spread over a mental connection. Lincoln’s was induced by Raina, but Daisy’s is from Lash. I can’t get that from invading Lincoln’s personal thoughts.”

Radcliffe eyed her. “Lincoln and Daisy are immune to Hive?” he asked.

Kora realized her faux pas at that moment. Radcliffe only knew a certain amount of information - Hive told him information on a need-to-know basis - and clearly, knowing that Daisy and Lincoln were immune was not part of what he needed to know. 

“Is this immunity...replicable?” Radcliffe asked, an edge of excitement in his voice.

Kora opened her mouth to speak and then suddenly, her brain felt like it was splitting in two. Pain was shooting through her mind; it was worse than the biggest migraine she had ever gotten. She gasped, slumping forward in her chair. 

“Kora?” Radcliffe asked. “Kora!”

At that moment, Hive/Kara walked into the room. He stared at Kora with borderline intrigue; he looked more bored than anything.

“Are you...doing this to her?” Radcliffe asked, a horrified tone in his voice.

“Indeed,” Hive/Kara said, staring at her. “I was wondering how much control my parasites have and this is a fascinating addition. They are able to inflict pain upon their hosts if I so choose for them to do so. I’ve never tried it before because my swayed Inhumans were always willing participants, but Kora...Kora is very interesting, isn’t she, Doctor?” 

Hive/Kara turned to look at Radcliffe, who shrunk back in his chair, fearful of what the ancient Inhuman was about to do. Hive/Kara sighed, a false sound of frustration.

“Kora allowed Lincoln and Daisy to elude her and the Inhumans at the Academy,” he said. “It might have been an accident, it might not have been, but regardless...she will soon be without purpose. As soon as my Inhumans get Lincoln Campbell, there will be no further use for Kora. So I might as well experiment with her...and discovering ways to punish those who have made mistakes is...an excellent way of figuring out the ramifications of my powers.” Hive/Kara turned to stare at Doctor Radcliffe. “And once you and Raina have solved the Absolution virus...well, if you fail me, you could be punished too.”


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56**

Daisy had literally just switched Lincoln’s yoga pants for her own and was shrugging on her own shirt when Lincoln came rushing into the pool area. 

“Daisy!”

She turned to face him, almost afraid to do so. It was Lincoln; she shouldn’t be afraid of him, but at the same time...she irrationally feared that he did not want their future as much as she did. And to be fair, she didn’t blame him if he was more hesitant than she was. In all actuality, they had only been together a few days and while he loved her and had chosen her, he still hadn’t been in love with her for that long. She had been in love with him for years, but this timeline version of Lincoln hadn’t known her for years; he’d met her a few days ago. It made sense that he was the more hesitant of them this time.

And she was prepared to wait if he wanted time. If he needed time. 

“Lincoln, I -” she began, but Lincoln was already grabbing her hands.

“Daisy, I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry I gave you the implication that I don’t want our future together. I do want you, our kids, everything. Not just because that’s what the other timeline version of me wants - wanted, whichever - but, I want you. And I know that you’re afraid that the reason that I love you is because of him and not because of me but that’s not true. I love you. Me. Not just the other timeline version of me.  _ I _ love you. I’m sorry I ever let you doubt that -”

“No, _ I’m _ sorry,” Daisy said, cutting him off, needing to get her own apology out before he went off on an endless tirade about how he was to blame. “I’m really sorry if I pressured you in any way because I know that technically we only met a few days ago and I’m dealing with years of memories and history and you’re dealing with memories that aren’t your own and even though you’ve accepted that his memories are yours as well as his and that you’re the same person, it’s still only been a few days and I’m prepared to wait if you need time because I love you -”

“Daisy, Daisy, Daisy, calm down.” Lincoln grabbed her hands before she could freak out anymore. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close before she could lose control of her emotions again. “You didn’t pressure me in any way,” he said, his voice much more calm and rational than hers had been. “You’re not rushing in any way. Yes, it’s only been a few days. But it feels like so much more than that. Honestly, it feels like we’ve lived years together in these few days. But anyway...the only reason I backed away was because I didn’t want to pressure you into saying yes. You’re right that I want our proposal and marriage to be for real and not for a cover story. I didn’t want you to feel like you had to say yes or accept me because we have to have a plausible cover when we go to D.C.. That’s it. And I’m sorry that I wasn’t as in tune with your thoughts and feelings as I usually am because of the whole Rosalind Price debacle, but I want, no, I  _ need _ you to know that I love you for you and it’s not because of him. I don’t want you for one second thinking that I don’t want this as much as you do.”

Daisy felt the tears coming once again but she stepped out of Lincoln’s embrace so that she could look him in the eye; he wiped the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs, cupping her face in his hands.

“I promise, you’re not pressuring me in any way,” Lincoln added. His tone became more playful and lighter as he spoke his next sentence. “Besides, I said ‘I love you’ first, remember?”

Daisy laughed a little at that, stepping back into his embrace and wrapping her arms around his waist. “Okay,” she said. “We’re both insecure idiots, I guess.”

He smiled at that; when she released him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something. “I have something for you,” he said. 

Daisy gasped as he opened the lid of the box. Inside, nestled on a cushion was a beautiful ring with a blue crystal set on top. 

“Is that...a Terrigen crystal?” Daisy whispered, reaching for the ring, almost afraid to touch it.

Lincoln smiled. “A pure Terrigen crystal,” he confirmed. “It’s more refined than usual, so it won’t shatter upon contact with anything. And it’s pure, so it won’t hurt humans if it comes into contact with them. Like if Jemma or Deke touch you or something, it won’t hurt them.”

“How did you...get that?” Daisy asked, gently touching the Terrigen crystal on the top of the ring with her fingertip. It almost seemed to tingle beneath her finger. Or maybe it was her excitement and nerves at seeing this beautiful ring.

“Deke and I worked on some Terrigen crystals as potential weapons or as means of transforming Inhumans more quickly,” Lincoln explained. “For emergency scenarios. Obviously Terrigen crystals laced with Diviner metals would be too dangerous to be used in battles against humans, so we worked with pure ones. This one was the first one I made alone and I accidentally made it too hard. It won’t break at all. So when I thought about you needing a ring...I thought you might like this one.”

“You’ve had it all this time?” Daisy asked, looking up at Lincoln in awe.

“It was one of the first things I worked on after my Terrigenesis,” Lincoln said. “I kept it as a reminder of what Deke taught me about steps not having to be big...and also as an acceptance of what I am. An Inhuman.” He paused. “That’s the biggest difference between your timeline version Lincoln and me. He was struggling with his powers and accepting that it was not a curse, but together, well, we’ve accepted it as part of what we are. And I thought...I thought that you would like it as a reminder of what brought us together in the first place. In the original timeline. Because I’m him as much as me. And I thought that this might reassure you of that as well.”

Daisy smiled. “You always know exactly what to say,” she said. She touched the crystal on the ring again, gently, with one fingertip. “Would you...would you put it on me?”

Lincoln smiled. “Of course.”

He slid the ring onto her ring finger; it fit perfectly. Neither one of them had any explanation as to why it did, but neither of them was complaining. It was just one of those...made-to-be moments.

“It’s beautiful,” Daisy said, turning her hand to admire the ring; the blue Terrigen crystal sparkled in the light.

Lincoln was watching her face, not looking at the ring. “I would say you are,” he said, causing her to smile as she looked up at him. “As opposed to the ring.”

Daisy glanced back down at the ring. “Is this...is this an engagement ring or a promise one?” she asked, nerves causing her voice to shake a little.

“Whatever you want it to be,” Lincoln assured her, causing her to smile at how well he understood her. He paused. “Although if you pick engagement, well, I probably should have gotten down on one knee.” 

Daisy laughed and then leaned forward to kiss him. Their lips met briefly; at that moment, Ward came sprinting into the area. 

“You need to go,” he said. “Now. Mack’s also in D.C.. And Katya’s army of Inhumans is much too close to him for any of our liking.”

If there was anything that would cause them to move, it was that. While both Daisy and Lincoln obviously cared for Deke, Trip, Bobbi and Hunter, all of whom were in D.C.. at the moment, Mack was a new worry that they hadn’t anticipated. Not only had he been Daisy’s partner for years in the original timeline and was a close friend of Lincoln’s in this new timeline, but he also had Nicole and Hope to lose. Plus, the other four all knew about Hive, whereas Mack was probably still clueless. 

Without a word, they took off running after Ward, dashing back up the corridor, heading back to the communications centre. If Mack was back...things were about to get a whole hell of a lot more complicated. 




In the communications centre, Jemma, Sousa and Koenig had set up the ShawDrive in the middle of the room. Miles was hunched over his communications set-up, scanning screens and listening to the teams in D.C. with headphones on so that he could concentrate without being distracted by people talking. When the trio re-entered the room, Miles looked up, pulling one headphone out of his ear so that he could listen to the others in D.C. as well as communicate with the others back at the Lighthouse.

“Flint and Mack are both on the move,” Miles said. “We can’t send Lincoln and Daisy directly to them because they’re still moving, plus I can’t find a remote location in the area that will hide their leap. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Jemma said, attempting to be calm. “Koenig, put in the coordinates for Bobbi and Hunter’s van. Miles, make sure they don’t move from their set location, otherwise Daisy and Lincoln’s jump might be seen.”

“On it,” Miles said, already turning back to his microphone and speaking in a low voice to Bobbi and Hunter. 

“Let’s get you strapped in,” Ward said, as Lincoln grabbed hold of the ShawDrive. 

Ward latched a clasp around Lincoln’s wrist to secure him to the machine; Daisy grabbed hold of another of the handles, tightening her grip on Lincoln’s wrist with her other hand.

“You’re going to appear in Bobbi and Hunter’s van,” Miles told Daisy and Lincoln as Koenig flipped the coordinates in the combination panel on the side of the ShawDrive; it was smaller than it had previously been and was obviously adjusted to teleport more than one person, unlike its previous iteration. “They know you’re coming, so all should be good. It’s a short drive from where Flint, Mack and Katya are, but we had to be safe because we don’t want the public to see you guys teleporting. They already have enough on S.H.I.E.L.D. as it is.”

“Anything else we need to know?” Daisy asked as Ward strapped her wrist to the machine so that even if she let go, the machine wouldn’t lose her mid-jump. 

“Earpieces,” Jemma said, shoving an earpiece into Daisy’s ear at the same time as Sousa pushed one into Lincoln’s. “We can talk to you at all times, so can Bobbi and Hunter, and Trip. But not Deke, unless Trip has managed to get an earpiece to him since the last time we’ve spoken.”

“Good to know,” Lincoln said. “Anything else?”

“Big public rescue,” Sousa said. “Don’t let them doubt your allegiances. Make it...grandiose.”

“But not too extravagant,” Jemma added. “No showing off. Just...save humans. Publicly.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded grim looks. No pressure at all. They just had to make a giant public rescue without it appearing to be staged or fanciful and save all the humans who were currently under Katya’s influence. No pressure at all...not. 

“If we think of anything, we’ll let you know over the coms,” Jemma said, possibly anticipating their nerves. “Don’t worry, you guys can do this.” 

“Has the ShawDrive been upgraded?” Daisy asked. “Can we teleport back immediately or is there still a waiting time for it to recharge? Are we catching a ride back with the teams in D.C.?”

“It depends on what happens in D.C.,” Jemma said. “Depends on Price and the public’s reaction to your guys’ actions.”

“Great,” Daisy muttered under her breath, tightening her grip on Lincoln’s hand; if the straps securing them to the machine gave way, at least they wouldn’t let go of each other. And as for how they would get back...well, nothing like a little pressure to take the edge off. 

“Hold on tight,” Ward warned and then pressed a button on the side of the ShawDrive. With that, a blinding flash of light swept them away.




Flint ran. The army of humans was coming ever closer; he had no choice but to flee. As he rounded a corner, he saw another group of humans coming towards him. Katya’s army had him cornered on all sides. Muttering under his breath, he yanked open the first door to a building that he could see. For once, luck was on his side. It was a tall building, an apartment complex, with over fifty stories.

Quickly, Flint ran for the stairwell and started going up, taking the stairs two at a time. He had no idea if Katya’s humans had any super abilities beyond being controlled by her; he hoped that he could hide from them. There were hundreds of apartments in this complex...but they would only be useful if he could avoid the insane Inhuman. 

When Flint reached the top of the tenth staircase, however, he slammed directly into a man coming down at top speed. The man was huge, over six feet tall and Flint was a scrawny teenager. The latter almost went flying, but the man grabbed his wrist at the last second.

“Whoa, kid, watch out!” The man shouted, tightening his grip so that Flint didn’t end up a pancake on the floor below. 

“Sorry,” Flint said. “I’m in a rush. I need to -” He stopped talking, staring at the man in shock as his face came into the light.

“Mack?!” he gasped.

Mack frowned at him. “Who are you?”

“Oh my God,” Flint whispered. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were with -”

At that moment, the sound of footsteps in the stairwell below started echoing loudly; Katya’s army had reached the stairs. Flint turned back to Mack, knowing that they had to get out of there, but it appeared that Mack already knew that; his face said it all. 

“Run,” Mack said grimly. “We have to go. Now!”

Even though Flint was still majorly confused as to why and how Mack was there, Mack was right. Explanations could wait. They had to get out of there before they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Katya’s Inhuman army. 




The van rocked as Daisy and Lincoln literally stumbled into existence, knocking Bobbi and Hunter off their chairs. Apparently the coordinates that Jemma and Miles had keyed in were a little  _ too _ accurate. 

“Ouch!” Hunter yelped; he fell forward into the communications set-up at the same time as Bobbi fell sideways, out of her chair. 

“Bobbi? Hunter? Did they arrive? Are they okay?” Jemma asked through the microphone, having heard the ruckus. 

Thankfully, the machinery arrangement hadn’t been destroyed, just knocked out of place. If it had been and they were no longer able to communicate with the team back at the Lighthouse, that would have been a disaster. 

“Yep, they’re here,” Bobbi said grimly, picking herself up off the floor. 

“Sorry,” Daisy said, offering Bobbi a hand to pull her to her feet.

Bobbi took it, allowing Daisy to pull her upright. 

“Thanks,” Bobbi said as Hunter vaulted over the tops of the seat and into the driver’s seat. 

“Tell them we’re headed downtown,” Hunter said, stomping on the gas pedal and twisting the wheel. 

Hunter’s driving was chaotic, rather like himself. As he swung them around a tight corner, Daisy, Lincoln and Bobbi scrambled to catch all the equipment that was starting to move as Hunter drove the van wildly through the streets. 

“We’re going towards Katya now,” Lincoln said, scooping up the microphone and bracing the computer with one hand so that it did not fall and shatter against the floor of the van.

“Clearing the roads for you,” Miles reported, his voice coming from the speaker that Daisy was holding upright. “Hang tight.”

“One day, that trick is going to come back around and kick us in the butt,” Lincoln said. “Because I think we’re using it too often.”

“Unfortunately, I agree,” Jemma muttered. 

Hunter navigated them into a street and then cursed, the wheels of the van screeching to a halt as he stopped driving.

“What is it?” Bobbi asked, moving towards the front of the van to take a look.

“Humans,” Hunter said. “The Inhuman army of humans.”

Daisy and Lincoln made their way to the front as well, Daisy behind Hunter’s driver’s seat and Lincoln on Bobbi’s other side. All three of them in the back of the van traded concerned glances when they saw the dozens of humans walking, looking rather like zombies, towards one of the buildings. 

“That’s Katya, alright,” Lincoln said grimly. “Where is she? If we can take her out, the humans will subside.”

“No idea,” Hunter said, staring at the human army who were now flooding into a tall apartment complex style building. “Although I owe that little emo queen a good bullet in the chest.”

“She’s going down,” Bobbi agreed, pulling out one of her batons. “Today.”

While Katya hadn’t been the one who had pulled the trigger on Hunter, she had been the reason that he had taken a bullet in the chest. All things considered, Daisy didn’t blame him or Bobbi for their antagonism towards her and since both had already been disavowed, things really couldn’t get any worse if either of them killed her in public. Daisy herself had a grudge against Katya for whatever part she had played in Kora’s kidnapping, but killing an Inhuman who looked like a civilian would not go down well for her, especially since she and Lincoln were supposed to look like ‘heroes’ to the public. 

“She looks like a civilian, guys,” Daisy warned. “Taking her out will be as good as psyching all the human authorities on you.”

“I’m already disavowed,” Hunter countered. “So’s Bob. Besides, Miles has already turned off all the cameras on the block.”

“He’s right,” Miles reported in their ears back at the Lighthouse. “Cameras are dark and I’m zapping phones as we speak. Making it look very obviously like a hacker program so that the authorities don’t think it’s Lincoln.”

Meanwhile, Lincoln was squinting up at the building. “If all the humans are going into that building, it means that that’s where Flint’s gone.”

“And possibly where Mack is as well,” Daisy said. “Where are Price, Deke, and the rest of the ATCU and S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

At that moment, another van came spinning into view on their tail. Unlike the four of them, who had remained inside their vehicle to communicate their game plan, the occupants of the incoming van leapt out immediately, all toting machine guns. The second one of them came into light, Daisy gasped. They were wearing dog masks over their faces: Watchdogs.

“Oh no,” Lincoln said. “If those are Watchdogs, James is -”

The telltale whistle of an incoming bomb could be heard even as he spoke. Hunter slammed his foot on the gas and the van leapt forward. He wrenched the wheel to the side, sending them spinning sideways, but even as he did so, the Watchdogs’ van behind them exploded. Unfortunately, the Watchdogs had already evacuated the van, but the explosion was enough to knock the S.H.I.E.L.D. van onto its side, in addition to destroying the vehicle behind them. 

Daisy, Lincoln and Bobbi crashed into the side of the van; Hunter slid across the seats in the front. Equipment went everywhere, but that was the least of their worries. At least they could still hear Miles and Jemma in their ears, frantically asking what had happened; even Ward, Sousa and Koenig’s voices could be heard in the background.

Daisy flung out a vibrational quake pulse, knocking the entire upper side of the van open. 

“I’ll go for Flint and Mack,” she said, already clambering out; she turned around to reach for Bobbi to help her out as well.

“Just go!” Lincoln told her. “I’ll find Katya.”

“We’ll take care of the Watchdogs,” Bobbi added. “And James.”

Daisy nodded, turned and knelt down. The last time she had jumped to the top of a building had been when she had been running away from Coulson and Mack because she hadn’t wanted to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the aftermath of Lincoln’s death. How ironic now, that she was now in pursuit of Mack...although she had a pretty good feeling that Coulson was still after her. 

On the bright side, at that time, the public had already known her as the vigilante, Quake; if Deke and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. needed a public rescue, well, it certainly appeared as though they were going to get one.

She released the quake pulse into the ground and blasted high up into the sky, landing on the top of the apartment complex roof. 

Meanwhile, down on the ground, as he climbed out of the front of the van, Hunter muttered, “Now those powers...that is cool.”




Kora’s head was still aching, but she nonetheless stared at the different screens, her mind racing as she tried to figure out the most effective way for Hive to get what he wanted. All three Inhumans whom he wanted were in D.C.; there had to be a way for him to get at least one of them. As for the swayed Inhumans, Joey was asleep in Price’s gel matrix chamber, but the rest - Katya, James, Giyera and Yo-Yo - were still there. She had to think. She had to figure out a way for them to capture the three Hive wanted.

Chess pieces. That was what they were. If she had to sacrifice a pawn for a queen, she would. She just had to figure out a way….

Kora saw Daisy leap onto the roof of the apartment complex and nodded to herself. They had split up. That was good; if Daisy and Lincoln weren’t protecting each others’ backs, it made them more vulnerable. But even as she thought that, another part of her brain was struggling to find a way out for them. These conflicting thoughts were enough to give her a split personality disorder; the fact that Hive was behind her, breathing down her neck, did not make things any easier on her mind.

She grabbed the microphone connecting her to James and barked, “Bobbi and Hunter are after you. Watch your six.”

Part of the problem was that Kora had limited physical visuals. She did have fantastic mental visuals, but until she saw something that was actually happening in D.C., she couldn’t decipher which future was coming true for her mental visions. Miles had shut off many of the cameras in the area, so Kora was relying on the Watchdogs’ cameras and had programs attempting to hack into those of the incoming ATCU.

The ATCU had an incoming aircraft that was incredibly challenging to hack. Kora was no hacker; she was relying on Daisy’s knowledge that appeared in her visions of the future. That in itself was a challenge; Kora’s skills were shaky at best.

On Kora’s screen, James swung around to watch his side, hurling a bomb through the air. Thanks to the unreliability of Kora’s visions, Lincoln did not appear; the explosive took the side of a building, which was thankfully not the building that Flint and Mack were in. 

“Kora!” James yelled angrily; Kora flinched.

Another vision seared through her mind; she grimaced, pivoting to another screen. On said screen, Lincoln appeared on the screen, blasting electricity at James. 

“Lincoln!” Kora shouted, but she was a split-second too late. 

James’s counter-bomb exploded closer to him than to Lincoln; he went flying backwards. Lincoln moved forwards, pressing his advantage, causing James to roll out of the way as his electricity blast seared the ground.

“Yo-Yo, help James,” Kora said, pivoting to a third screen. “North side of the apartment complex.”

“On it,” Yo-Yo said; Kora massaged her temples as Yo-Yo slammed directly into Lincoln, knocking him off his feet. She heaved a sigh as he went sprawling. As far as she knew, Lincoln was capable of taking out Yo-Yo on his own, but both Yo-Yo and James? She wasn’t sure.




“Wait, why are Bobbi and Hunter going after Katya?” Jemma asked, hunching over the computer screen. “Lincoln?”

At that moment, on the screen, she saw Lincoln running after James. A bomb went off, followed by an electricity strike at the downed James, but before Lincoln could press his advantage, something knocked him off his feet. Seeing as Jemma had had no visual of what had caused that to happen, she suspected Yo-Yo. There were many Inhumans working for Hive and she was the only one of them who could knock someone flying that way.

“Personal vendetta,” Miles said grimly. “Katya was the one who got Hunter shot. I think Bobbi and Hunter went after her on purpose.”

Jemma muttered under her breath, shaking her head in frustration. “That’s not good. Revenge makes Hunter reckless...dammit. Why did Lincoln let them go?”

“Everyone is too personally invested in this,” Sousa said. “Bobbi and Hunter are Deke’s grandparents. Lincoln is thinking as someone who has his biological mother and his non-biological father fighting a war over him, without either of them knowing that Price is his mother. Not to mention that he just learned that his and Daisy’s future is coming true, so he has way too much going on personally right now to be thinking clearly.” Sousa paused. “Bobbi and Hunter want revenge on Katya; they’re all too emotionally involved in the situation. Ideally, we should pull all four of them out of the field.”

Miles looked grim. “We should have thought of that before we sent them in,” he said. “Now what? Can we send someone after them?”

Ward shook his head. “There is one ShawDrive here and they just took it to D.C.,” he said. “I think the best we can do is talk them down when they’re about to do something stupid.”

At that moment, an alarm went off on Miles’ computer and he bent over it in concern. 

“The ATCU are incoming,” he said. “They’re taking Hand’s Zephyr. Is this a good or a bad thing?”

“I think it depends on what they do,” Jemma said. “Coulson and Price still don’t know about Daisy and Lincoln, not the way the other two do. Deke doesn’t even know that Price is Lincoln’s biological mother. We’re in for a whole hell of trouble regardless.” 

She picked up one of the microphones. “Daisy, Lincoln, Bobbi, Hunter, Deke and the ATCU agents are incoming. Be careful. Please.”

That was seriously understating how worried Jemma was. Contrary to how they tried to detach themselves from a situation, everything was currently very personal. Way too personal for her liking. They were too close to the mission, but they were the only ones who could do something about it. Daisy, at least, knew that this version of Coulson had no idea who she was, but in both timelines, Lincoln had been given up by his mother and he had no closure about it whatsoever. Sousa was right; if there had been another choice, Daisy and Lincoln should have been pulled from the field. To make matters worse, they had to split up and everyone knew that were each others’ stopgaps. 

“We can’t just leave them there,” Sousa argued. “Neither of them is thinking straight.”

“Well, I’m a hacker, but sure, I can invent another ShawDrive,” Miles said darkly. “Just give me a minute.”

If the situation weren’t so worrisome, Jemma might have laughed out loud. Ordinarily, she would have said that Daisy and Lincoln were her and Fitz in this timeline, but things were apparently still changing because Miles was now saying similar things to what she had said in the original timeline. 

“Speak to Trip about it,” Sousa suggested. “He’s still got his head on his shoulders, right?”

“Yeah, unless Kora decides to put on an appearance,” Ward said, reminding them of yet another emotional disaster that the agents were going through. “Plus, he’s with Deke right now. If the ATCU decides to remain uninvolved, then he won’t even be able to get out of Hand’s Zephyr.”

“Mack and Flint then,” Sousa suggested. “Is there a way of contacting them? Miles?”

Miles frowned. “Neither of them has an earpiece, but if they were able to meet up with Daisy, maybe I could do something about that….” He paused, thinking hard. “Actually screw that, I’ve got a better idea.”

Miles ran to another one of his computers and started pulling up a program. “Jemma, tell me where Lincoln, James and Yo-Yo are.”

“Uh, north side of the apartment complex,” Jemma said. “Are you -”

“Programming the cars,” Miles said. “I can make them drive on autopilot. James is about to get hit by a ten-ton truck.”




Lincoln had just been knocked off his feet by none other than Yo-Yo when James plowed into him, punching him so hard in the jaw, Lincoln honestly wondered for a second if he was going to come out of this with a broken jaw. He managed to get his fist up to block the second blow, but his concentration was seriously impaired by the punch. Blocking the blow was the best he could do, as opposed to conjuring an electrical shield.

He summoned a quick electrical rope to tether James’ arm; the latter used his leg to kick him in the ribs. Even though the blow hurt, Lincoln held his tongue. He knew perfectly well that letting the others know that he was in pain was just going to distract Daisy and that was the last thing he wanted at the moment. However, just when he thought James was going to clobber him on the head again, the sound of tires echoed around the building and Yo-Yo ran literally into him, knocking him down and saving him from a massive truck that came screeching to a halt.

Lincoln took advantage of James’ disorientation and slammed an elbow into James’ jaw. The Inhuman grunted in pain and Lincoln fried him with electricity, sending him flying backwards into the building. 

“Nice job,” Miles said in his ear. “But he’s only going to be out for so long, so now you have a choice; are you going to kill him?”   





Daisy raced down the staircase through the building, Jemma talking in her ear. After some arguing about what to do, the agents back at the base had split up, each taking one pairing to talk to. Jemma was Daisy’s eyes, Miles was Lincoln’s, Ward was monitoring Bobbi and Hunter, and Sousa was watching Deke’s group. It didn’t help much for the enemy Inhumans, but seeing as Daisy was apparently close to Flint and Mack, Jemma was keeping tabs on them as well. 

“Jump, Daisy,” Jemma said, her eye on the cameras. “They heard you and left the stairwell on the thirty-first floor. You’ll have to jump to get to them before the humans do.”

“Which floor is Katya’s army on?” Daisy asked as she obeyed. While she was not as acrobatic as May, who could literally do a round-off, back handspring down a corridor to take out a guard, she was pretty skilled acrobatic-wise. She dropped down almost twenty flights of stairs, catching the railings with her hands, before swinging herself back over the railing onto the thirty-first floor.

She slammed through the door that led out of the stairwell, sprinting down the hall.

“Second apartment on your left,” Jemma said. “Flint and Mack.”

“Copy that,” Daisy said, testing the lock; it refused to budge, so she quaked the door open; it hit a wall of rock and stopped there.

“Flint barricaded the door,” she said. “Jemma?”

“On it,” Jemma said. “Can you blast it harder?”

“Only if I want to risk hurting them on the inside,” Daisy said. 

“Go through the third apartment,” Jemma said, swiping through blueprints on her screen. “They share a wall.”

“On it,” Daisy said; she slammed through the apartment door on her left and threw a quake through the wall, stepping through the gaping hole she had created. As she did so, the whole building shook, seemingly losing some of its stability and support. 

“What was that?” she asked. “That wasn’t me!”

Before Jemma could answer, something came swinging through the air at her head and she ducked, barely avoiding the massive blow as she went. 

“Whoa, Mack, stop!” Flint shouted and Daisy turned to see Flint. He was crouched over the ground, his fist extended to the earth.

“Flint, what are you doing?” Daisy asked in horror. “Are you -”

At that moment, the ground rumbled again and the building shook yet again, causing all three of them to stumble.

Jemma spoke in Daisy’s ear, her voice shocked and concerned. “He’s bringing the whole building down. I don’t know what he was trying to do, Daisy, but those are innocent humans in the building. You guys need to take down Katya and get them out of there or they’re all going to die.”


	57. Chapter 57

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, so the next scene is out! My advice, read the chapter, then watch the scene, because the scene includes some (okay, a lot) of spoilers for the next few chapters. But seeing as the first part of it started with this chapter, I thought I might as well give you guys the scene starting with this chapter. 😊😊😊
> 
> I really hope you guys like it! This scene is called "The Spies Return" and starts with this chapter and continues into the next episode as well. 😊😊😊
> 
> Feel free to like the video, comment on it and share it with your friends! And as always, happy reading!!! 
> 
> Scene Link: https://youtu.be/NtumoOdhZnA

**Chapter 57**

In Hand’s Zephyr, Deke turned to Rosalind Price. 

“Are we just going to sit here while my agents fight to save all the humans in there?” he demanded. “Or are your agents going to do something about it?”

Rosalind Price frowned at him. “We’re not Hydra, Director Shaw,” she said coolly. “Of course my agents are going to do something about it.” She turned to Trip. “Agent Triplett, do you also want to go into the field? Banks and Khan are going to go.”

Trip glanced at Deke for orders; Deke nodded in response. While that was technically a good thing, it was also bad. Deke still didn’t have a means of communicating with the agents back at the Lighthouse, but Trip still had them all in his ear. If he left Deke, the latter would be left to deal with Price and Coulson alone. To make matters worse, Deke didn’t know about the whole new disaster of Rosalind Price being Lincoln’s biological mother, although admittedly, Price didn’t either. While it was difficult for Trip to tell Deke information without tipping his hand to Price or Coulson, at least subtle interactions between them were still possible, like when Deke had warned Trip not to reveal that Daisy and Lincoln weren’t actually engaged.

“Let’s go then,” Banks said, turning to Trip. “Suit up!”

Trip and Banks hurried off down the stairs of the Zephyr towards the ramp; Khan was already downstairs. Price and Coulson walked to the overviewing computer screens, but Victoria Hand held Deke back. When she spoke, her voice was low, low enough that Price and Coulson couldn’t hear what she was saying. 

“Deke, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” she asked. “What  _ is _ going on? These Inhumans...some of them aren’t even registered on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Index. Who is that female Columbian Inhuman? And who is the red-head who can duplicate herself? And that man who can blow things up?”

Deke suppressed a grimace. Giyera was the only one of Hive’s Inhumans whom S.H.I.E.L.D. and the ATCU knew about; Hive had turned Yo-Yo, Joey, Alisha and James, all of whom hadn’t even gone through Terrigenesis prior to meeting him. Raina hadn’t made a public appearance since her ‘sway’ and Kora’s existence was even more invisible than Daisy’s. The minute Deke told Hand about the others, things were definitely going to go to hell; the others would know about Hive and possibly the other timeline. And above all, the existence of the other timeline had to be kept secret. 

“Hand, you called in the ATCU,” Deke countered. “How is that enticing me to trust you? You actually threatened to tell Price and Coulson about Daisy. And you know how important it is that her origins are kept secret.”

There were very few agents who knew about the existence of the other timeline. Deke and Hand were among the few who did; they had agreed that that secret had to be protected at all costs. Even when Deke had given Lincoln the emergency device to bring him to the original timeline, he hadn’t told him about its true purpose, simply because it was so important that the original timeline be kept secret. Hand threatening to tell Price about the other timeline was a threat that went way below the belt.

“I only threatened to tell her because I knew it would make you cave,” Hand replied, her voice still low as Price and Coulson spoke to the ATCU agents gathered on the ramp. “I would never have told her about that, Deke.” Hand paused. “Besides, you elected me as your deputy director  _ because _ I have a different way of looking at things than you do. You lead following your heart too much sometimes, I lead with my head too much sometimes.”

Deke shook his head. “Why do you want me to work with Price and Coulson so much?” he asked. “The ATCU may be officially in charge of Inhumans, but we have had an amicable relationship, up till now. With them thinking that we’re keeping secrets from them, our relationship is going to go to hell.”

Hand raised an eyebrow in his direction. “Your relationship is never going to be stronger than it currently is,” she said.

Deke frowned at her. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

“I’m talking about Agent Campbell,” Hand said. “He’s Price’s son. Surely you knew that -”

Deke gaped at her. “What did you say?” he demanded.

When Deke’s voice rose, both Rosalind and Coulson turned to look at Deke and Hand. Deke waved them off; both gave them a suspicious side-eye, but returned their attention to the monitors where other figures had now appeared. Deke was too preoccupied to pay attention to the screens; he turned back to look at Hand, who, to her credit, looked a little abashed and embarrassed at her revelation.

“I didn’t realize you were unaware,” she said. 

“How did you find out?” Deke asked.

“Agent Lydon is a good hacker, but he is not the only one hacker in S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Hand replied.

“You were spying on my agents?” Deke demanded, anger creeping into his voice.

“No,” Hand replied. “Not deliberately. But when Price’s aliases became known and the ATCU came to power, I looked her up. I needed to see what kind of dirt we had on them. If it’s any consolation, it has taken over six months for my agents to unearth the details that Agent Campbell is Price’s biological son. And the only reason my agents were able to find out the truth is because Agent Lydon was busy over the last few days, doing whatever you needed him to do. He is remarkably good at his job.”

“Does she know?” Deke asked in a low voice. “Price.”

Hand shook her head. “No. She gave both him and his sister up as children. But she would surely try to protect him if she knew. She’s not heartless, Deke.”

“She gave him and Amanda up,” Deke argued. “That’s pretty heartless to me.”

Hand eyed him. “You’re saying that because Lincoln is the closest thing you have to a son,” she said. “Deke, think about it this way. Agent Lydon would never have kept this hidden if Agent Campbell had never asked him to. Either Agent Campbell was protecting himself or he was protecting you. Because he knew the knowledge would hurt you as much as it would hurt him. But now you have the opportunity to make use of this knowledge. Even if Agents Campbell and Johnson can’t make a public rescue, she might not put the APB on him if she knows that he’s her son.”

“And let her put the APB on Daisy instead?” Deke queried. “No way.”

“She can’t renegade the deal you already made on Agent Johnson’s behalf,” Hand said. 

“You’d be surprised at what some people can do,” Deke said darkly.

“What can it hurt?” Hand asked. “Campbell likely already knows about their relationship, as do you. Besides, like I said, you don’t need to tell her unless you want to solidify a working relationship with the ATCU. They were already going to go ballistic about the four, maybe five unknown Inhumans. This way, you can get some benefits out of the relationship.”

“Lincoln is not a bargaining chip,” Deke argued.

“Not ordinarily,” Hand agreed. “But perhaps it is best that he becomes one.”




“We can’t just sit here while they’re facing at least four of Hive’s Inhumans, goodness knows how many of Katya’s humans  _ and _ Watchdogs,” Sousa objected, even though he was still keeping tabs on what he could see of Deke’s group, which was admittedly not much. As far as he could tell, they were all still onboard Hand’s Zephyr. His view of the Zephyr was via listening to Trip; Trip had been suiting up with Banks and Khan on the lower deck of the aircraft, but now they were at a standstill. 

“The ATCU doesn’t look like they’re even helping,” Sousa objected. “Ward, can’t you fly the Quinjet to D.C.?”

Ward looked up from where he was monitoring Bobbi and Hunter’s pursuit of Katya on one of the monitors.

“I could,” Ward agreed. “But the flight there would take at least an hour. And the Quinjet’s not working at top capacity right now.” He frowned as he watched Bobbi and Hunter crouching behind a van to hide from Watchdogs. “This is bad.”

“What are the odds that Hive suddenly appears?” Jemma said suddenly, rubbing her temple with her hands.

Sousa turned to look at her, consternation on his face. “Why would Hive go to D.C.?” he demanded. “Did this happen in your timeline?”

“No,” Jemma said. “Well, yes, but no.”

“That clears so much up,” Miles muttered sarcastically.

“What I’m saying is,” Jemma said, eyes following Daisy on the screen, “that the last time Daisy and Lincoln went after an Inhuman and encountered Coulson and Price, they needed backup.”

“Now you say that?” Sousa demanded, glaring daggers at Jemma.

“That was Lash!” Jemma protested. “It wasn’t Hive! And the other times that Daisy did need backup...well, the first time, she ended up with Lincoln, Fitz and I, and Coulson. The second time, she had Lincoln, Yo-Yo and Joey. We aren’t replicating either scenario!” She paused. “Plus, the mission to the Transia Corporation already happened, as did the one at Hive’s base! And they have Hunter and Bobbi. They should be fine.”

“I don’t like ‘should’,” Ward muttered, turning to Koenig. “Koenig, is there another Quinjet or Zephyr or something that I can fly out of here?”

“I can get us there in less than an hour,” a voice in the doorway said and all five of them turned to see May standing in the doorway. “I can pilot the Quinjet to D.C. faster than Ward. Even if it’s not working as well as it could be.”

“May!” Jemma said. “You shouldn’t be up!”

“And the teams in D.C. are in danger,” May said. “We can’t leave them behind. Besides, look.”

She pointed to one of the screens where Watchdogs were in pursuit of Bobbi and Hunter. Why the Watchdogs were after them was anyone’s guess, seeing as neither Bobbi nor Hunter was Inhuman, but it was possible that they had mistaken the latter two for some of Katya’s swayed humans or Inhumans without obvious gifts.

“Okay, let’s go,” Jemma said, making a split-second decision. “Who else is coming?”

“I have to stay,” Miles said immediately. “Someone needs to monitor the coms.”

“I’ll stay too,” Ward said. “The specialists and pilots need to split up.”

That was a smart tactic. Both May and Ward were specialists and pilots; it was a better ploy if one went to D.C. and one stayed. 

“Sousa?” Jemma asked, even as she shoved an earpiece into her own ear and tossed one to May.

“I’ll go,” Sousa said immediately. 

While he didn’t say it, Jemma knew he was going for Daisy. She hated that he was still in love with Daisy, especially when all of them knew that Lincoln was the only one whom Daisy wanted and would ever want. They would have had to have been blind not to have seen the ring on Daisy’s finger when she and Lincoln had returned from the pool. What Jemma didn’t know was if it was for show or not, but either way, it was clear what Daisy wanted and everyone knew that it was practically impossible to stop or change Daisy’s mind when she made up her mind about something. 

“Ward, you have to look after Lexi,” May said, locking eyes with the other specialist. “She can’t come.”

“I promise,” Ward said. “I’ll guard her with my life.”

Jemma almost expected Lexi to put up a fight about May going, but all she said was, “I can take care of myself, Momma. I’ll make sure Ward and Miles are safe.”

In that sense, Lexi reminded her of Alya. When Jemma had had to leave, Alya had accepted it, even though this time, it wouldn’t be an instantaneous departure and return. The reminder made her miss both Fitz and Alya even more and she promised herself that when this mission was over, if they were in a safe and secure location where she could set up the communications with Fitz, she would. It felt like it had been years since she had been with Fitz and Alya, not just a few days.

“Let’s go then,” May said, turning; she, Jemma and Sousa ran out of the room, Sousa shoving an earpiece into his own ear as they went; Miles hunched over his communications system and said, “D.C. teams, May, Jemma and Sousa are taking the Quinjet to D.C.. Good luck.”




Why the Watchdogs were after Bobbi and Hunter, neither of them had any clue. Ideally, the Watchdogs should be after the Inhumans, but instead, they were targeting them. After Daisy had jumped to the roof of the apartment complex and Lincoln had disappeared to go after James, Bobbi and Hunter had started running a roundabout pattern around the apartment building, ducking and dodging behind cars. Unfortunately, their routine was getting old and fast, despite it having lasted long enough for Daisy to reach Mack and Flint, Lincoln to fry James and for another team to be dispatched from the Lighthouse. 

Now that the building was literally quaking, Bobbi and Hunter were running away from the apartment complex, Watchdogs on their tail. 

“Why the hell are they after us?” Hunter demanded as the glass window of the car next to him shattered as a bullet went through it. “Do we look like Inhumans to them?”

“You just jumped out of a van with two very obvious Inhumans,” Ward said in his ear. “I guess they think you two are aliens as well.”

“Fantastic,” Hunter muttered sarcastically. 

Instead of wasting her breath arguing, Bobbi turned and hurled her batons at the nearest Watchdog; fighting was preferable to complaining when it was obvious that neither of them was going to develop invisibility or the power to fly any time soon.

“Can you program us a car, Miles?” Hunter asked. 

“On it,” Miles said; they could hear him typing rapidly into one of his computers. “On your left.”

The doors to a giant black SUV popped open as Miles spoke and they scrambled into the vehicle, Hunter behind the wheel and Bobbi in the passenger seat. The car started moving before either could even close their doors; Miles was the one driving.

“You’re going to help Lincoln,” he said even though neither of them asked where they were going. “He’s got two Inhumans after his sorry hide.”




Before Lincoln had been able to decide whether or not to blast James with a lethal jolt of electricity, two things happened. The first was Daisy demanding in his ear what in the world Flint was trying to achieve by bringing the apartment complex down and the second was the return of Yo-Yo who got James out of the way. His best defense against Yo-Yo was his electrical shield and he summoned it just in time. Yo-Yo collided with it and bounced off; he would have thought that she might be wary of this trick by now, but fortunately she hadn’t. Not yet. Luckily for him, at that moment, the big black SUV bearing Bobbi and Hunter screeched to a halt next to him.

“Get in!” Bobbi shouted, but Lincoln was already moving, scrambling into the backseat.

“What now?” he asked, but the gas pedal floored without Hunter touching it.

“Miles, where are we going?” Hunter demanded as the car turned a quick circle with the screeching of rubber tires. “Back to the blasted building?”

“We’re catching a ride,” Daisy said in their ears. “Prepare for a big delivery.” She paused. “Bigger than a giant filing cabinet.”

The SUV swerved back into the range of the Watchdogs, but for some reason, they were gone. As it screeched to a halt, Lincoln glanced out the window and caught sight of the telltale marks of cement building blocks and unconscious Watchdogs, sure signs that Flint and Daisy had something to do with it. At that moment, Mack came swinging down the side of the building on a long extension cable, followed by Flint; Daisy leapt off the side and landed on the earth, causing the ground to crack where she used her quake powers in the centre to cushion her jump.

Lincoln wrenched the door open. “Get in!” he shouted, but Daisy was already climbing into the car, practically sitting in his lap as Flint squeezed in after her to make room for the big and burly Mack.

“Where now?” Hunter asked, once Mack had gotten in, but Miles was already on it. 

“The human army is after you, so you’re getting the hell out of Dodge!” Miles said. “Best bumper car game ever!”

“We are not a bumper car, Miles!” Mack said, loud enough that he could hear him over all four of their coms.

However, the car accident that next occurred was not Miles’ fault. As the car rounded a corner, it literally flipped upside down as Giyera flung it upwards with his telekinesis. The screams that came out of the vehicle were enough to cause all those listening to turn down the volume of their coms; Daisy, Lincoln and Flint reacted in various ways. 

Daisy caught the car with a vibrational cushion; Lincoln and Flint both aimed their powers at Giyera. Once again, Yo-Yo came to the rescue of her fellow swayed Inhuman, but on the bright side, Daisy successfully softened their landing, although the car was now upside down.

“Out, out, get out!” Bobbi gasped, yanking on her door handle; all six of them scrambled out of the car, climbing out into the middle of a road full of stopped cars. 

However, before any of them could rejoice at having gotten out of that situation unscathed, Yo-Yo bounced back yet again, this time after Flint. Unlike Daisy and Lincoln, who were accustomed to creating shields with their powers, Flint wasn’t quick enough on the draw. Why she had gone after him and not Daisy or Lincoln was anyone’s guess, but seeing as she had just gotten fried by Lincoln, it was a safer bet to go after the lesser experienced kid. They both disappeared, but before Yo-Yo could return, Daisy threw up a vibrational forcefield around all five of them, sheltering them within the bubble momentarily.

“Mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Mack demanded. “I return to a distress call that the Hub has been attacked and then there’s this new crazy Inhuman alien attacking humans and then there’s these two new Inhumans - who even are you?” This last sentence was addressed to Daisy, who clearly hadn’t had time to catch him up on who she was before they had jumped out of a building on the thirty-first floor.

“Daisy’s a friend, Mack,” Lincoln said, reassuringly, pulling out his earpiece and turning the volume way up so that all of them, Mack included, could hear what Miles was now saying.

“If you stay there, you’re going to be sitting ducks,” Miles warned. “James and Giyera are on their way back to you with Katya’s entire human army; Yo-Yo’s protecting Katya and Flint. She’s bringing them around different locations so it’ll be hard for you to track them down together. You have to split up again.” 

“God dammit,” Hunter muttered. 

“Where is she?” Daisy asked. 

“Who is Katya?” Mack demanded.

“Where’s Flint?” Lincoln asked.

“How many teams?” This question came from Bobbi.

“One at a time!” Miles shouted; he sounded like he was tearing his hair out in frustration.

“Four teams,” Ward said, making the executive decision before Miles could lose his mind. “She looks like she’s bouncing around roughly four different locations without a set pattern, but she’s only bringing one at a time - either Katya or Flint. So if you can catch her at those locations, you’ll be able to rescue Flint and stop Katya. All of those locations are back in that apartment complex, but seeing as Flint decided not to bring it crashing down, it’s swarming with Katya’s swayed humans. Daisy, Lincoln, take the north and south sides. Bobbi and Hunter, take the east. Mack, the west is yours.”

“Why do they stick together?” Mack asked. “I still don’t know what the hell is going on; I don’t even know half the names you mentioned, Miles!”

It wasn’t like Mack to question his orders, but this was a completely justified question. He was almost as clueless as a newborn babe and his ignorance might get him killed. 

“Because Hunter died yesterday,” Miles said. “And got influenced by Katya as well and we don’t know how influential or lasting her sway is. Good enough for you?”

“Long story short,” Hunter said, seeing that Mack was still looking lost and confused. “Katya is swayed by an ancient Inhuman called Hive, who can sway Inhumans, but Katya can sway  _ humans _ . All the other Inhumans except for Lincoln, Daisy and Flint are under Hive’s influence. Don’t let Katya touch you. The end.”

“Not the end,” Bobbi corrected. “Our goal is to rescue Flint again, take out Katya to save the humans, and let Lincoln and Daisy do some heroic super-powered rescue thing so that they look like heroes to the public.”

Mack looked quizzically at Bobbi, the more rational one of the duo. “That’s it?”

She grimaced at him. Truth be told, there was so much more to the story than what she and Hunter had just said, but now was seriously not the time to be explaining everything to Mack. 

“You know you’re wired different than most folks,” Mack said, raising his eyebrow at her. 

“I’m not saying it’ll be easy,” Bobbi said as Daisy and Lincoln traded glances as well; Mack seriously knew nothing about everything that they had been going through over the last few days. Seriously  _ nothing _ . 

“I wouldn’t mind hearing it’s gonna be easy,” Hunter quipped, making Bobbi roll her eyes at him. 

“It’ll be easy,” Bobbi said matter-of-factly. 

“Doesn’t work if I know you’re lying,” Hunter countered; Daisy and Lincoln turned back to look at them, grim looks on their faces. 

“All settled then?” Miles asked. 

“Don’t kill Yo-Yo,” Daisy said quickly. “She’s a friend.”

“Or Kora,” Lincoln added, causing Daisy to flash a relieved and grateful smile at him quickly. “She’s another Inhuman who can control energy. She has long black hair...and we have no idea if she’s even here, but if you see her, don’t kill her.”

“Are we allowed to kill anyone?” Mack demanded.

“Katya,” Daisy, Lincoln, Hunter, Bobbi, Miles, Ward and Jemma said simultaneously, even though three voices came over the coms from two different locations. 

Mack groaned. “You do realize I have no idea who any of these women are, right?”

“Get into the first apartment room on the west side of the complex,” Miles instructed. “I’m programming the TV to show you their pictures and give you a really quick rundown of who’s who. And Hunter, give him your earpiece. Stick to Bobbi like glue. Yes?’

“Done,” Hunter said, for once without a smart-ass reply, popping his earpiece out and handing it to Mack as Lincoln shoved his own back in his ear and turned the volume back down. 

“Great,” Miles said. “I’m going to distract Yo-Yo, so go, now!”

None of them had any idea what Miles was going to do, but his abilities ranged from programming cars to spontaneously cause accidents, to triggering fire alarms to go off. On the bright side, all five of them trusted him so Daisy dissolved her forcefield bubble and all of them ran back towards the building, each heading for their targeted side.




Kora was negotiating routes for Yo-Yo to take when suddenly all her computers fizzled and died. 

“Dammit!” she shouted, slamming her fist down on the table. “Miles, you piece of work, get out!”

“One of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents is doing this?” Hive/Kara asked her; Kora hunched over one of the screens, trying to work around his programming.

“Miles Lydon,” Kora replied without thinking. When her mind was preoccupied with something else, it was harder for her to try and fight the sway. Especially with Hive/Kara in the room. With Hive there, she feared trying because doing so might alert him to the fact that she sometimes had her own thoughts and emotions. As much as Miles was trying to negotiate communications between the five field agents, keep tabs on Deke and Trip,  _ and _ play distraction for a lot of Hive’s Inhumans, he apparently still had time to try and successfully kick her out of the system she had broken into. No wonder he was such a valuable asset to the team.

“Hmm,” Hive/Kara said. “He’s not a specialist.”

“He isn’t,” Kora agreed, even as she tried a programming trick that she was able to pluck out of her knowledge of the future. “He’s hacker first and field agent second.”

“Who would you say is the most valuable human agent?” Hive asked, causing Kora to look at her in surprise.

“You know the team better than I do,” Kora said. “You have Kara’s memories -”

“Her thoughts are biased,” Hive said. “Because of Ward. Besides, I’m talking about the future. Who has the highest possibility of messing up our plans?”

That was a tricky answer, one that came close to the discussion that Kora had had with Trip before, about how neither of them wanted to choose one person on the team to die. Besides, Daisy and Lincoln aside, the most valuable humans were Deke, Sousa, Jemma, Ward and Trip, none of whom she wanted to give up. Picking Ward was not a solution either; Hive would not go easy on him even though Hive was inhabiting the body of Ward’s dead girlfriend. 

“Kora,” Hive said warningly and Kora realized that she had been silent for too long. She had to come up with an answer and quickly. Otherwise Hive would realize that something was really different with her. While Hive was already aware that something was...off, refusing to answer would seriously tip her hand. 

At that moment, the door opened and Alisha came in. Kora did not know if she was there on purpose to distract Hive, not that it was very likely, but her presence was explained when she opened her mouth.

“Raina says that the equipment is ready for the transference,” Alisha said. “Do you have a choice host for Robin’s powers?”

Hive turned back to look at Kora and she realized, with a sickening feeling, what Hive wanted her to do. Her future-predicting abilities had been so focused on what was happening in D.C. that she hadn’t stopped to consider other upcoming futuristic powers. Hive wanted her to pick the person who would essentially kill Robin and become the host for Robin’s powers. 

“Kora?” Hive asked.

As Hive spoke, Kora felt an overwhelming new wave of control crashing down on her. She couldn’t fight this one, as much as she wanted to. There were two female humans who would be good hosts for Robin’s powers, but one was much better than the other, thanks to her better knowledge of the original timeline and the science behind how time-travel worked. She didn’t want to give the answer, but she had to. As she spoke, it felt like the words were being forced out of her mouth; the pain in her head was growing increasingly excruciating. Hive was literally torturing the answer out of her.

At last, Kora caved. “Jemma Simmons,” she said. 




“The Watchdogs are everywhere,” Banks reported over the coms. “Ms Price? Agent Coulson? What do you want to do about it?”

Upstairs, head still swimming from the whole Price-being-Lincoln’s-biological-mother fiasco, Deke hurried over to the monitor where Price and Coulson were observing the disaster that was unfolding in the streets. Hand followed him; all four of them watched for a moment as the some Watchdogs battled James, others took on Giyera and even more started after the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. There were too many of them.

“Some of them are after S.H.I.E.L.D. agents,” Hand said, speaking before Deke could. “But some are after the rogue Inhumans. And some are after  _ our _ Inhumans.”

“You’re talking about Agents Campbell and Johnson,” Price said. “It looks like  _ they _ are targeting humans, not rogue Inhumans or even Watchdogs.”

On the screen, Deke could see Daisy fighting through a series of guards in a room; Lincoln was working his way through a corridor of guards as well. These were humans who were influenced by Katya - they had no choice but to take them out - but Price wasn’t seeing it that way. Even though neither of them were killing any of them humans, merely knocking them out, things were not looking good for the ‘big heroic rescue’ that Price wanted. 

Unless they were pulling a ‘Cavalry’ and killing Katya was at the end of these big dramatic fights. 

Either way, Deke had to do something about it. Even if it meant selling his soul to the devil to get them out of trouble.

“Ms Price, it is your choice, but you might want Agent Coulson out of the room for this,” Deke said, making up his mind. 

Rosalind Price turned to face him, folding her arms across her chest. “And Hand gets to stay?”

“Hand was the one who brought this to my attention,” Deke replied, meeting her gaze evenly, even though his insides were writhing like a pit full of snakes.

She shook her head at him, her short black hair bobbing as she did so. “If Hand stays, Coulson stays.” She paused. “Besides, anything you have to say to me, you can say to him.”

“It’s personal, Rosalind,” Hand said, deliberately addressing her by her first name instead of her last; Price stiffened. 

“Personal to you as well, Victoria?” she asked. 

That was a touchy subject. The last time things had gotten personal for Hand had been when Izzy had died; while both Hunter and Bobbi had grieved Hartley’s death, Hand had been close to her as well. As Izzy had died technically disobeying Deke’s orders, Hand couldn’t blame Deke, but it had been the cause of much tension between them for a while, possibly prompting Hand’s digging into Price’s background when Rosalind Price came into the picture. 

Hand tensed. “More personal than that, actually,” she said. 

Price’s face shifted. She knew what Hand was referring to now; there was only one thing that was more personal and precious to people than lovers. Their children.

Rosalind Price leaned forward and hit a button on her communications system. The sounds of Trip, Banks, Khan and the other agents downstairs stopped as the communications centre severed contact with the other agents.

“What do you two know?” Price asked, her face as emotionless as possible. “They - who -” She cut herself off, as if hoping that Deke or Hand would fill in the blanks, but neither did. By forcing her to say it, they would force her to acknowledge Lincoln and Amanda’s existence. Even though Deke and Hand hadn’t worked together personally in a while, they had been partners way back when and knew how each other worked well.

“Rose? What are they talking about?” Coulson asked; Price glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. Still, it was a testament to the strength of their relationship that she was letting him stay; two secret children was a pretty monumental thing to hide.

“Tell me,” Price said, her voice rising as she stared first Deke down, then Hand. “What do you know?” 

“About what?” Deke asked, still not wanting to tip their hand. 

Price glared at him. “You know what! You -”

She stopped talking as realization dawned. “You’re talking about...about Lincoln. Oh my God.”

The fact that Price had used her alias of Margaret Campbell when hiding Lincoln and Amanda was a big enough give-away. Her face went white as Deke and Hand’s faces confirmed the truth in her guess. 

“Him?” she whispered. “He’s...Inhuman.”

“The Inhuman gene does not manifest in everyone,” Deke said. “Amanda isn’t one.”

Price moved back over to the computer screen and glanced down at it. Lincoln was still fighting his way through the corridor of guards; as she watched, he upended one of them, tossing him literally into a somersault upside down with his powers. 

“You knew?” Price asked, her voice dry as she stared at the pixelated version of her son fight.

“Not until today,” Deke said truthfully. “Hand knew longer than me. But also only for a few days.”

Price finally tore her gaze away from Lincoln. She pressed the communications button and spoke to the ATCU agents.

“All agents, go in,” she said. “Repeat, all agents, go.”

The ramp opened up and the sounds of ATCU agents descending into the streets could be heard. Deke spoke into the microphone next.

“That’s the same command for you, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” he said.

“Yes, sir!” 

Deke turned to follow, but Price caught his arm. “Not you, Director Shaw,” she said. “We’re going to the roof. They’re going to need an escape plan.”


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58**

“How fast can you get us to D.C.?” Jemma asked May. 

Although May was flying the Quinjet, Jemma was sitting in her co-pilot seat for two reasons: the first being that she was May’s doctor and the second being that she had a higher chance of successfully being able to pilot the Quinjet than Sousa. Sousa sat slightly behind May, watching the communications screen. Unlike Miles’ seemingly endless screens, this one only showed the group back at the Lighthouse and would, when Miles had the time to program it, show what the ATCU were seeing after he hacked Hand’s Zephyr. They could still hear the agents in D.C. though; from the sounds of punches, the crackle of electricity and the echoes of gunshots made it clear that Daisy, Lincoln, Bobbi and Hunter were all in the throes of fighting.

“Fast enough that we can provide them with a getaway if need be,” May said. “Not sure if we can get there soon enough to help them fight though.”

Jemma shook her head. “I’ve been retired for a year, May, and Sousa isn’t a specialist either. Fighting isn’t either of our strong suits.”

May eyed her, but didn’t say anything. Jemma was well aware that while she thought she knew May, this timeline version of May didn’t really know her. She wasn’t even sure how much May knew about the other timeline; as far as she knew, the only thing May knew about her was that she had been one of the doctors who had saved her life.

May returned her attention to flying and while Jemma wanted to ask her questions, she knew that May didn’t talk much. Especially not to a stranger, even if she had saved her life. Losing Andrew would also have made her withdraw into herself; even though May had Lexi in this timeline, she obviously wasn’t the most chatty of humans after her loss. Additionally, May was still recovering from having lost her arm and despite the upscale healing technology that Deke’s timeline had, she was still getting used to using her new limb. Fortunately, flying didn’t appear to need all limbs in perfect condition. 

Before the silence could get too awkward, Sousa spoke up. 

“Jemma, how are you able to differentiate each of their channels?” he asked. “Does the sound of electricity mean Lincoln’s powers or Bobbi’s batons? And how do we know if the gunshots are coming from a gun that Daisy stole or if it’s Hunter’s or Mack’s?”

“You don’t,” Jemma said, turning to face him. “You just hope and pray that they’re okay and ask when it’s over. Unfortunately.”

Sousa looked grim as he turned back to look at the computer screen. However, as he did so, Jemma once again saw the tension in his shoulders and another wave of sympathy washed over her. She didn’t want to disconnect herself from the teams in D.C., but at the same time, they still had Miles and Ward back at the Lighthouse to help negotiate communications.

“Sousa...could I have a word?” Jemma asked, switching off the microphone on her earpiece so that their conversation would be as private as it could get. She stood up, indicating that she was not going to take no for an answer.

“I’m keeping tabs on the D.C. teams,” Sousa said; he clearly wanted to avoid the conversation for as long as possible.

“We’ve got it,” Miles said on the screen, indicating to him and Ward. “You guys can talk if you need to.”

Sousa frowned at Miles, but in a way, it was easier for Miles and Ward to negotiate communications without Jemma and Sousa distracting them. Miles was doing the work of four or five agents and he was doing really talented at his job, but at the same time, it was still easier for him without them talking in his ear. They would only need to communicate with him when they got closer to D.C..

Reluctantly, Sousa stood up and walked to the back of the Quinjet with Jemma. May ignored them, but then again, she was so silent that she might as well not have been there. Her concentration was fixed on flying the plane; they were going so fast that Jemma almost felt nauseous just standing at the back of the Quinjet.

“What is it?” Sousa asked, folding his arms across his chest, but he fortunately sounded more curious than antagonistic.

“I’m sorry,” Jemma said. “I know you said you don’t want to talk about Daisy and I know it’s not my place to apologize for her or for Lincoln, but regardless of Fitz and Lincoln, Daisy is still my family. She’s my sister. Blood doesn’t make us family; we choose our family. And you and I are still friends, regardless of Daisy, if you can get over the fact that I also didn’t tell you about Lincoln. I just don’t want you to feel alone. Or like you have no one. When Deke first came out of his dystopian future, he felt incredibly alone and out of place and he had to learn everything about our time and he was hung up with Daisy and eventually I tried to be there for him but it was still really difficult for him. And I know it’s probably worse for you because of Lincoln, but -”

Sousa held up a hand, sighing. “Jemma, I appreciate your kindness, really, I do, but please don’t compare me to Deke. Yes, we’re both men out of our time and we both fell for Daisy and didn’t get...didn’t get the ending we wanted, but please don’t compare me to him. I’m not angry at him because of Lincoln, really, I’m not, but what I do need to know is what his true intentions were when he sent Lincoln to us. Unlike Lincoln, Deke did know about Daisy’s feelings for him. Either Deke was risking Lincoln’s happiness by sending him to us or he sent him, confident that Lincoln would win Daisy in the end. And regardless of his answer, I need to know the truth before I can extend an olive branch to him.”

Jemma sighed, crossing her arms and holding on to her elbows as she did so. “Sousa, I don’t know what Deke’s answer would be. Yes, he’s my grandson and yes, he’s matured so much and I am so proud of him and love him a lot. But none of us is perfect. Maybe Deke himself doesn’t know. But you can’t say that he isn’t trying with you. He did offer you the chance to say goodbye to Peggy. You need to try and let it go. I know that it’s not easy and I know that it’s not fair, but life isn’t fair. After all…maybe we don’t always get the endings we were hoping for...but sometimes the endings we think we want aren’t always the ones we need.”

Sousa didn’t say anything, but Jemma suspected he was thinking about the two endings he had hoped for and hadn’t ended up getting. Life was definitely playing him a cruel hand, but Jemma had hopes that it would turn around for him anyway. Whether Sousa liked it or not, he and Deke had a lot in common, one being from the future and one being from the past, and life had worked out well for Deke in the end. Jemma was optimistic that it would turn out alright for Sousa as well.

“Are you...were you there when Lincoln died in the original timeline?” Sousa asked. “I know it happened in the Quinjet, in space, and he blew up with a nuclear bomb saving Daisy’s life, but how exactly did it happen? I don’t want to ask Daisy or Lincoln about it...it would be cruel to make them relive what’s probably the worst day of their lives.”

Jemma had to admire Sousa in that moment. Even after everything, he was still doing his best to protect Daisy and Lincoln from their trauma. He was really a decent guy, he didn’t deserve the emotional angst he was going through, but really, what could any of them do about it? Jemma didn’t blame Daisy one bit for choosing Lincoln; she had made the exact same choice. She didn’t wish Sousa was dead like Will, but really, watching the person you love be with someone else was its own brand of torture. Jemma knew all too well; there had been a while that she had been terrified that Fitz was in love with Aida and not with her. 

“The bomb was carrying the Absolution virus,” Jemma said, deciding that answering his question was the least she could do. “Daisy loaded the bomb onto the Quinjet using her powers. But she was borderline suicidal at that point because of what she’d done under Hive’s sway and how she had emotionally tortured Lincoln and physically hurt Fitz and Mack. Lincoln knew that she was thinking of sacrificing herself for the rest of us. He was the only one she had told about her vision from Charles Hinton; he was the only one on the team aside from her who knew  _ how _ someone on the team was going to die. Lincoln went to the Quinjet, fried the manual controls and blasted Daisy out of the Quinjet to save her. He saved her life. Their final goodbye was over the communications of the Quinjet...he died telling Daisy that he loved her.” She paused. “Are you sure you want to know all the details? Aren’t I making things worse?”

Sousa shook his head. “No, Jemma, I need to know. Thank you for telling me.” 

He turned as if to walk away, but Jemma caught his arm as a thought struck her: the possible reason why Sousa would want to know all the details of how Lincoln had died in the original timeline. “Sousa, don’t you dare, don’t you  _ dare _ sacrifice yourself for Daisy. She would never forgive you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sousa replied. “She has Lincoln. He’s the one she loves, not me. Lincoln said so himself earlier; she’s told him that she loves him. And Lincoln would not lie about something like that.”

The pain in Sousa’s eyes was evident even though he tried to hide it. Even though he had told both Daisy and Lincoln that he was fine with them being together, it would take longer than a few days for him to let Daisy go emotionally, even though he had given her his metaphorical blessing to be with Lincoln. Time was needed for those wounds to heal and time was not on any of their sides.

Jemma shook her head violently. “Sousa, she cares about you, even though she might not be romantically in love with you. She doesn’t want you to die -”

“We had this discussion what feels like a long time ago,” Sousa said. “When Daisy, Kora and I first came to this timeline, the three of us and Lincoln were arguing for a long time about which one of us was going to die. We originally thought that it was as simple as each of us stepping into someone else’s role in this timeline, but it’s really not that simple anymore. Anyway...who else is the fallen agent going to be? I was the very first fallen agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. -”

“Screw time,” May said sharply, causing both Jemma and Sousa to look at her in surprise. “You’re not the only person who has lost loved ones, but that hasn’t made all of us go suicidal. The brave thing to do would be to keep fighting, to do everything you can to protect Daisy, not go out in an explosion just so you don’t have to wallow in your own regrets.”

Sousa looked indignant, but Jemma spoke up before he could. “May’s right,” she said. “Once Daisy tried to take the blame for everything; after Lincoln’s death, she was breaking bones in her arms, overusing her powers like nobody’s business, throwing herself into every fight, especially ones she thought she’d lose, so that she could atone for his sacrifice. Even though Daisy’s not dead, she’s not yours anymore, but the last thing she’d want is for you to go down the same hole she did. Fight to change time, not to accept what you think is your fate.”

“You wouldn’t say that about Lincoln’s sacrifice -” Sousa argued, but Jemma cut him off.

“That’s because it wasn’t planned,” Jemma said. “It was on the spur of the moment, he didn’t want to die, he wasn’t suicidal. He did it because it was literally down to him or Daisy and he couldn’t have lived with himself if she died. Right now, I hope we can still change the timeline. We prevented Deke’s dystopian future from ever happening and while Charles’s visions were never wrong, that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to change it from happening anyway.”

There was silence for a moment as both Jemma and Sousa pondered different solutions to preventing someone from dying in space. All of a sudden, a thought struck Jemma and she rushed back to the communications system. 

“Guys, we have a problem,” she said into the microphone. “What happened to the ShawDrive?”




“I’ll go for it,” Trip said over his coms. He, Banks, Khan and a whole bunch of other agents had just left Hand’s Zephyr and now that he wasn’t in the company of the higher-up officials, he had more freedom to speak to the others, even though he was still with Hand’s and Price’s agents. “I know where they left it.”

“You have to get it before any of Hive’s Inhumans does,” Miles said; the stress was evident in his voice. “I can’t believe I forgot about it -”

“If Jemma’s thought of it, then it means that this possibility has occurred to Kora as well,” Sousa warned. “Trip -”

“I’ve got it,” Trip said. “Or well, I will get it. Regardless of James or Giyera or whoever goes after it.”

That was oversimplifying the problem. It was easy for Trip to say that he would get the ShawDrive, provided that Kora wasn’t the one guarding it. On the bright side, it didn’t appear as though Kora was in D.C.; none of them had seen her. Where she was, no one knew, especially since she hadn’t been with Hive and Alisha at the Retreat. If they were lucky, which they rarely were, she was at Hive’s base, wherever that was. Each and everyone of them knew that her presence would cause hesitation on at least Daisy, Lincoln and Trip’s parts, which was the last thing that they wanted. 

Trip took two steps, but as he moved, another voice spoke in his ear, via the same coms that he was using to listen to Deke’s team, but one that he hadn’t been expecting to hear. 

“Don’t say a word. The others will hear you if you speak. Think your answers and I’ll be able to know what you’re saying by predicting the future.”

Trip froze, but he recovered quickly, so quickly that Miles, who was preoccupied with way too many screens, didn’t notice.

_ Are my responses that predictable? _

“Only to me,” Kora said, but the stress was evident in her voice.

_ Are you okay? You don’t sound good. _

“Well, considering Hive’s parasites like making my brain a living hell, not really,” Kora said. “If Daisy thought her sway was bad, this is a lot worse.”

_ I tried telling them that you’re kinda still yourself. But both Daisy and Lincoln thought that you weren’t hurting me because...well, you know. _

“Do I?” Kora asked, her tone becoming slightly jokey as she spoke. “I was the one who kissed you, remember?”

Kora had kissed him, but on the cheek. Trip suddenly felt a wave of fear. Kora hadn’t dared to be any more forward with him even when she knew that she was about to get swayed, but now, now that she was being mentally and possibly physically tortured, she was voicing her feelings more. Trip feared that that meant she might die soon or have her brain taken over completely because why else was she suddenly having the guts to speak about it?

_ Kora, where are you? I’ll come and get you; I’m on my way to the ShawDrive now. Just tell me your coordinates and I can - _

“ _ You’re _ after the ShawDrive?” Kora asked. “Dammit, Trip, why?”

Trip looked up, just in time for Yo-Yo to plow straight into him. He landed flat on his back on the ground; Banks and Khan started shooting, even though Yo-Yo was long gone. In his ear, Kora started shouting, but not at him.

“Yo-Yo, Bobbi and Hunter are almost at Flint!” she shouted in broken Spanish. “Get him, don’t worry about those agents!”

_ You know Spanish? _

“Very badly,” Kora said in English, her voice still anxious, but more calm now; she had evidently switched off the microphone that projected her voice to Yo-Yo. “From Joey and Yo-Yo and visions of the future. That’s not the point. Get out of there now!”

Trip took off, but not towards safety; he was running towards the crashed van that James and the Watchdogs had overturned. Banks and Khan raced after him, asking where he was going, but responding to them was the least of his worries. He had a newfound admiration for Miles, who was negotiating everyone yelling and arguing; dealing with Kora in his ear was complicated enough when Banks and Khan were talking to him as well. 

“Trip! Dammit!” Kora shouted. “Stop!”

Trip vaulted back into the van, grabbing the ShawDrive. 

“Tell me coordinates to put into it!” he shouted, not even sure if he was talking to Kora or Miles at this point.

In startling unison, Miles and Kora told him the same string of numbers; Trip shifted the numbers on the panel. As he did so, more shouts came from outside and Trip poked his head out to see Banks and Khan go flying. 

“Trip, go, now!” Kora shouted at the same time as Miles swore, typing something into his computer. 

A car outside moved, but for once, Miles was too slow. Yo-Yo grabbed his arm and the two of them and the ShawDrive went flying backwards to wherever Yo-Yo had started from. As they went, the ShawDrive activated and they were sucked into a vortex, heading for wherever Miles and Kora had wanted Trip to go.




“Guys, Yo-Yo’s not in D.C. anymore,” Miles said. “Get to Flint and Katya now!”

That was much easier said than done. The north and south sides of the apartment complex were blocked by guards who knew how to fight; Daisy and Lincoln were working their way through them as quickly as they could, but for each guard they took out, another replaced the previous one. Bobbi and Hunter weren’t making any more progress since their guard had was armed; they were crouched behind cover instead of moving forward. 

“Which one of us is closest to Katya?” Daisy asked as she slammed through a door, only to find more guards waiting for her. She punched the first guard in the face, then the throat, ducking under his arm to fire a gun at another guard; she had picked up the gun from a previous guard whom she had encountered.

“You are,” Miles said. “Lincoln’s closest to Flint.”

“Great,” Lincoln said; his speech was cut off as he summoned his electricity powers to throw a guard off his feet and into a wall. 

“Wait, where is Yo-Yo then?” Mack asked, but before Miles could respond, the sound of gunshots echoed in all of their ears.

“Mack?” Miles asked anxiously, but it wasn’t from Mack’s coms; the gunshots were coming from Bobbi’s and Daisy’s, as both Hunter and Daisy fired their weapons at guards, Hunter from behind his cover and Daisy first before, then after diving under a table to get to the next guard. 

“I’m bored of this! Cover me!” Bobbi barked at Hunter; none of them heard his response, but seeing as a short while later, there was the loud sound of someone’s head hitting a gong, it appeared as though Bobbi had taken the guard out.

Bobbi wasn’t the only one who had finished her fight. Just before the gong sounded, Miles heard the telltale sounds of Daisy’s powers at work as she nailed a guard to knock him out, followed by the sound of glass shattering as Lincoln tossed a guard through a glass panel. 

“Two doors ahead of you, Daisy,” Miles said. “Actually, Bobbi, Hunter, you guys are almost at Katya too. Down the corridor and to your right.”

“On it,” Daisy said, already running out the door, at the same time as Bobbi said, “Copy that.”

“Lincoln, go up that flight of stairs to your left and Flint’s in the first room on your right,” Miles said. “Hurry, guys!”

That was easy for him to say, although it was understandable that he was stressed. Even though the others were doing the fighting, Miles’ job was arguably the hardest because he had to keep tabs on many constantly moving targets. 

Daisy slammed through the next door, only to come hurtling to a stop. Katya was standing in the middle of the room, her back to Daisy, all alone. Why there weren’t more guards there was anyone’s question, but when she turned to face Daisy, she looked like any other innocent teenager. A kid. Not much older than Flint or Kora. In fact, from the back, she looked so much like Kora that for a second, Daisy thought that she  _ was _ Kora, hence why Daisy hadn’t instantly quaked her.

Katya wasn’t the little girl whom May had killed in Bahrain, but she was still arguably a child. An unarmed one. One who was responsible for Kora and Sousa’s kidnapping, and for Hunter and Miles’ sway, but still...she was under Hive’s influence. Daisy was hesitating to kill her because she looked so innocent, so lost, so much like Kora had when she had been unable to control her powers, when Kora had first started her S.H.I.E.L.D. training with her and Sousa. It wasn’t Katya’s fault that her powers had driven her insane. 

“Daisy, what are you waiting for?” Miles demanded. “You can’t let her touch you! Daisy!”

Before Daisy could speak, Katya smiled at her, an innocent smile in her expression. “You wouldn’t kill an unarmed child, would you, Daisy? I know you love children. Kora told me.”

Lincoln swore. “Miles, get me to Daisy, now! Daisy, get away from her. You know what happened to May. Daisy! Daisy!”

The panic in Lincoln’s voice was palpable, but for once, Miles didn’t respond. Ward did instead.

“Daisy, hang on,” he said. “Bobbi and Hunter are almost to you. Lincoln, go after Flint. Do it!”

“Where’s Miles?” Mack asked over the coms; apparently Miles wasn’t briefing him either.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ward said. “Trust me, guys, come on!” 

“Ward,  _ where is Miles _ ?” Mack demanded.

Ward grimaced, not wanting to give the answer. “Miles is dealing with a bigger mess right now,” he said. “He’s distracting the other Inhumans.”

Ward wasn’t lying, but what he was avoiding saying was that the mess Miles was dealing with was on the Quinjet, the one that Jemma, Sousa and May had taken from the Lighthouse. Daisy, Lincoln, Bobbi and Hunter were emotionally compromised enough as it was; he didn’t want to tell them that the three of their closest friends were in danger.




The ShawDrive, with Trip and Yo-Yo in tow, appeared in the middle of the Quinjet, causing both Jemma and Sousa to react in surprise and shock. Trip tried to slam an elbow into Yo-Yo’s side, but she was too quick for him, moving out of the way and knocking him flying into Sousa. 

“Jemma!” May had already leapt out of her seat, but Yo-Yo was once again too quick for them. 

Yo-Yo grabbed May’s new arm and twisted, upending May, thanks to her new vulnerability. As she rebounded towards them, this time, Jemma was ready. After all, she knew Yo-Yo’s powers best of all; she grabbed the ShawDrive and swung it like a baseball bat at Yo-Yo. The latter ducked, but grabbed the end of the teleportation device.

“No!” Trip and Sousa yelled at the same time, but it was too late. The two women vanished in a flash of light.

“Where did they go?” Sousa demanded, but Trip was already running into the cockpit and taking over the controls; May was grimacing as she got to her feet.

“They’re back in D.C.,” Miles said over the coms. “I remotely changed the coordinates and it was the last location that the ShawDrive had been to. Better there than wherever Hive wants to take them.”

_ Kora? _

There was silence. Either she was deliberately no longer speaking to him, or something had caused her to be unable to respond momentarily. Trip refused to believe that she had been setting him up. She had been so intent upon protecting him that he had every belief that that had been her genuine intention. But even as he thought that, he realized that he technically was safe. He was in the Quinjet, on the way to D.C., yes, but far away from the action. Even Yo-Yo hadn’t hurt him much, just thrown him into Sousa. Had it all been an elaborate ruse? Trip had no idea. 

“Jemma? Jemma? Are you there?” Sousa was speaking into the coms.

But there was silence.




Jemma appeared in the van next to Yo-Yo, but seeing as the coordinates that Miles had set were for them to appear standing, both of them fell into the wall of the van because it was on its side. The next second, the van was hit by another car; Jemma guessed that it was Miles. Jemma scrambled to move out of the way, but Yo-Yo was gone. She had apparently run off somewhere else.

“Hello?” Jemma said, pressing her hand to her earpiece. “Is anyone there?”

There was a pause and then Sousa said, “Jemma? Is that you?”

“Yes,” Jemma said. “Yo-Yo’s gone; I don’t know why, but I could take the ShawDrive back to you guys -”

“Don’t,” Miles said urgently. “The ATCU are right there. We can’t let them get their hands on the ShawDrive, or let them know what it is. Take out the parts that make it work.”

Even as Miles uttered the first word in his sentence, Banks and Khan were peering into the van. Both looked utterly confused to see her there and Jemma realized belatedly that they were expecting to see Trip.

“Who are you?” Banks asked, staring at her. “And where is Trip?”

“The Inhuman took him,” Jemma said, deciding that playing dumb was the best bet she could go for. 

“And you -” Banks began.

“Got taken here by accident,” Jemma said. 

“She looks like a civilian, Banks,” Khan said, extending a hand towards her to pull her out of the van.

Jemma deliberately made her steps clumsy as she got to her feet; she disguised her retrieval of the jump drive that powered the teleportation device by looking like had lost her balance. Apparently the trick worked because Khan said, “It’s okay, miss. We’re here to help.”

Jemma suppressed a roll of her eyes. Although Deke had thought of Khan as his friend, Khan had thought of him as an assignment. Now, Khan was sucking up to her. As long as she fooled him, that would be enough payback.

She took his hand and he pulled her out of the van, just in time for a group of armoured Watchdogs to come around the corner, weapons at the ready. 

“Watch out!” Banks shouted, already pulling the trigger of his gun; Khan forced Jemma behind the cover of the car that Miles had slammed into the van and pulled out his own weapon.

“Jemma, get in!” Miles barked in her ear.

Jemma wrenched the car door open and scrambled in. The car raced off, leaving both Banks and Khan staring after her in shock and anger that they had been tricked. 

“Where are we going?” Jemma asked Miles.

“Into the multi-storey carpark,” Miles said. “You’re going to the roof. That’s where Deke, Hand, Price and Coulson are.”




Daisy lifted her hands to quake Katya, but even as she did so, Katya was speaking.

“Would you really kill me, Daisy?” she asked. “I can’t help it? This isn’t my fault; it’s Hive. You know better than anyone how his sway forces you to do things you don’t want….”

“Daisy, dammit, quake her!” Lincoln shouted. “She’s literally insane, you know that, don’t listen to her -”

The loud bang of a gun went off and Daisy flinched, throwing up her hands automatically with a forcefield. However, the forcefield was unnecessary for Katya crumpled to the ground, blood pooling on the floor from the bullet wound in the head. Hunter was standing there, his gun in his hand. 

“Are you okay?” he asked at the same moment as Lincoln shouted, “Daisy!”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Daisy said, speaking both to Lincoln and Hunter. “Lincoln, she looked like Kora….”

“Oh my God,” Lincoln said. “Daisy -”

His voice got cut off and Daisy panicked.

“Lincoln!” Daisy shouted, but Ward spoke over her. 

“He’s hiding from Giyera,” he said. “He’s fine. You three need to go after Yo-Yo. She’s after Mack.” 

“Daisy can go for Lincoln,” Bobbi said; Daisy hadn’t noticed her before, but she was there, standing behind Hunter in the doorway. “Hunter and I can take Yo-Yo -”

“No,” Ward said. “Don’t chance it; she’s Inhuman. Daisy, I promise, Lincoln will be safe. You can go for him after you take out Yo-Yo, okay?”

“What happened to Mack?” Daisy asked, realizing all at once what Ward had failed to tell them. 

At that moment, Mack’s voice came over the coms, saying, “Pretty nifty magic trick you did there.”

Daisy’s eyes widened and she turned to look at Bobbi and Hunter.

“Dammit, Mack, get out of there!” Bobbi shouted, but both she and Daisy heard the thud as Mack hit something hard.

“Ground floor,” Ward said. “West side of the building. Jump.”

“Lincoln -” Daisy began, torn. She couldn’t just let Mack be beaten up by Yo-Yo; she loved him like the older brother she had never had, but she didn’t want to leave Lincoln alone and vulnerable. 

“I got this, go!” Lincoln ordered.

That was the clincher. While Daisy had a certain amount of trust for this timeline version of Ward now, she definitely trusted Lincoln and if he said he had it...well, then she would do what she had to do. Daisy ran for the window and jumped out, landing on her makeshift cushion of vibrational force. Bobbi, who hadn’t waited for Daisy’s decision, was already halfway down the same extension cable that Mack and Flint had used to swing down earlier, Hunter following her. However, even though they were incredibly quick, there was still no sign of Mack or Yo-Yo as they landed on the ground.

“Mack?” Bobbi asked, pressing her hand to her ear, but there was radio silence from him. 

“Ward?” Hunter asked, glancing at Bobbi and Daisy for help; he was still without access to the communications since Mack had his earpiece.

“I’m looking, I’m looking!” Ward said, his voice agitated; he was not as good or as experienced as Miles at being the navigator. “Dammit. Miles, get them a car!”

“Bloody hell,” Hunter muttered as Miles swore over the line.

“I’m already driving a car for Jemma, what do you want me to do, drive two?” Miles demanded. “Switch with me, Ward!”

“Jemma’s here?” Daisy asked, utterly confused; as far as she knew, Jemma was on the way to D.C. and as fast a pilot as May was, it had been maybe 15 minutes tops, since the team had left the Lighthouse.

“Long story,” Miles said as yet another car screeched to a halt in front of them. “Get in.”

At this point, all of them were used to Miles’ chaotic driving. They leapt into their usual seats, Hunter behind the wheel, Bobbi taking shotgun and Daisy in the back. 

“Where are we headed?” Bobbi asked as the car took off at top speed.

“After Yo-Yo,” Miles said, which was literally the most obvious thing he could have said. 




Lincoln had never felt more grateful to Hunter in his life than when he’d shot Katya. He was not sure if Katya’s word choice to Daisy had been based on Kora’s knowledge of the past or if it had been her insanity, but either way, he was incredibly relieved that Hunter had killed her and not Daisy. While it posed a slight problem since neither he nor Daisy had killed her and done the big heroic rescue that they were supposed to do, he knew that Miles could doctor the footage. Adding to the fact that Daisy had fought through the guards with her powers  _ and _ a gun, they could stage it to appear as though Daisy had killed her and not Hunter if they had to. 

The ramifications of shooting Katya would not affect Hunter the same way they would have affected Daisy. While Hunter was a father and obviously cared about his son, it was very different, especially since he did not see Katya as a child; he saw her as the Inhuman who had tortured him, Sousa and Miles and almost killed him. Hunter didn’t know what had happened to May in the original timeline with Katya, or about what Jiaying and Gordon had seen, or even the possibility of a similar thing happening to Lexi. He didn’t even know Kora that well; he would not feel the same guilt about killing one of his own the way that Daisy would. Thanks to his actions, Hunter had spared Daisy a lot of pain and Lincoln would be forever grateful for that.

When Giyera was gone, Lincoln ducked out from where he was hiding in one of the apartments. Whoever was navigating for Giyera wasn’t as skilled as Miles, but for that reason, Lincoln was grateful. Things were complicated enough although thankfully, there were no more guards to fight because Katya was dead.

Lincoln kicked the door down to the next apartment, coming face-to-face with a terrified Flint. The latter threw three boulders at Lincoln before realizing it was him; fortunately, Lincoln was able to split apart two of them and Flint himself stopped the third.

“We have to get out of here,” Lincoln said. “Giyera’s on the way.”

“Great, solutions?” Flint asked. “Do we jump out the window again?”

“Miles?” Lincoln asked.

The voice that spoke this time was not Miles. “Get to the roof,” Lexi said. “Deke, Price, Coulson and Hand have a getaway Zephyr up there.”

That was news that Lincoln was not prepared to deal with, but he trusted Lexi. Given all the arguing in his ear, he knew that Miles was driving Daisy, Bobbi and Hunter after Mack and Ward was bringing Jemma up to the roof as well; Lexi’s instructions sounded like the right plan to him. 

“Come on,” Lincoln said to Flint. “We’re going up. The roof.”

They ran out of the room. As they went, Lincoln realized that while Yo-Yo, Katya and now Giyera had been in the throes of the battle, he had no idea where James was. He hadn’t seen him since he had been with the Watchdogs. Hopefully he wasn’t about to appear somewhere because they were stretched so thin that Lexi, of all people, was navigating for him.


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year, everyone!!! (Even though it's late HAHA). I hope everyone is having a great start to their 2021!!! 
> 
> I hope all of you enjoy this chapter and as always, happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 59**

The car zoomed up the ramp of Hand’s Zephyr and screeched to a halt. Jemma leapt out of the car, literally stumbling into Deke as he hurried down the ramp.

“Nana!” he gasped.

“Deke!” Jemma exclaimed. 

“What are you doing here?” they asked in unison.

“It’s a long story,” Jemma said, which was basically the story of their lives at this point. Anyone who took a moment’s break missed out on a lot and had to play serious catch-up when they finally got back in contact with someone who knew what was going on. 

“Price wanted to provide an escape route for Lincoln’s team,” Deke said, his expression tight as he spoke; Jemma realized immediately why he looked incredibly grim.

“You know,” Jemma said; it wasn’t a question.

“ _ You _ know?” Deke sounded incredulous and hurt at the same time. “Who told you? Did  _ Lincoln _ ?”

“No,” Jemma said quickly. “Daisy did.”

“Daisy knew?” Deke asked, not nearly as hurt by that revelation. Daisy was Lincoln’s everything; of course she knew. “Did Lincoln tell her?”

“Actually, no,” Jemma said. “She found out first. In the original timeline. She told Lincoln...and he asked her to bury it for him after Price died. And after his death...well, she kept on hiding it for Lincoln’s sake. In this timeline, I don’t know how he found out, but Miles was the one concealing it for him. For  _ your _ sake. Lincoln was hiding it because he knew it would hurt you.”

Deke suppressed a sigh. He had a lot of questions and obviously now was not the time to ask them, not that Jemma could really answer all of them. 

“Wait, where are Price and Coulson?” Jemma asked. “And Hand?”

“On their way downstairs,” Ward said in Jemma’s ear. “Jemma, hide. They can’t know you’re here unless you want them to know about the other timeline.”

That would be a disaster. Hand, at least, knew about the existence of the other timeline, but Price and Coulson finding out about it was not something that any of them wanted. Apparently Deke now had an earpiece, of which Miles had hacked the feed at some point, because he grabbed her arm and they rushed over to the containment module. Jemma ducked inside and crouched down just in time to avoid being seen by Coulson, Price and Hand, all of whom appeared on the upper balcony of the Zephyr. They hurried down the stairs, but Jemma could see that whatever they were planning on doing could not really involve too much fighting since all were dressed in formal attire: suit jackets and pressed pants. 

“I’ll navigate from up the Zephyr,” Hand offered. “You three can go looking for them.”

Hand was extending an olive branch and Deke knew it. He appreciated the gesture, especially since Hand was the kind of person to lead with her head and not her heart. He knew perfectly well that he and quite possibly both Price and Coulson were going to be too emotionally involved going into the fight. Which was also not good, seeing as none of them were field specialists like May or Ward; even with their heads in the game, they might get their butts kicked.

Price nodded, but she looked a little uncomfortable at the prospect of seeing her son again. Deke knew that some parents gave their children away for them to have a better future than the ones that they could provide for them, but Deke couldn’t understand how she had completely cut him and Amanda out of her life. At the very least, she had had the resources to give them a better life than one with a drunk ex who had influenced Lincoln into becoming an alcoholic. Although as Deke wondered about that, he realized that it was possible that Lincoln’s father had been an Inhuman. One who hadn’t gone through Terrigenesis and, like Lincoln, prior to his transformation, had been using alcohol to fill the void. 

“Oh, that’s not good,” Ward said suddenly. “Deke? Doctor Johnson is on his way to you and he’s still juiced. Or maybe he juiced himself again.” He paused. “And even though Katya’s dead, I think she screwed with his brain a little because he seems hella confused.”




That took the cake for a disaster in the making. Ward would not like to be in any of their shoes. Daisy’s alternate timeline biological father who was drugged up on an insane concoction, her alternate timeline father figure who had no idea who she was,  _ Lincoln _ ’s biological mother who had abandoned him as a child and  _ his _ father figure who had only just found out who his biological mother was. The only people who weren’t yet in the wreckage of the relationship hellhole were Daisy’s biological mother and Lincoln’s biological father, both of whom were dead. And technically the original and alternate timeline version of May. Although she _ was _ on the way. 

Fantastic. 

Ward scrambled over to the side of the communications system where Lexi was talking to Lincoln. “Lincoln, you and Flint have got a mess to deal with the roof.”

“God dammit, Ward, some warning when you’re going to abandon your agents!” Miles shouted, scrambling over to look at the screens where Deke, Coulson, Price, Hand and Jemma were visible via cameras on Hand’s Zephyr. He glanced quickly up and down the screen and returned to the system where he was monitoring Daisy, Bobbi and Hunter’s progress in the car he had been driving for them. He slammed his hand down on a button and the car came to a screeching halt.

“Second building on the left,” Miles barked. “Get a move on; she just brought James to the roof so she’s not in with Mack right now. Hurry!”




Fighting Yo-Yo was as exhausting as fighting Gordon. She was literally bringing everyone all over the place and it was all they could do to try to keep up with her. Daisy could understand why she had a car; this timeline version of Yo-Yo was still dealing with the boomerang effect of her powers. At times when she wanted to change her location origin, she needed the car to get her to places. At the moment, it seemed as though this building, set fairly close to the apartment complex, was her safe house.

“Let me go in first,” Bobbi said, grabbing Daisy’s arm as the three of them hopped out of the car. 

“What?” Daisy asked, startled. “No, I’ve got this.”

Bobbi adjusted her earpiece so that the microphone was off. “You froze in there, Daisy. I know Yo-Yo’s your friend. You can’t afford to freeze again.”

“I won’t -” Daisy began, but Hunter was also shaking his head. 

“You’re too emotionally involved in this,” he said. “Let me take point, or Bobbi.”

“And you’re not?” Daisy challenged. “What about Owen? And Deke?”

“ _ Deke’s _ the reason I want to take point,” Bobbi said. “He loves both you and Lincoln like the children he’s never had. Let us do this for him.” 

By this, Bobbi meant protecting Daisy. Daisy still wasn’t used to that, wasn’t used to people putting her first. It felt strange that it now seemed like everyone was making her and Lincoln among their top priorities. Everyone from Deke and Jemma, to now Bobbi and Hunter, even Ward. 

There was a pained expression on Bobbi’s face and Daisy realized, all at once, that Bobbi knew that when this was over, even if she and Hunter lived, she might never see Deke in-person again. Bobbi cared a lot about him, especially since she’d had a lot more time than Hunter to adjust to being a grandmother. The same thing had happened when Jemma had first discovered that Deke was her grandson; the women showed their affection for him more plainly than their husbands did. 

“You can’t stay in this timeline,” Daisy said. “Neither you or Hunter can. Because of Owen. Because he’s the tether in the timeline.”

Hunter grimaced. “Regardless of who’s going to die in space, Daisy, Deke is going to lose a lot of people he cares about.” He looked serious for once and Daisy felt a wave of guilt. She didn’t know what she wanted to do if she and Lincoln lived through this battle with Hive...did she want to stay? She couldn’t fathom leaving, nor could she imagine abandoning her team back in the original timeline. How could she abandon so many people she cared about?

“I know you have powers, Daisy,” Bobbi said gently. “But having a power is not the same as being able to look after yourself. Sometimes you have to step back and let other people do what’s best for you.”

“Who taught you that?” Daisy asked, startled that Bobbi was telling her something that she had told Kora about a year ago.

“Deke taught Lincoln that,” Bobbi said. “Why?”

Daisy bit back a weary laugh. Not for the first time did she think that they were going in literal circles. Jiaying had taught Lincoln that powers were not everything; he had taught Daisy that; she had told Kora the same thing, who had also heard it from Jiaying. Deke had learned it from Daisy as well and now he had taught it to this timeline version of Lincoln. 

Before Daisy could respond to Bobbi’s question, there was a rush of air between them and both Bobbi and Hunter were upended. Daisy threw up both hands defensively, but her quake pulse was unnecessary; Yo-Yo didn’t even try to knock her out. Daisy raced into the building after her, causing Hunter to swear as he and Bobbi scrambled to get upright.

“Daisy, wait!” Bobbi shouted, turning on her microphone again as she and Hunter ran after her.

Thankfully, the safe house wasn’t too big. While Daisy obviously hadn’t had time to see where Yo-Yo had gone, she could see the settling bits of paper that showed where she had gone; Yo-Yo had slammed the door shut behind her. Daisy blasted the door off its hinges, just in time to hear Mack say, “Soon enough.” 

Yo-Yo turned sharply to look at her and Daisy threw up a quake pulse, covering the entire door and protecting herself, Bobbi and Hunter, who appeared on either side of her, each with their guns out. Unfortunately for Yo-Yo, she wasn’t quick enough to get on the other side of Daisy’s shield; she literally bounced off the shield that Daisy summoned. 

Mack was sitting, tied up in a chair in the middle of the room. He glanced first at Yo-Yo, then at Daisy, Bobbi and Hunter. 

“Now  _ that _ is a pretty nifty magic trick,” he told Daisy, making all three of them smile.

Unfortunately, at that moment, as Daisy, Bobbi and Hunter moved into the room to help Mack, Miles spoke in their ears. 

“Daisy, get to the roof,” he said. “Now. I’m not kidding. Your dad, James and Giyera are after Lincoln and Flint -”

There was a loud crackle as Miles’ voice was cut off.

“Miles?” Bobbi asked, pressing a hand to her ear, but there was no response. “Miles?”

Daisy turned to look at Bobbi, Hunter and Mack with wide eyes.

“I -” she began.

“Go!” Bobbi and Mack said in unison; Hunter, who still had no earpiece, had not heard what Miles had said. 




Lincoln reached the roof, Flint hot on his heels. As they ran towards the Zephyr, Jemma came rushing out of the plane. 

“Lincoln? What are you doing here?” she asked. 

“What do you mean?” Lincoln asked, frowning.

“Your parents are -” she cut herself off. “Deke, Price and Coulson are looking for you.”

Lincoln grimaced, shaking his head. While he didn’t mind if Jemma referred to Deke as his father, in his opinion, Rosalind was just the woman who had given birth to him. She wasn’t his mother; she hadn’t raised him or looked out for him...she was literally just the person who had given birth to him and his sister. 

“God dammit,” he muttered. “Take Flint. You shouldn’t be alone up here if there are Inhumans on the loose.”

He turned to go, but as he did so, Miles spoke in his ear, not addressing him, but speaking to Daisy. 

“Daisy, get to the roof,” he said. “Now. I’m not kidding. Your dad, James and Giyera are after Lincoln and Flint -”

His voice got cut off. 

“Miles?” Lincoln said, pressing a hand to his ear. “Daisy?” 

There was radio silence and Lincoln felt a flash of fear. Miles - and Ward and Jemma while they had been helping - had been essential to navigating them around Hive’s Inhumans in D.C.. But now, there was no friendly help from the Lighthouse. 

Jemma frowned, tapping her earpiece. “I can’t hear you via coms either, Lincoln.”

“Something must have gone wrong back at the base,” Lincoln said. “Miles, Ward, Lexi, Koenig….”

“I’ll try to fix the communications,” Jemma said, turning to go back up the ramp. “Although if the problem is back at the Lighthouse, I don’t know if I can do anything about it.”

“I’ll go after Hive’s Inhumans,” Lincoln said, also turning to leave. “Flint, stay with Jemma, okay?”

“On it,” Flint said, and they split up yet again, Jemma and Flint heading back into Hand’s Zephyr and Lincoln heading back into the apartment complex. 




_ Kora, what did you do? Kora? _

Trip had been trying to have a mental conversation with Kora for the last fifteen minutes - it was a one-sided conversation since she hadn’t been responding - at the same time as watching the communications screens of Miles, Ward, Lexi and Koenig back at the Lighthouse when the screen went black and the communications died. He was fortunate enough to have the silence to be able to do so; May was flying the plane and Sousa was supposedly sleeping. Supposedly, because all of them knew that he wasn’t really asleep; he was only pretending to because May had gotten mad at them for not resting when they were literally flying into a battle zone on zero sleep. 

However, when the communications fizzled out, he knew that she had had something to do with it. There were only two Inhumans on the planet who could cause such problems and they were Lincoln and Kora. Additionally, if she had successfully hacked his earpiece, she definitely had the skills to kick Miles off the system. 

“Kora, dammit, answer me!” Trip shouted, not realizing that he had spoken aloud until he had done so.

Sousa’s head jerked upright. “Trip, what are you doing?” he demanded.

Trip grimaced. “Talking in my sleep,” he said.

“And I’m the Pope,” Sousa retorted. “Kora’s in your head?”

“No,” Trip said. He glanced at May, who glared at him. 

Grimacing again, Trip caved. “She accessed my coms feed,” he admitted. “Just mine, not anyone else’s.”

Sousa shook his head. “What did she want?” he asked. “What did you tell her?”

His hand was inching towards his gun; Trip didn’t blame him for being wary. As far as everyone knew, aside from him, Kora was not on their side. They didn’t know the turmoil that was going on in her head. 

“Start talking,” May warned, her expression like a thundercloud, although the Quinjet was still going at top speed. 

“Nothing!” Trip protested, even as his insides squirmed with guilt. “She was just trying to protect me from Yo-Yo, that’s all.”

“But now she’s broken the communications system,” Sousa surmised, nodding to the black screen that Trip was now fiddling with. “Or did you do that?”

“Why would I do that?” Trip demanded.

“Has this happened before?” Sousa asked both Trip and May. “Did Daisy contact Lincoln back at the base when she was swayed?”

The answer to that was yes, but neither Trip nor May knew that. Daisy  _ had _ evaded Fitz’s defenses and broken Lincoln out of containment, although it had been a trap for Hive, concocted by Coulson, May and Lincoln himself. Unfortunately, none of them had an answer because they weren’t Daisy, Lincoln, Kora or Jemma.

“You’d have to ask them that,” Trip said. “ _ I _ don’t know.”

“I thought Kora told you about the original timeline,” Sousa said, too frustrated, exhausted and weary to hold his tongue.

“And I thought Daisy told  _ you _ about it,” Trip countered, glaring at him. Before Sousa could retaliate, Trip grimaced. “Sorry. That was a low blow.”

“You two are too emotionally involved in this,” May said darkly, glaring at them both. “Trip, fix the coms, if you can.”

“You’re trusting him?” Sousa asked, his hand on his gun. 

“If he was working with Kora, he wouldn’t have told us that she was talking to him,” May said, logical to a fault. “Trip, fix the damn communications if you can.”

“Actually, I think I might know something about them,” Sousa said, standing up. While he didn’t know if Trip was actually on their side, if he worked with the systems, Trip couldn’t make them any worse. “Miles tried to teach me and Kora how to check if something was wrong with the Quinjet’s communications a few days ago.”

“He taught you something?” May asked.

“Do you have to sound so surprised?” Sousa asked, tired of people doubting his abilities, especially since he was so technologically disadvantaged, especially in Deke’s world which was thirty-three years ahead of Daisy’s. Daisy’s was bad enough, much less Deke’s. 

“Not you,” May said. “Miles is a horrible teacher.”

Both Sousa and Trip couldn’t help smiling at that despite the tense situation that they were in. Miles was many things, but a skilled teacher, he was not.




Miles swore when all the computers in his communications room fizzled and died. 

“What the hell?” he asked.

“Was that a program or is someone on the base?” Ward asked, leaping to his feet and crossing over to where Lexi was hunched over one of the computers.

Miles was issuing commands into his machines, frantically typing into a tablet that was not connected to the system.

“Miles?!” Ward repeated.

“Shut up, I’m trying!” Miles snapped. 

Ward subsided, pulling out his gun. “Lexi, get behind me,” he said. 

“Get me a Terrigen crystal,” Lexi said to Koenig.

“What?!” Ward and Koenig demanded simultaneously.

“If Hive has sent any of his Inhumans here, I can defend you as an Inhuman,” Lexi said. “Not as an eight-year old human.”

“That’s crazy,” Ward said. “If you’re a regular Inhuman, you’ll be swayed by Hive in two seconds and if you’ve got powers like your dad, you’ll turn into a -”

“Ward!” Miles spoke up, cutting him off before he could say something he would regret. Although Lexi was a child, she certainly didn’t act like it a lot of the time and that made it easy to forget that she was still an eight-year old little girl.

“No one has breached the Lighthouse doors,” Koenig interrupted. “If you’re worried, we can put the Lighthouse on alien invasion protocol…. Hive counts as an alien.”

“Technically, I do too,” Lexi muttered under her breath.

Ward ignored her and turned to Koenig. “Are you sure no one has entered the Lighthouse?”

Koenig nodded. “That system works even in case of a power failure…. Director Shaw insisted on an independent system after an encounter with an Inhuman many years ago. And after Agent Campbell stayed here for a while after his Terrigenesis, we reinforced that system.”

“Thank God for that,” Miles muttered, frantically trying to restore his communications system. “Okay, I’ve got it.”

“You’ve restored our systems?” Ward asked, turning to him in relief.

“No,” Miles said. “Not yet. I’ve restored theirs. The teams in D.C. can talk to each other. Give me a minute and those in the Quinjet can too.”




As Daisy sprinted out of the room, Bobbi dashed over to Mack’s side. Hunter flicked open a penknife and handed it to her; Bobbi started cutting open the bonds that held Mack to the chair.

“Use this on Yo-Yo,” Bobbi said, tossing Hunter a roll of overpowering tape. “Trip and I brought some stuff from the Zephyr when we first came here.”

“Thank God for that,” Hunter muttered, strapping her wrists together. “At least you didn’t get thrown out of the Zephyr and have to play Barrel of Monkeys with Lincoln and seven other people.”

Bobbi rolled her eyes at him and Mack said, “You did  _ what _ ?”

“Mate, you seriously have a  _ lot _ to catch up on,” Hunter assured him, a wry grin on his face as he taped her legs together. 

At that moment, footsteps could be heard outside. Both Bobbi and Hunter whirled to face the door, lifting their guns, only to be greeted with Banks and Khan, who were also aiming guns at them.

“What are you doing here?” Bobbi and Khan said at the same time.

“After the Inhuman,” Hunter and Banks said simultaneously.

“What, only the two of you?” Mack and Khan asked in unison.

“Also after Mack,” Bobbi added, cutting the last rope that tethered Mack to the chair, while the men all glowered at each other. 

Banks and Khan looked at them as Mack stood up, shaking his wrists out. 

“We’ll take her into ATCU custody,” Banks said authoritatively. 

“Oh no, you’re not,” Bobbi said. “We’re S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and she’s coming with us.”

“The ATCU has jurisdiction here,” Banks countered.

“And there are four S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the room,” Hunter challenged. “Good luck getting any of our cooperation for her to go with you.”

Banks glared at them and even though Khan looked uncomfortable at siding with Bobbi, Hunter and Mack, he did step aside from Banks, looking rather like the monkey in the middle. While Khan was not incredibly close with the three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from Deke’s team, he was still a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent despite the fact that he had been partnered with Banks during the alliance of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the ATCU. 

“She can go in the containment module of Hand’s Zephyr,” Khan said finally. “If we take her into custody.”

“She can also go in our gel matrix system,” Banks countered. “If  _ we _ take her into custody.”

“There’s no ‘we’ for you,” Mack said. “So she’s coming with us.”

At that moment, all five of them heard the thunderous sound of footsteps coming from the outside, but instead of friendlies, it sounded like a lot of armoured men. Still partly in the doorway, Banks looked over his shoulder and then shouted, “Move! Watchdogs!”

Khan pivoted on his heel as well and he and Banks started firing into the corridor. Mack and Hunter each grabbed one of Yo-Yo’s arms and backed out of the room from the other exit, Bobbi pulling out her gun to cover them. 

“Khan, Banks, let’s go!” she shouted.

First Khan, then Banks backed away from the door and then ran out the back exit. Bobbi slammed the door shut behind them, just as Mack and Hunter loaded Yo-Yo’s unconscious body into the back of another car; it appeared to be the one that she had used to navigate herself around when she didn’t want to rely on her powers. 

“Take her to the roof of the apartment complex, Khan!” Hunter barked; the Zephyr and its containment module was on the roof. “We’ll distract the dogs.”

“Are you sure?” Khan asked as he leapt behind the wheel and Banks scrambled into the backseat next to Yo-Yo. 

Mack slammed the car door behind Yo-Yo.

“Just go!” he shouted. 

The car peeled away and the three remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents turned to face one another. 

“If we get the chance, we should try to recover the rest of the ShawDrive,” Bobbi said quickly; although Jemma had gotten the important part, they still needed to recover the rest of it. 

“Let’s fan out,” Mack said. “Cover more ground.”

The three remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents split up, going in three different directions, walking first, then running as Watchdogs peeled out of the building. 




Daisy sprinted across the concourse and blasted a quake pulse into the ground to bring her to the roof again. She landed in a crouch next to a Zephyr; she had no idea how the plane had ended up there, but now wasn’t the time to worry about it. 

There was no one on the roof.

“Lincoln?” Daisy called, but there was no one around. 

Muttering under her breath, she ran up the ramp of the Zephyr and into the plane, hoping that he was there. She bolted up the stairs to the communications centre and ran smack into Jemma, who was crouched over the communications system, Flint and Hand looking at other screens: one reflected Deke, Coulson and Price, while another displayed the feed from the S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents flocking the grounds, battling the Watchdogs. 

“Jemma!” Daisy gasped. 

“Daisy!” Jemma exclaimed.

They tackled each other in a quick hug that lasted less than a second; now was not the time for lengthy reunions. 

“Where’s Lincoln?” Daisy asked.

“He went looking for Deke, Price and Coulson,” Jemma said. “Daisy -”

At that moment, both of them winced as their earpieces crackled in their ears. Then the audio was back and both of them heard sounds of Lincoln’s electricity powers at play. Then a split second later, Mack’s voice came on over the coms, saying, “Let’s fan out. Cover more ground.”

Why they were splitting up was beyond Daisy. But now was not the time to question it because Hand was speaking to her. She pointed at the screen that she was looking at. 

“Agent Johnson, Agent Campbell is fighting Giyera on a floor below,” Hand said. 

Daisy turned to look at the screen, just in time to see Lincoln aiming two bolts of electricity at Giyera, who was tossing any inanimate object he could find into the way to block his powers.

“Thank God,” Daisy muttered. As she turned to go, she spoke into her earpiece, “Lincoln? I’m coming to you.”

‘I’ll be in your ear the whole time,” Jemma assured her as Daisy raced out of the room and down the stairs, heading for the ramp.




Fighting Giyera was in no way fun. The best way to fight him was in a room with no inanimate objects for him to manipulate via telekinesis - in the original timeline, that had been how May had defeated him - but in an apartment complex, there was no way that such a room would be found.

Lincoln blasted bolt after bolt of electricity at Giyera, but the other Inhuman was constantly on the move. He moved backwards, ducking and dodging to avoid Lincoln’s electricity bolts, but although he was constantly finding new things to defend himself with, he was finally on the defensive.

Grimly, Lincoln pursued him, even as he heard the crackle in his ear that meant that the communications were working again. He rounded a corner of the apartment complex; the next second, a fire extinguisher slammed into his head as Giyera tossed it at him. Lincoln grunted in pain, stumbling to one knee from the strength of the blow and hitting the wall. As he did so, Daisy spoke in his ear.

“Lincoln? I’m coming to you,” she said.

Lincoln didn’t have the breath to respond because Giyera was already picking up the fire extinguisher with his telekinesis again. In response, Lincoln staggered to his feet and sprinted directly at Giyera, plowing into his midsection with a body tackle that would put footballers to shame. Their momentum, coupled with their powers, sent them flying through the exit door behind him that led to one of the exit stairs and out the side of the building. 

Thankfully, Lincoln was the one on the inside, closer to the building. He let go of Giyera, just managing to use his powers in time to tether himself to the wall. With a grunt, he swung himself back over to the hole that they had created, but Giyera had also managed to survive, seizing the same extension cable that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had used to swing down the side of the building. While Giyera used the cable to swing himself down to the ground, Lincoln grunted as he pulled himself back into the building and collapsed on the floor, muscles shaking with the effort. As he did so, he saw James disappear up the stairs, heading towards the roof. 

Cursing under his breath at this never-ending stream of targets, Lincoln sprinted up the stairs, chasing after James. If James got to the roof before he did, Jemma, Flint and Hand were in serious danger. 




Around the same time as Daisy, Lincoln and Giyera were defying gravity, Deke, Price and Coulson were heading in pursuit of all three of them. They ducked into the corridor, just in time to see Lincoln and Giyera go flying out an exit door and out the side of the building, but as they ran in that direction, someone plowed into Deke sending him flying over the ground.

“Watch out!” Coulson shouted, a split second too late.

“Are you kidding?” Deke yelled when he scrambled to his feet; Doctor Johnson was facing him, arms clenched and ready to swing his fists at his head. He was so completely and totally juiced, it wasn’t even funny that basically all of Daisy and Lincoln’s parents were locked in combat.

Coulson swung a fist at him, but Doctor Johnson countered with a blow that sent him spinning into the wall. Deke dodged the next blow that Doctor Johnson aimed at him, but by this time, Price had pulled out an ICER and was shooting at him, a series of shots that was doing nothing to knock him out.

“Price, move!” Deke shouted; he picked up a stray fire extinguisher that was lying on the ground and swung it at Doctor Johnson’s head. The extinguisher itself got dented in the blow and Doctor Johnson whirled on Deke. He swung an arm at him, batting him away like he was swatting a fly. Deke went flying backwards, landing at the bottom of the stairs, just in time to see Lincoln sprint up the stairs in pursuit of James. 

Price took off down the hall in the opposite direction from Deke, but she wasn’t running away; she was presenting a moving target for Doctor Johnson to go after since she was still shooting at him. Doctor Johnson took off after her, leaving both Deke and Coulson attempting to get back to their feet. Before either of them could, however, Daisy spoke over the coms.

“Lincoln, come in,” she said. “Dammit, Lincoln, do you copy?”

The radio silence on Lincoln’s end was enough to petrify Deke. As he managed to get to his feet, he glanced up the staircase and saw flickers of electricity from the Zephyr; Lincoln was fighting James. Deke turned back around to meet Coulson’s gaze.

“Go after him,” Coulson said. “I’ll go for Rose.”

The two men took off in opposite directions; Deke heading for the Zephyr and Coulson going after the juiced Doctor Johnson and Rosalind Price.




When Giyera went sliding down the extension cable, Daisy was sprinting down one of the many staircases in the building and saw him. She swore under her breath. At the rate she was going, she was boomeranging up and down the entire building more than Yo-Yo. This time, instead of jumping down, this time, she leapt out the window, grabbed a chain and swung down, landing a few feet away from Giyera. While she was pretty confident she had enough energy to keep using her powers, she knew her limits and she didn’t want to exhaust herself when there were clearly way too many enemies to throw on their asses. 

As she landed, she threw a quake pulse directly at Giyera, who didn’t even see her coming. She sent him flying, but to her utter frustration, Lincoln was nowhere to be seen. As far as she knew, Giyera had been with Lincoln, but how they had gotten separated was beyond her knowledge. 

“Lincoln, come in,” she said, turning in the hopes of catching sight of him. “Dammit, Lincoln, do you copy?”

On the other end of the line, she could hear scuffles and grunts as a battle was waged. She had no idea who was fighting, but she could hear the sounds of someone hitting someone else and being hit in turn. She glanced around, but as she did so, she heard Coulson yell, “No!”

Daisy whirled around, just in time to see her father - Doctor Johnson, not Coulson - dangling Rosalind Price over the balcony railing. She couldn’t see him very well, but she knew he was only strong enough to do that if he were using his invented concoction, which was the last thing any of them wanted at the moment. 

Doctor Johnson released Price over the railing and Daisy was struck with a grim sense of deja vu, yet again. She had caught Price from falling before, but that had been when Lash had been trying to kill her. Now her father was trying to kill Lincoln’s mother, which, as far as things went, was pretty screwed up.

Rosalind screamed as she plummeted to the earth and at that moment, Daisy heard Lincoln shout in her earpiece, “Daisy!”

It wasn’t in Daisy’s nature to scream, but, given the circumstances, it made sense that Lincoln might think it was her. She had been the only one communicating over the coms; Mack, Bobbi and Hunter had been silent since they had split up - why, Daisy wasn’t sure - because Miles was no longer navigating for them, even though their coms had come online again. 

Daisy caught Price in a vibrational cushion, the same way she had saved her in the original timeline, relief washing over her when she caught her. Although she had had a pretty good feeling she could save Price, the last time she’d saved her, she hadn’t been using her powers for hours on end. She shook her hands out; they were starting to cramp a little from the tension. 

Price turned to look at her, a startled expression on her face as their eyes met. Daisy met her gaze; Price’s eyes roved from Daisy’s face, down to the engagement ring on her finger. Ah. The expression on her face made it clear that she knew. She knew who Daisy was, she knew what the ring meant, she knew who Lincoln was. On the bright side...saving her future biological mother-in-law from certain death was really not the worst way to meet her in this timeline. Even though Price might hate Daisy’s father for trying to kill her, well, she definitely couldn’t hold a grudge against Daisy, who had literally just saved her life. 

Before either Daisy or Price could say anything, a loud crackle of electricity sounded up above them and they both looked up to see part of the Zephyr light up as electricity fizzled around inside. 

“Go,” Price said, knowing exactly what that sight meant. 

Daisy nodded at her; price nodded in response, a sign of acknowledgement and acceptance. A small smile crossed Daisy’s face despite the dangerous situation they were in because at least Price had accepted her. Maybe, just maybe, they were going to get out of this disaster without APBs on them. Daisy took off, blasting yet another quake pulse into the ground to take her back up to the roof. 

She landed next to the Zephyr and sprinted towards the aircraft, slightly relieved that Lincoln had responded over the coms, but worried because electricity could only mean yet another ongoing fight. 

“Lincoln, do you copy?” she asked, as she dashed up the ramp. “Lincoln!”

Hearing the sound of Lincoln’s electricity powers at work near the back of the Zephyr, she took off in that direction, heading towards the containment module. The very next second, Lincoln’s voice came on, over the coms. 

“I’m here,” he said, causing her to heave a sigh of relief. “You still there?”

“What happened?” Daisy asked, as she ran in the direction of Lincoln’s physical voice. “I lost you.”

“You didn’t lose me,” Lincoln said reassuringly, although his voice was still a little breathless from fighting James. “Just a little complication.”

Daisy rounded the corner and smiled when she saw Lincoln standing there. “I said I’d come to you,” she said and he looked up, hearing her voice in front of him and not via the coms. 

Their eyes met and he smiled at her too. However, Daisy’s smile vanished as she saw the explosive that James had managed to attach to him.

“Lincoln!” Daisy shouted; his eyes widened as he tried to remove the bomb from his side. 

The bomb went off.


	60. Episode 16: Out of the Future - Chapter 60

**Episode 16: Out of the Future**

**Chapter 60**

Miles had finally restored the audio communications, connecting those in the Quinjet to those in D.C. and those in the Lighthouse to both the teams in said different locations, just in time to hear a bomb explode. 

“What the hell?” Ward asked, scrambling over to the screen to see what was going on.

Ward was not the only one who was freaking out. As the communications were restored, they heard Sousa say, “What in the world?” at the same time as Trip said, “What the hell?”

“Can you get the screens up and running?” Ward asked.

“Shut up and let me work,” Miles barked at him, the stress and tension on his face standing out as his fingers flew over the keys. “The microphone still isn’t even working, you dingbat.”

Ward subsided; the next second, the screens flickered to life, revealing the scene on the Zephyr. 

“God dammit,” Miles muttered, staring at the screen; Ward quickly covered Lexi’s eyes with a hand, not wanting her to see what was happening.

“Jesus Christ,” Ward said, eyes wide with shock. “That is...really bad.”




May swung the Quinjet in a wide circle, landing the aircraft on the roof next to Hand’s Zephyr. As they landed, the audio communications came back on, in time for Sousa, Trip and May to hear an explosion go off, both over the coms and from just outside the Quinjet.

“What in the world?” Sousa asked at the same time as Trip said, “What the hell?”

Before any of them could react, they heard Deke say, “Nana, it’s not looking so good.”

Sousa and Trip glanced at each other with wide eyes, but before either of them could say anything, they heard Jemma say, in a high and anxious voice, “I’ll get the medkit.”

“Lincoln!” Daisy’s voice was the most panicked of all three voices.

Trip swore. Sousa didn’t swear, but a rush of emotions tore through his insides, a combination of shock, worry, guilt and a teeny tiny part satisfied. Even as that emotion rushed through him, he felt a terrible wave of guilt. It wasn’t Lincoln’s fault that Daisy had chosen him, nor had he asked for it. He hated himself for that moment of weakness and that was what pushed him to sprint off the ramp the second May released it, bolting for the Zephyr in the hopes of helping not just Daisy, but Lincoln as well.

“Sousa, wait!” Trip shouted, but he was gone. 

May cursed under her breath. “Go after him!” she barked, flipping switches to power the aircraft down, before leaping out of her seat. 

Trip raced after Sousa and May brought up the rear, running one after another down the ramp of the Quinjet and towards the Zephyr.




It was a horrible feeling of deja vu. Lincoln was blown backwards, landing on his back on the ground. As the bomb went off, Jemma came sprinting down the stairs of the Zephyr, Deke tearing up the ramp at the same time. How Deke had come to be there, Daisy did not know, but at that point, she was more worried about Lincoln than about how Deke had managed to appear out of thin air. 

Deke grabbed Lincoln under the armpits and dragged him towards the side of the plane, Lincoln grunting in pain. Daisy rushed after them, her hands shaking in a combination of terror and severe anxiety. Even though Deke didn’t know that this had happened before, she knew exactly what this scenario meant.

“Nana, it’s not looking so good,” Deke said grimly.

“I’ll get the medkit,” Jemma said, her voice almost as anxious as Daisy was feeling. Jemma also knew what was going on, but she, unlike Daisy, was managing to keep a level head on her shoulders. 

“Lincoln!” Daisy dropped to her knees next to him, but not too close so that she wouldn’t get in the way of Jemma and Deke; Deke was scrambling in the medkit that Jemma put down, searching for lap pads in the kit. “Are you okay? Is he -”

“Lincoln, stay with us!” Jemma gasped, speaking over Daisy as she pulled up the side of his jacket and shirt to look at his wound. He helped her, but he was grimacing as he did so. 

“Tell me he’s going to be okay,” Daisy pleaded; Jemma glanced at her, seeing how close Daisy was to tears. Deke handed her lap pads, which she pressed to the wound in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood, searching through the medkit for more tools that would help. 

“He’ll live,” Jemma said. She glanced back at his wound. “Um, if there’s no internal hemorrhaging. Siloxane!” 

Deke handed it to her and she sprayed it on his wound, coating the injury, trying to create a protective layer to prevent more blood from oozing out. 

“Sorry, sorry,” she said, seeing Lincoln wince as the medicine stung. “Okay. Stay with me, hey. You’re okay, you’re okay. You should be fine. But you need to remain as still as possible until we can get to ground properly and dress it, okay?”

Lincoln nodded, even as Daisy scooted closer to him. 

“Lincoln, please, please, don’t do this, don’t die on me again, you can’t die, please, I can’t lose you.” The words were tumbling out of her mouth; she grabbed his hand, clinging to him desperately.

“We have to get back to the Lighthouse,” Jemma said. “May -” 

Daisy hadn’t even noticed May was on the Zephyr. Daisy tore her gaze away from Lincoln for a split second, to see that Sousa, Trip and May were standing around them, looking almost as worried as she felt. May glanced around the aircraft and shook her head. 

“We need to take the Quinjet,” she said. “Quinjets are so much faster than the Zephyrs; Jemma, Deke, Daisy, we need to get him into Hand’s Quinjet.”

“No!” Daisy almost shouted. “Not the Quinjet, no, we can’t go to the Quinjet!”

“Daisy, all of us are going,” Jemma said, trying to reassure her. “All five of us. Maybe all seven of us. There’s no bomb in the Quinjet, no Hive, no Ward even. We’ll be fine. Daisy, trust me, please, we’ll be fine.”

Daisy was almost hysterical by this point. She was shaking so hard, there was no way that she could make a logical decision. Jemma turned to Deke and Trip. 

“Deke, Trip, get Lincoln into the Quinjet,” she said. “May, prep the plane for take-off. Go. Now!”

Although Daisy clearly didn’t want to go into the Quinjet, the others obeyed Jemma’s orders without question. Deke and Trip grabbed Lincoln under the armpits simultaneously and lifted. Lincoln winced, unable to hold back grunts of pain as they moved. May ran for the Quinjet, rushing ahead of the men and up the ramp. Jemma shrugged off her jacket and draped it around Daisy’s shoulders even as Sousa stepped forward to put a comforting arm around her.

“No, don’t touch me,” Daisy said sharply, too worried about Lincoln to seek comfort, especially from Sousa.

She took off after Deke and Trip, and Jemma followed, too concerned about Daisy to worry about Sousa’s hurt feelings. Sousa was the last person Daisy wanted comfort from, especially because he was the one and only person with whom she had attempted a romantic relationship with after Lincoln’s death. She could not bring herself to allow him to try to reassure her that Lincoln was going to be okay, especially because the only person she wanted at the moment was Lincoln. 

Deke and Trip lifted Lincoln up the ramp and set him down on the side of the aircraft. May was already in the cockpit, flipping switches, but she turned when Daisy, Jemma and Sousa followed them into the Quinjet.

“You two, get off,” she barked, as Daisy rushed to Lincoln’s side, crouching down beside him, not paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone else. 

“Which two?” Sousa asked, glancing from Jemma to Trip to Deke to Daisy and Lincoln.

“You and Trip,” May said. “It’s weight. The lighter the Quinjet, the faster it’ll fly. Jemma has to come as the doctor, I have to fly, Lincoln needs Daisy and Deke. Or if Deke is willing to stay, I’ll trade him for Trip. Trip’s a medic. Your choice. But either way, I’m only going to fly with four passengers.” 

She turned back to where she was prepping the plane for take-off, not bothering to wait for either of their reactions to her orders. 

Trip took one look at Deke’s distraught face and backed up. “I’ll stay. Go!”

Sousa glanced at Daisy, who wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Lincoln. She was crouched at his side, clinging to his hand, their faces inches apart. In that moment, Sousa knew that she would never, ever love someone the way she cared about Lincoln. If Sousa hadn’t known it before, he knew it now; she literally had eyes for none other than Lincoln. It was almost as if they were separated from the others by a tiny little bubble; it was like no one existed in that world aside from them. 

“Sousa!” Deke snapped, but Sousa was already backing off the Quinjet. 

“We can take the other Quinjet,” Sousa said, turning to Trip, but May slammed her hand down on a button, cutting off their speech, closing the ramp of the Quinjet. As the Quinjet blasted off from the Zephyr, the last thing Jemma and Deke saw was Hand running towards Sousa and Trip, shouting at them. 




As the Quinjet took off from the Zephyr, Daisy felt a rush of fear, even though she and Lincoln weren’t the only ones on the Quinjet; Jemma, Deke and May were also on board. She crouched down at Lincoln’s side, wrapping one hand around his neck, the other clutching desperately to his jacket; he slid one arm around waist, holding her close.

“I’m sorry, Lincoln, I’m so sorry,” Daisy whispered, pressing her lips to his in a desperate, urgent, frantic kiss. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay,” Lincoln said weakly, even as she brushed her fingers against the stubble on his cheek, tracing the contours of his face desperately, in an attempt to keep him with her. “It’s not your fault.”

At that, Daisy couldn’t stop the tears. She burst into tears, completely breaking down, pressing her head against his shoulder. Gently, weakly, Lincoln brushed his fingers through her hair, soothing and comforting her despite the pain he was in. 

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lincoln said. “I promise.”

On the other side of the Quinjet, Deke attempted to subtly back away to give them space, but both Daisy and Lincoln caught sight of his movement. Simultaneously, they spoke, Daisy through her tears and Lincoln weakly as he tried to to keep his breathing even. 

“Deke, stay.”

“What?” Deke looked surprised. “I’m trying to give you guys space -”

“Don’t go,” Jemma said, also crouching down next to them. “We can’t go. We’re trying to change the future. We can’t let it happen again. Last time, Fitz and I left; we can’t leave them this time. We can’t. May and Fitz were the ones who helped Lincoln to the side of the Zephyr; Fitz and I treated Lincoln’s wounds. We _can’t_ leave.”

Deke went white as he realized why Daisy was so hysterical.

“Oh my God, is this -” he began.

“It’s not happening again,” Jemma said, her voice stronger. “It’s not. It’s _not_.”

Deke dropped down to sit next to Jemma, his face also pale, but not nearly as pale as Daisy’s. He reached for Jemma’s hand; she gripped it as tightly as Daisy was clinging to Lincoln. 

“Daisy, I’m fine,” Lincoln said weakly. “It’s okay. Really.”

“It’s not,” Daisy said, her voice shaking. “It’s my fault; I should have remembered what would happen when you started fighting James on the Zephyr -”

“You came,” Lincoln reminded her. “You came. And that’s enough. It’s okay.”

His voice was strained; the pain was getting to him.

“I love you,” Daisy said, not caring that both Jemma and Deke could hear her; in fact everyone listening over the coms could hear her, everyone from Miles and Ward back at the Lighthouse to Sousa and Trip back on Hand’s Zephyr to Mack, Bobbi and Hunter still in D.C.. “I love you, I love you, I love you -”

“Calm down, Daisy,” Lincoln said softly, pressing his lips to her forehead, even though he was sweating and struggling through the pain. “I love you too. And I’m not going anywhere. I promise. Okay?”

“Okay,” Daisy whispered, resting her head against his heart so that she could hear it beating; it was proof that he was alive. “Okay. Okay...Lincoln?”

“Yes?” His voice was faint as he spoke.

“Engagement,” she said quietly. “Definitely engagement.”

Lincoln smiled weakly. “Oh yeah?” he asked.

“Yes,” Daisy said. “I don’t want to be with anyone but you. I love you. And I will always love you.”

“And I will always love you,” Lincoln whispered, but he was struggling to stay conscious. 

“Lincoln, Lincoln, stay awake, stay with me, please,” Daisy pleaded. “Look at me, look at me. You can’t leave me. Not now. Not ever. Please.”

“Like I said...I’m not going anywhere,” Lincoln said faintly, but his eyes were glazed over with pain.

Daisy looked at Jemma and Deke. “Jemma, you have to help me. Please, Jemma. There has to be something you can do. Deke! Please! One of you has to be able to do _something_!”

“Daisy, breathe, just breathe,” Deke said; he knelt at her side as Jemma moved to Lincoln’s other side, pulling up his jacket again to check his wound. “He’s going to be fine. He’s going to be _fine_.”

Deke wrapped his arm around Daisy’s shoulder, but she refused to let go of Lincoln. All the same, she allowed Deke to hold her, drawing comfort from his presence. Jemma pressed more lap pads to Lincoln’s side, but she was also watching Daisy and Deke. She hadn’t realized before, but Deke really cared about Daisy, not in a romantic way anymore, but as family. He was treating her the same way he treated Lincoln, like she was his daughter. Daisy had refused comfort from Sousa because she had attempted a romantic relationship with him and he still saw her in a romantic way, even if she didn’t see him that way anymore. Although Deke had once loved her romantically, he now loved her in a familial way, hence why she was allowing Deke to comfort her because she saw him the same way she did Coulson, Mack or Fitz; she saw him as family, maybe even as a father figure. That was a new image for Jemma to see, but she could and did accept this new development in their relationship.

“Yes, he’s going to be fine,” Jemma said, checking his wound again. “He really is; I’m not just saying that, Daisy.”

She took Lincoln’s free hand as she did so; he smiled gratefully at her. The four of them sat in a little huddled group on the floor, just waiting for them to reach the Lighthouse.




Sousa let Trip handle the negotiations with Hand, who was furious at them for stealing her Quinjet. Instead of talking to Hand, he was listening to the five on the Quinjet talk. He thought he had felt heartbreak seeing Daisy and Lincoln flirt, hearing that Daisy had chosen Lincoln, but this was the worst of all, hearing Daisy tell Lincoln that she loved him, would always love him and that she wanted to marry him. Sousa wasn’t sure if Daisy remembered that everyone on the team could hear her, but either way, it didn’t matter. Either she was so worried about Lincoln that she didn’t remember that they could hear her, or she was aware that they could hear her, but didn’t care. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

“They had to take the Quinjet,” Trip said. “Lincoln - Agent Campbell - is seriously injured. Daisy, Jemma and Deke went with them; May is the pilot. But we have another Quinjet on the roof...and there are still agents here in D.C. who need our help.”

Hand hesitated, but before anyone else could speak, Flint yelped from the communications centre. After exchanging concerned glances for a split second, Sousa, Trip and Hand sprinted into the centre, just in time to see Flint conjure a rock out of thin air and throw it at James, who had regained consciousness since Lincoln had knocked him out.

In unison, Sousa, Trip and Hand whipped out their weapons and pulled the triggers of their guns. Each fired three shots in quick unison, but all nine bullets veered off-course and smashed into the bulletproof glass and the walls of the Zephyr.

“Behind you!” Flint shouted, but Giyera was already ripping one of the computer screens off the walls and tossing it at Hand. 

Hand went flying into the wall and Trip rounded on Giyera, aiming bullets at him instead of at James. At that moment, footsteps sounded up the staircase and Banks and Khan appeared behind Giyera, releasing another stream of bullets; Giyera was forced to swing around to face them instead of targeting Sousa and Trip. 

“Miles, Ward, escape plan?!” Trip shouted as Khan ran to Hand’s side, with Banks covering him. 

The next second, the entire Zephyr tipped on its side and everyone went sliding into the wall, everyone from Hive’s Inhumans to the S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents. As everyone lost their balance, some of them lost their grip on their weapons, but the payoff was worth it; James and Giyera lost their balance as well. 

“That was me,” Miles said grimly.

Since Giyera had captured the S.H.I.E.L.D. team way back when Lincoln had left the timeline to find Daisy, Kora and Sousa by taking control of the Zephyr, it was necessary that Miles made that distinction. However, Miles’ solution turned out to cause its own set of problems; as James hit the side of the wall, he accidentally activated his powers on the Zephyr, causing part of the wall to glow red as it became explosive. 

“Get away from there!” Miles shouted, but his warning was unnecessary. The side of the plane glowed even brighter and then the bomb went off. Just before the bomb exploded, Miles switched off the coms between the team in the Quinjet and the one in the Zephyr. The last thing he wanted was for Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma, Deke and May to think that half the team had died or gotten injured in yet another explosion.




When the side of the Zephyr exploded, Bobbi, Hunter and Mack saw it happen from down below in the streets. 

“Bloody hell!” Hunter shouted, but at that moment, Miles realized that Hunter still didn’t have an earpiece when he failed to hear him in his ear. He cursed under his breath.

“Bobbi, I’m getting you a car,” he said. “You need to get to Hunter. Mack can get the ShawDrive.”

“Is Hunter in danger?” Bobbi asked, her voice dangerously calm, even as she sprinted around a corner, leaping out of the way from the Watchdogs who were still on her tail, chasing her, as opposed to shooting, because she was moving so quickly. 

“He doesn’t have access to coms,” Miles said anxiously. “I forgot and half the team just left D.C.-”

“I know,” Bobbi said, her voice now tense and stressed. “I heard about Lincoln -”

“Car on your left,” Miles said. “Go. Ward, drive. I need to deal with the team on the roof.”

Bobbi leapt into the car and Ward took off, driving the car at top speed down the street to where they could see Hunter via their cameras. If Hunter went out of camera range, finding him would be that much harder because of his lack of communication devices. 

“There are too many of Hive’s Inhumans,” Bobbi said anxiously. “I know the others had to go and I get that, but now there are what, three of us in D.C.? Five, if you count Banks and Khan?”

“Trip and Sousa are now here,” Ward said. “And you’ve forgotten about all of the teams that Hand and Price brought in.”

“Speaking of, where are Price and Coulson?” Bobbi asked.

“God dammit,” Ward muttered. “That is an excellent question to which...I do not have an answer. Miles?”

“We are too thin, we are too thin, we are too thin,” Miles muttered under his breath. “Mack, ShawDrive! Now!” 

“On it, on it,” Mack assured him, his voice stressed; he had been listening to all of them talk because at this point, listening was the best way he could catch up on all that he had missed.




Mack was seriously confused. Miles had tried to give him a rundown of everything that had happened, he was still very much behind. He had gone on a vacation after Bobbi and Hunter had gotten disavowed and now he returned to find that an ancient Inhuman had returned from another planet, there were seemingly endless Inhumans attacking them and one of his closest friends on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was now engaged. To a woman he knew nothing about except that she could throw quake pulses like he could throw baseballs. 

He reached the van that was still lying on his side and glanced inside. The ShawDrive was a mess. It was riddled with bullets; the Watchdogs had hit it alright when they had been targeting Banks and Khan. Grimacing, Mack pulled it out of the van. 

“It’s a mess,” he said. “Covered in bullets. Ideas?”

“Blow it up,” Miles said. “Rather than let Hive or the ATCU get their hands on it.”

“Are you kidding?” Mack demanded. “Do you know how much effort Deke put into making this?”

“And he can make another one, so blow it up now, unless you want Hive’s Inhumans teleporting into the Lighthouse!” Miles snapped.

Mack glanced over his shoulder, but he had to admit that Miles had a good point. Miles also knew a lot more about this whole Hive situation than he did, so if his orders were to blow up the ShawDrive, then he would blow it up. Grimacing, he struck several wires together, added some gunpowder and then tossed the teleportation device into one of the fires that lined the street from the various explosions and shootings that had happened over the last hour or so. 

He fired one bullet at the ShawDrive and it exploded in a flash of light. As it went off, Bobbi spoke to Mack. “Mack, Watchdogs will have heard that. Hunter and I are on our way to you now.”

“Great,” Mack muttered as Watchdogs pelted around the corner after him and he took off, ducking and dodging behind cars to avoid getting shot. 




The second the bomb went off, Trip thought that they were dead. All of them were thrown in every direction; he landed with a thump on his side, on a hefty piece of metal that was thankfully smooth and flat. He wasn’t sure where the others ended up, but from the sound of the explosion, they would be lucky if they hadn’t been thrown off the roof. 

“Trip, don’t move,” Kora said as he tried to roll over to regain his feet. 

_Kora? What’s going on?_

“Trust me,” Kora said. “If you never trust me again, trust me now. _Don’t move_.”

Even if Trip wanted to, he couldn’t. The air had been completely knocked out of his lungs; he was struggling to breathe, much less move. As he watched, he saw Giyera hauling James to his feet; half of the latter’s face was burned from exposure to the explosion since he had been the one closest to the blast. 

At that, Yo-Yo stepped into view. She had freed herself from the overpowering tape that Hunter had used on her and she now hauled an unconscious Flint onto her shoulder. She paused, however, when she saw Trip, Sousa, Hand, Khan and Banks.

She stepped towards Trip, but as she did so, Kora spoke.

“Leave them,” Kora spoke in broken Spanish. “Get to Katya now; she is dying. You have a 50-50 chance of saving her if you bring her home now. We need to inject her with GH.325 and I’ll do my best to save her, but you need to leave now. Take the Quinjet.”

There was silence for a moment, then Hive/Kara said, “Do it. Now.”

At that, Yo-Yo spun on her heel. The next second, she and Flint were gone; another whoosh and Yo-Yo was back on the roof, Katya in her arms. A third whoosh later and Yo-Yo had an unconscious Doctor Johnson with her and the ramp was closing. The next second, the Quinjet was taking off as Giyera lifted it off the ground and started piloting them away from D.C.. 

Over the coms, Trip heard Hive/Kara say, in a dangerous voice, “Prepare the GH. for their arrival. Kora, bring them back. If she dies, it’s on you.”

There was silence for a moment and then Kora exhaled. “You can move now.”

 _Kora, what did you do? Were you lying to me? To Hive?_

“I wasn’t lying,” Kora said quietly. “I did it to save you; they would have taken you and Sousa or gone after Simmons or….” Her voice trailed off.

_Simmons? They’re after Jemma? Why?_

“I...I can’t,” Kora said, her voice strained. “I can’t tell you. Trip, I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.”

_What is wrong, Kora? Why can you tell me some things and can’t tell me others?_

“I don’t know,” Kora said. “I really don’t. I wish I knew; I would tell you, but I can’t. And I don’t know, so even if I could, I don’t know the answer.”

_How can I trust anything that you’re saying?_

There was silence for a moment and Trip felt a horrible wave of guilt. Had he just pushed her away? His question was valid, but at the same time, by distrusting her, he might just have lost her for good.

 _Kora? Are you still there? Kora?_

“I’m here,” Kora said, her voice still tense. “You still there?”

_Yes. I’m sorry. I -_

“Trip, you okay?” 

Sousa was standing over him and Trip realized all of a sudden that he had been staring into space for a while, talking in his head. He was actually becoming quite good at it, at concentrating his thoughts and responses directly at Kora. Unfortunately, Sousa was now breaking his concentration.

“I’m...I’m fine,” Trip said, allowing Sousa to help him to his feet.

“We need to get away from here,” Sousa said grimly. “Why do you think they left?”

_Kora? You there?_

“I’m here,” Kora said. “But you need to concentrate. Sousa already knows that I’m in your head; if you make him suspicious, he might turn on you.”

_Why?_

“This has happened before,” Kora said. “Daisy communicated with Lincoln via the television in his room in containment and broke him out under the pretense that they could just leave everything behind and have their happily-ever-after, but in reality, although she was trying to lie to him to bring him to Hive, he was the one tricking her because he sent Lash after Hive.” She paused. “Now don’t take this as me trying and failing to trick you, okay? And don’t send Lexi after me.”

Trip couldn’t help laughing at Kora’s statement. Unfortunately, Sousa was still within earshot; he shot Trip a suspicious glance. Trip shook his head.

“Ignore me,” he said. “It’s the shock.”

Sousa eyed him suspiciously, but at that moment, Hand staggered over to them. 

“Where did they go?” she asked. “Why did they leave?”

“No idea,” Sousa said wearily. “But we should get moving before they come back.”

“Agreed,” Hand said. “We’ll go and pick up Coulson and Price if we can find them.” She staggered over to the car that Banks and Khan had driven to the roof; the apartment complex and multi-storey carpark were connected via a strip of concrete. “Let’s go.”




“Director Shaw, thank you for joining us,” Price said. She, Coulson and Hand were standing in her private offices of the ATCU headquarters; after the disaster in D.C., they had all convened at the ATCU headquarters. In the medlab downstairs, Trip was treating Sousa, Bobbi, Hunter, Mack, Khan and Banks, all of whom had survived the various explosions. The Watchdogs had been driven off by S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents but there had been many injuries and some casualties on all sides. “We have some important things to discuss.”

“Agreed,” Deke said, his holographic form flickering. “I apologize for not being there in-person, but -”

“We understand,” Price said, her voice tight and hoarse; there were bruises around her neck from where Doctor Johnson had grabbed her. “How is Lincoln - Agent Campbell?”

“We’re still on the way back to the Lighthouse,” Deke said. “He’s stable for now.”

There was a thin current of underlying stress in Deke’s voice, but he kept it remarkably under control. 

“How are the rest of my agents in D.C.?” Deke asked.

“Getting treatment,” Price said. “Agents Triplett, Morse, Hunter, Mackenzie and Sousa are all on-site. The Watchdogs have gone back underground - for now - and the rogue Inhumans have gone. Everything is under control, at least for now.”

“Thank you,” Deke said, relieved; she nodded in response. 

Coulson spoke up, his eyes roving between Deke and Price as he spoke. “We’re going to give a press conference in a short while,” he said. “Rose is going to testify that Agents Campbell and Johnson saved her life. I’m sure Agent Lydon has video footage of Agent Johnson catching Rose when Doctor Johnson threw her over the railing?”

“Yes,” Miles said in Deke’s ear. “I do.”

“Yes,” Deke repeated. “He does.”

“Good,” Price said. “That’ll satisfy the public for now, especially since it was in a very public location. Agent Lydon, find some footage of Agent Campbell attacking the rogue Inhumans, will you?”

Deke raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him a sceptical look.

“Director Shaw, I would be stupid to not assume that Agent Lydon is listening right now,” Price said. “He is the one who discovered the truth about Linc - Agent Campbell’s birth files, isn’t he? And was concealing it from you. Agent Lydon, do you have footage of Agent Campbell attacking the rogue Inhumans?”

There was silence for a moment and then Miles’ holographic image fizzled into view as well. 

“Hi, Price, Coulson, Hand, Deke,” Miles said. 

Deke flared his nostrils at him and Miles shrugged in response. “Faster this way, Deke,” he said. He turned to look at Price. “Yes, I do. There’s footage of James - the explosive Inhuman - blowing up parts of the city and also footage of Lincoln taking him out. You can air that footage when you give your conference.” He paused. “And I should also have footage of them fighting Giyera - he’s the telekinetic.”

“Excellent,” Price said. “Director Shaw, if you could be present at the ceremony -”

“Depends on how quickly you want the conference to happen,” Deke said. “I’m not in D.C. at the moment.”

“You could be present holographically,” Hand suggested. “If the conference is going to be today or tomorrow.” She glanced at Price as she spoke, who nodded. 

“Likely, the conference will be tomorrow,” she said. She glanced at her watch. “Or maybe sometime today. It’s almost five in the morning. We will air footage over the news tonight, clearing everything on Agents Campbell and Johnson -” She cut herself off. “Is she still Agent Johnson?”

“What?” Deke and Miles asked simultaneously.

“I saw her ring,” Price said. “Are they married?”

Deke glanced behind himself in the cockpit of the Quinjet where Daisy and Lincoln were huddled on the floor, talking in low voices. Now that Daisy’s panic had calmed down, Jemma had moved aside to give them space. While Deke did not know what they were talking about, he knew that they were engaged for real now. But even when they eventually would get married, he knew Daisy well enough to know that she would keep her own name, the same way Jemma was still called Simmons by some of the others on the team. Their names were part of them. 

“They’re engaged,” Deke said. “I don’t think she’ll change her name when they get married, but either way...her name is still currently Agent Johnson.”

“Right,” Price said as Miles suppressed a snicker of laughter. 

Hand spoke over them before they could make things too personal. “Deke, what do you want to do about the metal-manipulating Inhuman in ATCU custody? Do you want to keep him on-site or ship him off to the Fridge?”

That was an excellent question. Deke did not know if Hive would go back for Joey. Clearly Hive valued some Inhumans over others; Yo-Yo had chosen to try to save Katya. The question was whether they could bait the trap well enough for them to capture whomever Hive sent to rescue him…if Hive chose to try to rescue him.

“Keep him there,” Jemma said behind him; she had just switched off his microphone so that those in D.C. could not hear her speak. “The gel matrix won’t last. It won’t hold him. If you send him to the Fridge, you’ll just open yourself up to an attack there. You can’t afford to lose any more bases, Deke.”

Deke knew that. He nodded at Jemma, then turned the microphone back on. “Keep him in ATCU custody,” he said. “Put a lot of guards on any and all the Inhumans there. The last thing we want is Hive attacking and swaying all of them.”


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61**

If they had thought that Ward had flown the Quinjet quickly, May was even faster. None of them knew how she did it, but within forty minutes, they were back at the Lighthouse and Jemma was rushing Lincoln into the O.R.. Ward and Miles were waiting for them; their faces pale and tense. It was a good thing that they had helped Jemma and Lincoln operate on May, because this time, they had more experience. Within seconds, the four of them were gone, leaving Deke to stay with Daisy outside the operating room, while May went to check on Lexi, who was asleep. 

“You should sleep too, Daisy,” Deke said; she was hugging her knees, hunched into a ball. He hadn’t seen her so emotional before, ever; it was a testament to how much she loved Lincoln. He could only imagine how much pain she had been in when she had lost him in the original timeline.

“I can’t,” Daisy whispered, even as she twisted her engagement ring around her finger. “I can’t.”

Deke could understand that. He was anxious enough about Lincoln, but he had to hold it together for Daisy’s sake. It wouldn’t help her if he fell apart too. 

“He’s going to be okay,” Deke promised. “Kora showed you your future together, remember? It’s going to come true.”

“Kora’s been wrong before,” Daisy whispered. “She’s always said that her knowledge isn’t fixed.”

“How often has Kora been wrong?” Deke asked. “About you and Lincoln, I mean. Was she wrong about Bucharest and the singularity?”

The corners of Daisy’s lips twitched. “No, she was right,” she said, a faint smile crossing her face. 

“There we go,” Deke said. “He’s going to be fine, Daisy, he really is.”

Daisy took a shaky breath. “I can’t lose him, Deke,” she whispered. “I really can’t. Not after everything. Not after...”

“I know,” Deke said quietly. “I know.”

He reached out to her and hugged her tightly. She rested her head on his shoulder, even surprising herself by how much she wanted Deke’s comfort at the moment. He, of all people, understood how worried she was about Lincoln.

“So,” Deke said, tightening his arm around her shoulders. “You want to tell me what you want for your wedding?”

Daisy laughed, wiping her tears away. “What, Deke, you going to go out and buy a suit and a dress and Zima and rings and conjure up a magical enchanted forest out of a Fear Dimension?”

Deke shrugged. “Well...we are at the Lighthouse.”

Daisy’s smile dropped as she realized what he meant. “Wow...wow.”

Deke looked at her. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I mean...I know you love him and I know you guys are engaged now, but if you’re not ready to marry him, you don’t have to, you know. He would understand. He knows you better than anyone else here, even Jemma -”

“It’s not that,” Daisy said, waving her hand. “Really, Deke, it’s not that. I want to marry him. I don’t want to live without him. I love him.” She paused. “It’s just...when we get married, I want everyone else here too. Not just your team, but our old team. Coulson and May. Mack and Yo-Yo. Fitz. Alya and Owen. Maybe even the original timeline Bobbi and Hunter, if that can happen without seriously messing up the timelines. Lincoln’s sister, Amanda.” She stopped talking again, not wanting to bring up Rosalind Price or her biological father; she knew that mentioning Price would not sit well with Deke. She didn't much care for Price, but she was still Lincoln's biological mother and he might want her there, even though she doubted it. “I know it’s been ages since we’ve talked about it, but do you...do you think you might one day soon be able to communicate with the original timeline? The message you got from Fitz….”

Deke nodded. “I haven’t had much time to try,” he confessed. “But I promise I will.” He paused. “Do you want me to work on it now? Or do you want me to stay?”

“Stay,” Daisy said quietly. “Please stay.” 

“Okay,” Deke said. “I will.”

They sat there in silence, neither speaking. After a moment, Daisy extended a hand to him and Deke took it. There was nothing romantic in the gesture whatsoever, it was literally just Daisy seeking comfort from someone who loved Lincoln as much as she did, albeit in another way. Deke squeezed her hand reassuringly and she gave him a faint smile in return. Neither of them said anything - talking was too exhausting - but the presence of each other was comforting in and of itself. It was only when Miles came out of the operating room, looking almost as exhausted as Daisy and Deke felt, that Daisy reacted for the first time since she had asked Deke to stay.

“He’s going to be fine,” Miles said, before either of them could speak. “He’s asleep right now because of the meds, but he’s going to be just fine. Jemma’s a miracle worker; she operated at the same time as manipulating your medical robot, Deke.”

“Oh, thank God,” Daisy whispered. “Can I see him?”

“She and Ward are setting him up in a medical room,” Miles said. “They sent me out to give you the good news first. You can go there in a few minutes; they’ll be ready for you then.”

“I’m not waiting,” Daisy said, leaping to her feet; Deke caught her arm. 

“Daisy, just wait a minute,” he began, but Daisy was already tugging free. 

She burst into the medical section of the Lighthouse, just in time to see Ward coming out of one of the medical rooms. He looked worn out, just like all of them, but he managed to smile when he saw her.

“In there,” he said, pointing to the first room. “Jemma’s in there with him -”

Daisy didn’t even wait for Ward to finish speaking. She hurried in through the door, just in time to see Jemma fit a nasal cannula into Lincoln’s nostrils.

“Daisy!” Jemma said, even as Daisy flew to Lincoln’s side, grabbing his hand, and perching on the side of his bed. Her eyes flitted over his unconscious form as she stared at him, pressing his hand to her lips. 

“He’s going to be fine,” Jemma said quickly. “He’ll be awake in a few hours. He’s only unconscious right now because he needs to rest. He’s exhausted. You are too.”

“I’m not leaving,” Daisy said, correctly interpreting what Jemma was trying to say. “Would you leave Fitz?”

“No,” Jemma said, smiling faintly. “Okay. I’ll get you a chair. At least sit in that, okay?”

“Thank you,” Daisy said, glancing up quickly as Jemma carried a chair over and set it down beside Lincoln’s bed. “For everything.”

Jemma squeezed her shoulder. “It’s the least I could do,” she said. “You’ve saved my life so many times...you’ve done everything you could ever do to help me and Fitz be together...saving Lincoln is the least I could do.” 

Jemma made to leave, but Daisy grabbed her arm and hugged her tightly.

“Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she whispered.

“Any time,” Jemma whispered, hugging her back as fiercely as she could.

“Is he okay?” Deke asked, appearing in the doorway. He hurried to Lincoln’s other side, taking his other hand. 

“He’s going to be fine,” Jemma said as Daisy let go of her, turning back to stare at Lincoln’s unconscious face. 

Jemma moved over to Deke’s side and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Deke put his hand on top of hers and she smiled at him. After they stood there for a moment, Jemma said quietly to Deke, “Deke, can I have a word with you?”

Quietly, they moved into the corridor, although Deke was still looking at Daisy and Lincoln inside the medical room; Daisy paid no attention to them, instead focusing on watching Lincoln, gently tracing lines on his hand that she was holding. 

“What is it?” Deke asked anxiously. “Were there complications with Lincoln’s surgery? Is he in a coma? Is he going to wake up?”

“He’s going to be fine,” Jemma said quickly. “There were absolutely no complications; we stopped the bleeding and repaired the wounds and used a skin graft over the injuries when we were done treating the burns. We even used the healing pod to repair his burns after we cleaned them. He’s just unconscious right now because of the anesthesia that we put on him. He’s going to be fine. Really.”

Deke exhaled in relief. “Thank goodness for that,” he said. He paused. “What is it then? What do you need me to do?”

Jemma hesitated. “I need you to help me set up communications with the original timeline,” she said.

“Now?” Deke asked, staring at Daisy and Lincoln and then shifting his gaze back to his grandmother. “Why now?”

“We need to work on the Inhuman vaccine, the antitoxin against Hive, the immunity against Hive, figure out Lexi’s powers post-Terrigenesis…and those are only the beginning,” Jemma said. “Doctor Johnson went all Mr Hyde on us and Lincoln obviously needs his rest right now. I can’t figure out all this stuff on my own. I need Fitz to help me.” She paused. “And besides...I don’t think I’m the only one who heard that Daisy and Lincoln engaged now. And Daisy would not want to get married without the others here to witness it...even in holograph form.” She hesitated. “And I want to explain to the others her decision...even though I think all of them would understand. I don’t want Lincoln to face animosity from the team again or for Daisy to have to explain her choice to the team the same way she had to explain it to me. It would break their hearts to know how much she has been hurting all these years and it would break her again to make her explain it to them. I want to spare her that pain.”

While it was an exaggeration on Jemma’s part to say that Daisy had been hurting ever since Lincoln’s death since there had obviously been times when she had been happy, it was true that Daisy had never stopped loving him. Deke knew from what he, Lincoln, Sousa and Jemma had talked about after Lincoln’s Barrel of Monkeys rescue that the original team had never been too fond of Lincoln, but it was very kind of Jemma to do the explaining for Daisy and Lincoln. Almost too kind. Deke knew Jemma…. He knew that there was a reason behind her extreme generosity towards them. She was feeling guilty about _something_. 

Deke frowned slightly at her. “Jemma...why...is there a reason why you...I mean….”

Jemma saw his difficulty and sighed. Deke hadn’t been around when she and Daisy had had it out in the corridor of the Zephyr, so she had to do all the explaining again. With a surreptitious glance in the room at Daisy and Lincoln, she pulled Deke aside, back into the hallway, where they sat down on the floor to talk.

“Deke, it’s complicated,” Jemma said. “You weren’t around when Daisy and Lincoln were together, but well, you know she was in love with him at least two years after his death. She told you about that. But what I didn’t know...what she didn’t tell me was that all those years while she was helping me and Fitz be together, going to deep space with me to help me find Fitz, taking on endless LMDs because she knew we belonged together, doing whatever it took to make sure that we survived...well, part of the reason why she never told me that she was still in love with Lincoln all those years later was because I got exactly what she wanted. She wanted Lincoln back and she never got him. Not with LMDs, not with the Framework, not with alternate timelines, not even with the Monoliths. But Fitz also died and I got another timeline version of him back and she never got Lincoln back...not till now. And I got everything that Aida offered her in the Framework: my love, a happy and peaceful life with him, kids…and that was Daisy’s deepest desire. She’s always wanted a family. And although the team is her family...she’s wanted more than that. Daisy is the closest thing to a sister that I have and I never realized that she was hurting so much. Granted, she was deliberately hiding it from me, but still...I feel so guilty, so so guilty that I never realized the truth earlier.”

At this point, Jemma was near tears herself. Deke realized all at once that it wasn’t just the guilt that had been weighing on her, it was the fact that she had been holding Lincoln’s life in her hands for the last hour and a half. If Lincoln had died again, Jemma wouldn’t have been able to live with herself, knowing that she had been unable to save Daisy’s love after everything that Daisy had done for her. 

“Daisy once told me that she would do anything to save me and Fitz,” she continued. “Because she knew that we belonged together. Well, this is my turn to help her the same way. I need and will do whatever it takes to save Lincoln. Because she’s done that for me and Fitz time and time and time again.” She paused. “I know that Lincoln is as good as your son...and seeing you two earlier...I think you love Daisy like a daughter now too. That’s good. Daisy is always going to be my sister; I don’t know if I could ever think of her as a great-granddaughter and I don’t want her to call me “Great-Nana” - gosh, that sounds weird - but anyway. I just want to help our friends.” 

Deke reached for Jemma’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Jemma gave him a sad smile in response, her expression a combination of concern, anxiety, guilt and sadness.

“I know that you can help,” Deke said softly. “The steps you take don’t need to be big.”

Despite her sadness, Jemma couldn’t help giving him a faint smile as she completed the now-iconic phrase. “They just need to take you in the right direction,” she whispered.

Deke nodded. “We can save them,” he said quietly. “We can do it. After I set up the communications with the original timeline and you and Bobo figure out all the med stuff and you explain everything to the team, all of us are going to sit down and plot the whole thing out. A sort of reenactment. Figure out who went where and who did what and figure out how to stop it. We can do that. Right?”

Jemma burst into semi-hysterical tears, mixed with laughter. “Oh my God, Deke, if only it were that simple,” she said. “We tried that once. Tried. Fitz was supposed to come in right on the heels of Doug, May was supposed to kick me in the face, Lincoln played the ‘freak-out and go for the alarm’ guy. We were trying to see if May could go to the Transia Corporation instead of Daisy and save Charles from dying. But it didn’t work. Charles still died, Lincoln still ended up with a head injury from Giyera, Coulson still shot a guard who was going to kill Daisy, and Fitz and I still held hands in the snow. That time...well, the future was inevitable.”

She sighed again. “Besides, even if we were to plot out everything, where everyone was, everything, we don’t know who is who. And do you really want to make Daisy and Lincoln relive it again? Today was bad enough, watching James blow a hole in Lincoln’s side. He did that in the original timeline and then less than five minutes later, Lincoln sacrificed his life for Daisy. I’ll be intensely surprised if they get out of this without PTSD or something.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “Daisy and Lincoln are the only two who know exactly what happened in the Quinjet after Daisy went there. Do you honestly want to ask them where and what they did that ended up with Lincoln dying in space? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

Jemma didn’t sound angry, more sad, frustrated and upset, but she had a very good point. Deke sighed.

“You don’t know how he ended up in that Quinjet? Does Bobo?” he asked.

“No one but them knows exactly how it happened,” Jemma said quietly. “No one.”

Deke was silent for a moment. “What if...what if, just as a precaution, we were to ask them? After they get over this trauma, I mean. They could show us and everyone would watch. To see what we have to do to defeat Hive?”

Jemma shook her head. “We can’t ask everyone on the team to die for them, Deke.” 

Deke sighed. “I’m not asking everyone on the team to die for them. I just want everyone to know what they have to do to defeat Hive. What if someone else gets a hole blown in their side and they end up as Lincoln in this timeline, but they don’t know what they’re supposed to do to defeat him? The more we know about the future, the better.”

Jemma grimaced. “I don’t know if anyone or everyone would see it that way, Deke.”

Deke rested his chin on his arms grimly. “How is this fair?” he asked. “It’s always Daisy and Lincoln who know the future; they’re the two who know what happens in the Quinjet; they’re the two who know how one of the team dies. How are we supposed to stop one of them from dying if it’s only them time and again who knows?”

Jemma didn’t say anything for a long moment and then, finally, at long last, she said, “They aren’t the only ones. Kora’s seen the vision as well.”




While Deke and Jemma were piecing together the communications device with the aid of the device that had originally transported Lincoln to the original timeline, back at the ATCU headquarters, things were going...interestingly.

Hand was discussing matters with Price and Coulson and while Deke’s team weren’t prisoners, they certainly weren’t extremely welcome guests either. Bobbi, Hunter, Khan and Banks were on Joey-guard duty at the moment, while Trip was tasked with updating Mack on basically everything that he had missed. That left Sousa with a head full of questions and concerns and nothing he could do about it. It didn’t suit him to sit still; the three of them were in the medical centre; Trip had treated them for their injuries as best he could, all whilst explaining seemingly endlessly to Mack. Sousa did his best to concentrate on what Trip was saying; listening to things that he already knew was preferable to his own dark thoughts.

“Agent Triplett,” a voice said and Trip, Sousa and Mack all looked up.

“Sharon!” Trip said, standing up and hugging her cheerfully. “You look good!”

The woman standing next to him was blonde, beautiful and familiar in a strange way. Trip gestured to Sousa and Mack.

“Sharon, you remember Mack,” he said. “Sousa, meet Sharon Carter. She’s a childhood friend of mine. My grandfather was friends with her great-aunt.”

Oh. The great-niece of Peggy. This was...a serious ‘uh oh’ moment. 

“I didn’t come here to see you,” Sharon Carter said. “I came to speak with Lincoln because apparently he thinks impersonating Steve Rogers is acceptable to gain access to my great-aunt.” She paused. “But seeing as Agent Sousa is here, I can give him a dressing down instead.”

Trip suppressed a wry grin, Mack looked confused and Sousa inwardly groaned. This was shaping up into a hell of a day. If he wasn’t careful, he would be, as Daisy and Kora would put it, _busted_.

“I -” Sousa began, but Sharon interrupted.

“Where did you come from, Agent Sousa?” she asked.

“I’m sorry?” Sousa asked, on edge; Trip tensed next to him.

“Although most of us keep our legacies under the radar from S.H.I.E.L.D. so as not to get preferential treatment, all of us know each other,” she said. “Trip, me, Agent Thompson….” She paused. “And clearly you are a legacy, seeing as you resemble your ancestor very strongly and Trip here introduced me as Peggy Carter’s great-niece. Most legacies are hidden so that we don’t get accused of favouritism.”

Oh no. Sousa was in for it. Especially since he was pretty sure that Deke and Miles hadn’t set up a fake identity for him yet.

“It’s a little...complicated,” Sousa lied smoothly. “I was an orphan. Bounced around from foster home to foster home, so that’s why I wasn’t known to you and the other ‘legacy’ descendants. Deke - Director Shaw to you - found me as an adult and brought me into the fold. I only found out my family name last year, hence when I changed my name.”

Sharon eyed him, but despite her antagonistic appearance, it seemed as though she might actually be believing him.

“You have no records whatsoever,” she said.

“They were redacted by S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Sousa said. “If you were unable to access them, then I guess your clearance level wasn’t high enough, Agent Carter.”

“Damn,” Trip muttered under his breath. “Cool it, man.”

Both Sousa and Sharon ignored Trip; Sharon crossed her arms over her chest.

“Where do you get off visiting my grand-aunt and pretending to be Bucky Barnes?” she asked.

“I beg your pardon,” Sousa said, attempting to appear offended by her accusation. “Lincoln - Agent Campbell - went there for research purposes. As part of a mission authorized by Director Shaw. I went along as his partner. And as to the nature of that mission, I’m afraid that is classified, Agent Carter.”

Sharon bristled, but she seemed less doubtful of his story now. She pursed her lips and then turned to Trip.

“Well,” she said. “Regardless of Agent Sousa’s...story, I _have_ been authorized to tell you that I am to fly you to the Lighthouse tonight. Agents Morse and Hunter are to remain here in D.C. along with Agents Khan and the ATCU agent Banks, but if the three of you are ready to leave, I can bring you back to your team in about an hour.”

“I thought very few agents know where the Lighthouse is,” Sousa said and Sharon rolled her eyes at him.

“Agent Sousa, although you have deemed my S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance very low, it is, in actuality, very high,” she said. “I have been to the Lighthouse before, hence how I know about its existence and why I am the one flying you there.”

“I can fly the Quinjet, Sharon,” Trip said, waving a hand. “You don’t need to come.”

Sharon eyed him. “Hand insisted.”

Trip grinned wryly. “Oh, if _Hand_ insisted, then,” he said. 

Sharon shot him a _look_. “Trip, you do know that she is my commanding officer, the way Director Shaw is yours.”

Trip smirked. “Whatever you say, Sharon.”

Sousa wasn’t sure he liked what Trip was implying, but he _was_ glad that it was clear that Trip and Sharon had a brother-sister style relationship. At first, he had been doubtful about that, especially since it was clear that Trip and Kora had very strong feelings for one another, but now their banter made it clear that they considered one another siblings. He briefly wondered why they hadn’t ended up on the same team, although he supposed Deke had had his reasons when making the teams.

Sharon shot them both a sceptical look. “Wheels up in five,” she said. “Good to see you again, Mack.”

She walked away, chin upright, shoulders thrown back. 

Trip smirked as he, Mack and Sousa watched her go. When she was out of earshot, he turned to Sousa.

“You, my man, are very lucky,” he said. “I thought you were busted. Where did that amazing story come from?”

Sousa looked at him. “That was Daisy’s life story. With Coulson instead of Deke. Literally.”

“Damn, fine,” Trip muttered and patted him on the arm. “Good going there, Sousa. In more ways than one.”

“What?” Sousa frowned at him, confused. 

“She likes you,” Trip said, smirking. “I’ve known Sharon since we were in diapers and let me tell you this: she likes you.”

Sousa grimaced, but inwardly, he was smiling. It was nice to be liked. Even though he was never, ever going to start something with Sharon. His relationship world was a mess enough as it was. The last thing he should be doing was to start something with Peggy’s great-niece. After Peggy, then Daisy, well, trying something with Sharon would just be asking for trouble at this point. 

Mack eyed them both. “I have a feeling this is another long story,” he said.

Sousa and Trip exchanged glances. 

“We’ll be here till tomorrow,” Trip decided. “If Sousa decides to spill everything too.”




“Alisha, take the GH.325,” Hive/Kara said. “Meet them in the air and give Katya the injection.” He handed her a vial of medicine. “Bring Katya, Yo-Yo, Flint and Doctor Johnson back to Afterlife and send James and Giyera back to D.C..”  
“Jemma Simmons is no longer in D.C.,” Kora said from where she was having her blood drained yet again. She was reclining in a chair, her face pale and literally bloodless. She knew that Hive was after a host for Robin, but sending James and Giyera to the Lighthouse would be a disaster in the making.

Hive/Kara turned to stare at her with piercing eyes. The next second, Kora screamed as the parasites in her head sent a wave of agonizing pain through her skull. Doctor Radcliffe rushed to her side; he had been at the computer monitor, checking the progress of the blood transfusion, but at her scream, he hurried back to her.

“Her heart is beating too fast,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “She’s going to have a heart attack if you don’t stop soon. She doesn’t have enough blood in her system at the moment.”

Hive/Kara turned to look at Radcliffe, who shrank back at the venomous expression in his eyes. Alisha made no move to go to either Kora or Doctor Radcliffe’s defense, but that made sense; she was completely and totally under Hive’s control. Radcliffe backed away, but instead of doing something to him, Hive released his hold on Kora. Kora relaxed in the chair, breathing heavily, sweat all over her forehead as she lay still. Her face was as white as a sheet and Radcliffe rushed to remove the needle from her arm, taping gauze over the injection site.

“Tell me, Kora,” Hive/Kara said. “You said there were two female agents who would make acceptable hosts. Who is the second?”  
Kora’s hands clenched into fists at the thought of the pain. The only thing she was grateful for was that they were far away from her communication system; she could not fathom Trip overhearing the agony she was in. 

“Just tell him!” Radcliffe urged. “You cannot take another treatment like that.”

Kora exhaled out a long breath. “Agent Bobbi Morse,” she said, hating herself even as the words spewed out of her mouth, unbidden. “She has some knowledge of the other timeline; she has a biology degree; she’s a much stronger fighter than Jemma. And she’s in D.C..”

Kora hated that she had had to choose between Jemma and Bobbi. The worst part about it was that she knew Deke, if forced to, would most likely make the same choice she had. He had had years to get to know Jemma as his grandmother, but he had only realized that Bobbi was his grandmother as well a day or two ago. While he cared about Bobbi as a member of his team and an agent, and he obviously cared about her as his grandmother, he was still getting used to the idea of Bobbi being his grandmother. He loved Jemma as his grandmother for decades. When this was all over, if they both survived, Kora knew that Deke was going to hate her, maybe even more than she hated herself for making that choice.

“You have your orders then,” Hive/Kara told Alisha, who nodded. “Bring her husband as well. A little incentive goes a long way.”

Kora groaned as the images in her head shifted; the timeline they were heading down changed as new decisions were made. The visions were overwhelming, especially with the pain from her most recent torture and the blood-draining process. As Alisha left the room to prep the Quinjet and leave Afterlife, Radcliffe checked Kora’s pulse and shook his head.

“It’s weak,” he said. “Thready. You need to rest. Eat. Sleep.”

“I should go with Alisha to D.C.,” Kora said, struggling to sit up. “I can heal Katya if they get the GH.325 into her system fast enough -”

“No,” Hive said simply and coolly. “You’re staying.”

The look in his eyes made it clear that this was not up for debate. Kora was more valuable to him than Katya was and Kora’s sway was complicated at best. Hive wanted to keep her in Afterlife where he could keep an eye on her. Kora nodded once, subsiding, but still attempted to stand up. 

“If I’m not going to go to D.C., then at least let me monitor the team’s progress,” Kora said. “Both Alisha’s one-woman army and the one coming from D.C..”

“At least drink this first,” Radcliffe said, forcing a sugary soda into her hand. “You need lots of fluids. And sugar.”

Kora took the can from him and drained half the drink in one gulp. As she sat there, relieved at the sudden intake of sugar, Hive turned to Radcliffe. 

“Show me the progress you made on my children,” he said.

Radcliffe glanced at Hive and then said, “Alisha rounded up several Watchdogs from nearby Nepal. While they aren’t...the volunteers I was looking for...I mean...well, they’ll -”

“They’ll work just fine,” Raina said smoothly as she entered the room. “The experiment will work. I’ve seen it.”

Hive looked up at her. “Where is the child?”

“With Alisha,” Raina said. “One of the Alishas, I should say.”

Hive nodded, before turning back to Doctor Radcliffe. “Your experiment had better work, Doctor,” he said, slowly manipulating the fingers on one hand so that his hand closed into a fist. “Otherwise, Doctor, the next experiment will be you.”

“No, no, no, you need me to make the experiment work!” Doctor Radcliffe began, but Hive/Kara cut him off.

“I don’t,” he said icily. “I have Raina, I have Doctor Johnson, both much more experienced in the workings of the Inhuman body than you. Fail me, Doctor, and your confidence in your next formula better be 100% because it’ll be tested on _you_.”

Doctor Radcliffe gulped audibly, but his expression was staunch and determined as he nodded, despite the fear in his eyes. 

“Well, let’s get started then,” he said and with that, Hive, Kora, Raina and Doctor Radcliffe left the makeshift laboratory, heading for one of the transition houses which would be used to literally, transition the humans into Inhumans...or Primitives.




“Miles, buddy, you need to create a cover for Sousa,” Trip said under his breath as they entered the Quinjet to fly to the Lighthouse. “Sharon Carter is digging into his past because he went to visit Peggy yesterday with Lincoln and the three of us are ‘legacies’.”

Miles groaned. “Seriously, can we just catch one break?” he asked in a low voice. “Just one? I just got out of Lincoln’s O.R. and I am _done_.” 

He really did sound exhausted and Trip didn’t blame him. All of them seriously needed to sleep. He couldn’t remember the last time any of them had slept. It had just been one thing after another and all of them were practically running on coffee and adrenaline. 

“How’s Lincoln?” Trip asked as he sat down in one of the side seats of the Quinjet, Mack in the cockpit with Sharon; Sousa opposite him. While Trip had tried to coerce Sousa into sitting in the cockpit with Sharon, he had refused; Trip suspected lingering feelings for Daisy behind it and/or concern that she was going to try to pry into more of his history. 

“He’s going to be fine,” Miles said and opposite him, Sousa exhaled a sigh of relief. “He’s asleep right now; Daisy’s with him. Deke and Jemma are working on something, Lexi is asleep here with me and May, Ward and Koenig are repairing the Quinjets. Please don’t bust the one you’re in because I think we have enough wrecked aircrafts as it is.”

“Thanks for the update, Miles,” Trip said. He paused. “Sousa, you want to tell Miles the details for your documents? They’re going to be permanent, mind, so you’d better think fast if there’s stuff you’re not sure about.”

Sousa nodded grimly. “Sure.”

“Choose wisely, Sousa,” Miles warned. “Sharon Carter is an excellent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and if she’s going digging, then she’s going _digging_. These records are going to be as permanent as Daisy’s. So if you don’t want to end up in an engagement without realizing that it’s going on your permanent records because that is your cover story, don’t tell me to put that in.” He paused. “We’re just lucky they got engaged anyway.”

It was obvious that Miles was referring to Daisy and Lincoln’s cover story in Bucharest and subsequent engagement. Although Sousa was happy for them and was as over Daisy as he was going to get without time, he still didn’t like the reminder. 

“Miles?” Sousa said. “Shut up.”

“Ah.” Miles grimaced on the other end of the line. “My bad. Seriously sleep-deprived here. Running on maybe an hour of sleep. And coffee. Fire away; let’s get started.”




“Okay, get this,” Deke said to Jemma as they worked on the machine in the med lab, close enough to Lincoln’s room so that they could run in there in an emergency. “While I love the Lighthouse and I’m pretty sure Lincoln and Daisy do too, I think Afterlife would work better as a wedding venue. It’s where they met, isn’t it?”

“You restored Afterlife?” Jemma asked, inserting one piece into the main machine that fit like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle “That _would_ be perfect.” She paused. “But do you think we’re all going to fly to Nepal before this is over? They might just want to get married more quickly here.” 

Deke shrugged. “Yeah, I restored Afterlife,” he said. “After we found out about Hive’s return, we evacuated it and all the Inhumans there went into hiding, but it’s still standing. There’s that one hill...it has the best view -”

Jemma smiled. “Daisy told me about that,” she admitted. “It’s the place where she first realized that Inhuman powers don’t have to be terrifying. Lincoln levitated her using his powers...and between you and me, I think that might have been when she first started developing a crush on him.”

Deke laughed. “We’re hopeless. We’re gossiping about their love lives like nobody’s business.”

Jemma smirked, twisting two wires together to join a circuit. “Well, if you managed to find time for all of us to go to Nepal, I think Daisy and Lincoln would love you forever,” she said. She hesitated. “They already love you.”

Deke caught her hesitation. “You’re thinking about when you leave, aren’t you?” he said quietly as he used a mini-screwdriver to adjust a screw on a piece of circuitry. “You don’t know if Daisy wants to go too.”

Jemma pressed her lips together into a thin line. “She’s family, Deke,” she said. “But...so are you. I don’t know what she wants to do. I know Hive has Flint and we have no idea where his headquarters are or anything, but…well...if we get Flint back, wherever Daisy and Lincoln choose to live, they could always visit either timeline.” She paused, looking down at the machinery in her hands. “Even if they were to return to our timeline, they would likely only see the team once a year. Which they can do from here even, thanks to this machine we’re working on right now. Here...they have another family. Your team. You especially. I just...as much as I want Daisy to come back to our timeline, I don’t want you to be alone. Have there seriously been no women in your life since Daisy and Sequoia and Snowflake? Can I set you up with someone?”

“Nana!” Deke protested, making Jemma laugh. “Can we talk about something else other than my love life?”

Jemma smiled wryly. “What do you want to talk about then?” she asked. “While we work?”

“How much time passed in the original timeline while you and Fitz were trying to figure out a way back?” Deke asked. “How did you guys find Bobbi? Do the others - LMD Coulson, May, Mack, Yo-Yo - know that you’re here? Who’s your tether in the timeline? How are my mum and dad getting along? How old are they now?”

“Whoa, slow down,” Jemma said, fitting the piece of machinery she had been working on into the side of the machine. “One question at a time. It’s a long story. By the time we finish working on the machine, you’ll know the whole thing.”


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62**

**Original Timeline - January 2021**

“So wait, you’re telling me that Hive is back?” Fitz asked as he, Jemma, Alya and Bobbi sat around the table in their home in Perthshire. “And _Lincoln_ got the vision from Charles Hinton that predicts that someone on the team is going to die?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Bobbi said, cradling her son to her chest; she had barely let go of him since emerging from the containment module pod. The only time she had voluntarily let go of him had been when Jemma had been giving him a check-up for injuries sustained during the jump. “I don’t know why you’re so sceptical about my story. Lincoln told me about the vision just before we got the distress call from the others saying that Giyera had overrun the Zephyr. We had no one else to turn to, so Lincoln decided to use the emergency device that Deke gave him to recruit the Secret Warriors.”

“Oh hell,” Fitz said as Jemma tensed next to him. “You’re telling me that Daisy, Sousa and Kora were Deke’s emergency plan?”

“It was a good emergency plan!” Bobbi defended Deke, scowling at Fitz; although he and Jemma had helped her and her baby and given them medical treatment, she still disliked Fitz for calling out Deke. Deke was her director after all and she was not going to allow two people to whom she barely knew to mock him or say that he had made a bad call.

“I - I never said he wasn’t,” Fitz tried to defend himself, but Bobbi was still scowling at him. 

Jemma attempted to pour oil on the troubled waters. “We’re just concerned, Bobbi,” she said. “It’s 2016 in your timeline, but in our timeline, it’s early 2021. We’ve already lived through the events that you’re going through. That’s why Fitz is surprised. Because we kind of know what’s going to happen, but clearly some things are different in your timeline.”

There being no Daisy was the obvious difference, but both Fitz and Jemma had a strong feeling that things were different beyond that. They traded an anxious glance as Bobbi took a deep breath, attempting to calm her frazzled nerves. 

“So if you know what’s going to happen, you know how to stop it, right?” she said. “How to prevent someone on the team from dying. Because I don’t want to lose anyone on the team! Just because we weren’t able to save Charles doesn’t mean that someone is going to die in the Quinjet in space!”

It had been a few days since Jemma and Fitz had rescued Bobbi from the containment module, but thanks to the advanced healing technology that they had, they had been able to treat all of Bobbi’s physical injuries, although she was still recovering mentally. So far, all they had managed to get out of her was that Hive was back, Lincoln had gotten the vision from Charles Hinton and the team was led by Deke, and in return, Bobbi had sort of accepted that they were in another timeline, even though she was still very sceptical about this acknowledgement. 

“So who is Lincoln’s girlfriend?” Fitz asked.

Of all things for Fitz to ask. To be fair, if Lincoln was the Daisy in this timeline, chances were high that his girlfriend would become the victim in space, although seeing as he had told Bobbi about the vision he had received from Charles, things might have changed beyond that. 

“What?” Bobbi asked confusedly. “What makes you think he has a girlfriend? He hasn’t had a girlfriend since he joined S.H.I.E.L.D.. What does this have to do with anything?”

Jemma massaged her forehead with her fingers. “I don’t think it works that way, Fitz. Just because Lincoln got the vision doesn’t mean that he’s Daisy and his girlfriend is him. He told Bobbi about the vision he got and Bobbi’s obviously with Hunter.”

“Okay, so you two need to start explaining,” Bobbi said, waving the hand that wasn’t holding her son agitatedly. “What is going on? You need to explain better because this is getting nowhere. You said that we’re in another timeline, but if you want me to believe you, you’d better show me some proof beyond healing pods that are seriously behind what we have. If you’re S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, even retired ones, surely you’d have more upscale technology than this!” She paused. “Not that I’m not grateful for you two for helping me and my son. But I don’t know either of you. If Hunter’s not here, then I want to talk to Deke. Or Lincoln. Or Mack.”

“Mack?” Jemma and Fitz traded glances. “You’re friends with Mack?”

“I hate to bring him away from Nicole and Hope, but either way -” Bobbi began.

“Whoa, wait, Nicole and Hope?” Jemma repeated. “What about Yo-Yo?”

“Who?” Bobbi repeated.

Fitz raised his hands in frustration. “They probably haven’t recruited Yo-Yo yet. If Bobbi and Hunter are still on the team, then they haven’t been disavowed yet -”

“But if Lincoln’s already got the vision from Charles Hinton, then they’ve already been disavowed -” Jemma began.

“How do you know that we’ve been disavowed?” Bobbi demanded. “Are you two some sort of double agents? Do you work for another faction of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”

Jemma and Fitz exchanged a concerned look. From what it sounded like, maybe Bobbi and Mack hadn’t been working for another faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the alternate timeline. But then who? Was there no other faction of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Had Hunter been the one who had been working for someone else? What was going on? There was so much jumbled up history that it was more than confusing; it was literally a whole other life. Like a better version of the Framework in reality. 

“We don’t work for another faction of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Fitz said. “We told you; we retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. to take care of our daughter and live a peaceful life. But we told you; we’ve already lived a version of these events, that’s how we know some stuff.”

Bobbi eyed them sceptically; it was clear that she didn’t really believe them. However, at that moment, her baby started crying, a little agitated by the tension in the room. Glaring at Jemma and Fitz, Bobbi stood up, turning her back on them, and nursed him, rocking him in his arms, shushing him as she did so. He subsided after a short while, clinging to his mother’s hand and Bobbi’s face softened as she cradled her son close. 

As she did so, Fitz muttered in a low voice, “I can’t believe Hunter has a son.”

Bobbi whipped around to glare at him. “Don’t pretend like you know me,” she snapped. “Or my husband. If you’re going to act like you know better than me or pretend to know both of us, I don’t need to stay here with you.”

She looked like she was about to storm out, but Jemma managed to intervene before things got out of control.

“Bobbi, don’t,” she said quickly. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean to cause offense. We’re just worried about our friends.”

“And so am I!” Bobbi snapped. “So don’t make bad excuses!”

Jemma sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily. “I’m sorry, Bobbi,” she said. “ _We’re_ sorry. Please sit down. You can’t just go out into the world with a baby, especially since you know you’ve been disavowed in both timelines.”

Bobbi scowled at both of them, but sat back down, still shushing her baby. She held him a little closer, stroking his cheek and rocking him until he subsided and fell back asleep.

Jemma smiled at her. “You’re good with him,” she said softly, extending a peace offering. “What’s his name? Or haven’t you chosen one yet?”

Bobbi’s scowl dropped; a sad expression crossing her face instead. She drew her baby in closer, hugging him close to her chest. It was clear from her expression that she was missing Hunter and she wanted him there; both Jemma and Fitz didn’t blame her for that. They knew exactly what it was like to miss their other half and Bobbi and Hunter were no different, even if they were 100% compatible 50% of the time. 

Bobbi smiled faintly. “His name is Owen.”

Jemma’s eyes opened wide in shock and Fitz’s mouth dropped open. 

“Wait...what?” they spluttered in unison.




**Original Timeline - February 2021**

“So you’re telling me that Tremors, Sousa and Kora went back to D.’s timeline without an escape plan?” Mack asked. “This is crazy. Absolutely crazy.”

Bobbi had finally been convinced that they were in another timeline when Jemma and Fitz had agreed to let her meet up with Mack, who knew nothing about her and her son or the timeline that she was from or that she and Hunter had gotten remarried. When they had brought May into the loop, Bobbi finally agreed that they had to be in another timeline since May didn’t have a daughter. Bloodwork analyses had proven that Alya and Owen were Deke’s biological parents and now Mack and May had joined them at the cottage in Perthshire, since all of them considered it safer to be there, as opposed to the Academy or the Helicarrier where eavesdropping was easier. 

“I think it’s crazier that Deke’s team consists of him, Lincoln, Trip, Mack, Bobbi and Hunter, Ward - of all people - and Miles,” Fitz said. “It’s like the timeline decided to bring back everyone we lost and then some.”

“I think it’s more like all of Tremors’ ex-boyfriends in a nutshell,” Mack muttered. “She’s in for a rude awakening.”

“She has Sousa,” Jemma said, waving her hand. “They’re steady.”

Fitz eyed her sceptically. “Right. That’s what we said about Mack and Yo-Yo before Keller came along.”

Jemma rounded on Fitz. “Fitz! Daisy’s been through enough heartbreak as it is! Sousa’s dependable and reliable and she cares about him! There’s no way she’d start anything with Ward or Miles -”

“She was in love with Sparks,” Mack reminded her. “For a very long time.”

“Look, I don’t know who Daisy is,” Bobbi interrupted. “Which stands to reason that Lincoln doesn’t know her either. So if you’re worried about relationship drama, I highly doubt anything is going to start there.” She paused. “Unless Deke or Raina told him something about her, which might have happened because Lincoln is the closest thing Deke has to a son.”

“What. The. Hell.” Fitz spoke in single word sentences. “Now we are Great-Bobo and Great-Nana to _Lincoln_?”

“Lincoln’s a great guy!” Bobbi defended him. “Besides, thanks to your amazing revelation and blood tests, I’m also Lincoln’s surrogate great-grandmother, thank you very much! So insulting him is basically insulting me too, by saying that I’m stupid enough to care about him.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Fitz said. “It’s just...he was Daisy’s ex-boyfriend who died for her to live and now she’s finally moved forward and, well, Daisy is family to us. She’s like our sister. So you can understand why it’s weird for him to be Deke’s surrogate son.”

Bobbi sighed. “I’m having a hard enough time wrapping my brain around the fact that my son is going to grow up and marry your daughter and they’re going to have Deke. So I guess we both have to deal with a whole ton of crazy.”

“Just another day in S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Mack muttered darkly.

“So what’s the plan?” May interrupted. “How do we intend to get Daisy and the others back?”

Fitz steepled his hands together. “It took Jemma and me six months to track the anomalies through the quantum realm and find Bobbi and even then, we were taking a risk when we tried to draw her out of the realm. Seeing as we’re all on this side of the timeline, in order to go back, we’d need to use someone to sustain our jump as well as Lincoln’s pre-existing jump. Someone would have to stay in this timeline to keep the timelines from collapsing.”

Bobbi, Mack and May traded confused glances. 

“We have no idea what you’re talking about, Turbo,” Mack said.

Fitz sighed, standing up and grabbing two whiteboard markers, a blue one and a black one. He plucked a magnetized whiteboard off the fridge and started drawing on it. 

“See, this is us,” he said, drawing a circle with the black marker. “This is when you guys travelled back in time to 1931. You branched off here, creating an alternate timeline, which is where Bobbi is from.” He drew two lines, one slanting above the other, before drawing another circle on the line. “Deke tethered the timeline for us here.” He tapped the circle with his marker. “And we travelled back here.” This time, he used the blue marker to draw the line connecting the two timelines. “And we continued along it, until Lincoln travelled into our timeline from Deke’s.” This time, he used a red marker to draw the line that indicated Lincoln’s travel. “And Bobbi was his tether. But when he returned to Deke’s timeline with Daisy’s team, everything got messed up because Bobbi didn’t go back with him the way she could have done and the quantum realm tried assuming that Bobbi was Daisy’s tether. So in order for her or us to go back there, we now need a tether in our timeline for her, but it has to be someone from her timeline, the same way that Deke was the tether for us because he came from here.”

All of them except for Jemma, stared at Fitz in confusion. Fitz sighed, dropping the markers back onto the table.

“This is like bloody spacetime all over again,” he said.

May raised her eyebrows at Fitz. “But we established that spacetime doesn’t exist,” she said. “When we prevented Deke’s dystopian world from happening.”

“Not necessarily,” Fitz said. “We discovered that preventing spacetime creates an alternate timeline. The timeline we are currently on is a deviation from the original one as it is. Then, when we interfered with the Chronicoms’ plans for us, we created another alternate timeline, which we are currently on, in addition to the timeline that Deke is in. Spacetime does exist. As long as we stay down the path that the timeline has intended for us.”

This time, Bobbi, Mack and May exchanged looks, instead of just staring at Fitz, but their confusion was still plain. 

“Okay, so what are you saying?” Bobbi asked at last. “Are you saying that someone is destined to die in space and we can’t change that?”

“You might be able to change _who_ dies in space,” Fitz said. “You said that all Lincoln saw was someone on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team being blown up in the Quinjet with the cross necklace, right? And that person was unidentifiable, only known as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent by their jacket. So we might be able to change the victim, but not the ultimate outcome.”

“Charles Hinton shows people their own deaths,” Jemma said. “If I’m remembering correctly. Are we supposing then that Daisy was meant to die in space originally but Lincoln saved her and changed spacetime? Or was he always the one meant to die?”

“Not necessarily,” Bobbi said. “Charles showed Lincoln his own death because he was meant to save Lincoln, before showing him the vision of the fallen agent. So his powers aren’t limited to showing people their own deaths.”

“That’s right,” Fitz said. “The same thing happened with Daisy and Charles. So Charles might or might not have shown Daisy her own death and Lincoln circumvented that or he might have shown her his death and _that_ was inevitable.”

“My head hurts,” May declared. 

Fitz threw up his hands in exasperation. 

“I don’t think it matters either way,” Jemma said. “Whether or not spacetime exists, we still have to worry about getting to Deke’s timeline in order to rescue Daisy, Sousa and Kora. But I don’t see how we can do that if we need one person to remain the tether in the timeline and one person to guide us back.”

“Why do we need one person to guide you there?” Bobbi asked. “If I stay -”

“If you stay, there will be no way to know which timeline we end up in,” Fitz said. “By using you, we would guarantee that we end up in the timeline that you came from. But if we didn’t, we’d be shooting in the dark. We could even end up in 2091 again.” 

“The future?” Mack asked. “We could end up in the future?”

“We were following the Chronicoms when we went into the past,” Jemma said. “Without a guide, for all we know, we _could_ jump to the future.”

“Well, we’d need an alternative solution then,” Bobbi said. “Because there’s only me and I can’t be both a tether and a guide.”

There was silence for a moment as each of them pondered the problem. Then Fitz said slowly, “You’re not the only one from your timeline here. Kora and Sousa are both gone, yes, but Owen is here.”

Bobbi’s eyes widened. “No,” she said, angrily and flatly. “You are not going to use my son, my newborn son! as the tether in your stupid timeline. I won’t have it!”




**Original Timeline - May 2021**

“I’m telling you, there’s no way that we can guarantee getting back to that timeline without using either Bobbi or Owen as the tether,” Fitz said grimly. “We’ve been working at it for months and I can’t find a solution.” 

“There has to be another way,” Bobbi argued. “I’m not going to leave my son behind! Would you leave Alya?”

“I don’t want you to either,” Fitz said, frustrated. “But there is no other solution! I can’t get you home either, Bobbi, if one of you doesn’t stay!”

“I’m not going, not without Owen,” Bobbi snapped. “And that’s final.”

“Bobbi, what about Hunter?” Jemma asked, trying a different approach. “He’s probably worried sick about you -”

“Don’t you dare play the Hunter card,” Bobbi said furiously. “I thought you of all people would understand. You told me that you had to have an implant put in your mind to wipe your memories to prevent you from freaking out about Fitz and Alya _and_ to protect them from the Chronicoms. I’m not leaving behind my son!”

Fitz threw down the marker that he was using to write equations on the whiteboards that lined the walls of his home lab. 

“I don’t know what to do then,” he said. “Daisy’s stuck. She can’t come back home, we can’t bring Hunter here, we can’t send Bobbi and Owen back…. There’s literally nothing we can do anymore.”

“What about Flint?” Bobbi asked. “You said that he sent you back to the past once -”

“And I’ve told you,” Fitz said, equally frustrated. “That it only worked because there was a piece of the Monolith in the future to power the machine. Even if Flint created a Monolith, there’s no knowing where it would send us because we can’t direct where we go; there is no Monolith piece in Deke’s alternate timeline. The only way is through using you or Owen.”

“I’m not sending my son into another timeline without me!” Bobbi snapped. “Would you send Alya on her own with complete strangers?!”

“We’re not strangers, Bobbi -” Jemma began, but Bobbi interrupted.

“No, you’re not,” she admitted. “But you’re not his parents either. What kind of mother would I be if I sent him to a place where someone is guaranteed to die? This is insane.”

“We’re his future parents-in-law,” Fitz said. “That has to count for something.”

Bobbi shook her head at them. “Hypocrites, you both are. Filthy hypocrites.”

She stormed out. Fitz sighed heavily running his hands through his curly hair and Jemma gave him a sympathetic look.

“She’s not wrong though,” she said. “We would never have brought Alya into a war with the Chronicoms. That’s why we made her her pod and got Flint and Piper to guard her. I can’t fathom leaving Alya behind, knowing that she would never be able to leave that timeline again, especially if we had made a mistake with time-travel the first time. Bobbi’s right. We would never do it...we can’t ask her to do it. We have to find another solution.”

Fitz shoved both hands into his hair, making it stand on end. “I’m all out of ideas,” he said. “We can’t look at the timestream anymore because the machine’s been destroyed and Kora is with Daisy. We can’t even go back to 1931 and time-travel via the Chronicoms because there are no more Chronicoms!”

“Oh, Fitz,” Jemma said, squeezing his shoulder. “We’ll figure something out. We always do.”

“In time to rescue the team from Hive?” Fitz asked. “We don’t know enough about the future, Jemma, but that was one of the worst times. We didn’t just lose Lincoln, but we also lost Daisy. From what Bobbi has told us about Deke, he’s matured a lot and rebuilt S.H.I.E.L.D. and done a whole ton of good things, but that could all come crumbling down with Hive. We don’t even know how much time has passed there. It’s been months here!”

“Fitz, we of all people should know that time has no meaning,” Jemma said. “We just need to figure out a way to get back to that timeline and we can appear whenever we want. A day after Lincoln came, even, maybe.” 

Fitz sighed heavily. “I’ll keep working, Jemma, I promise. We don’t give up on our friends. But I really can’t find another solution to our problem. I don’t know what to do.”

It was rare for Fitz to admit defeat, but now was one of those times. With another sympathetic squeeze of his shoulder, Jemma left the room, in pursuit of Bobbi. 




**Original Timeline - June 2021**

“Do you think this will work?” Jemma asked. “Do you really think you can send messages through to the other timeline?”

“I think so,” Fitz said. “I don’t know. It’s difficult because I haven’t seen what kind of contraption Deke cooked up on the other side, so I don’t even know how he could get the message. But seeing as Bobbi’s transportation pod is still connected to Lincoln’s time-travelling device, I could probably send a message through. Probably. Hopefully.”

“How sure are you?” Jemma asked.

“90% certain,” Fitz said. He caught the look in her eye. “Okay, maybe more like 75% certain. But the point is...well, it’s just a message. It either gets sent or it doesn’t. And either way, we’ll find out if the message fails or goes through. And if it works...we’ll, we may be one step closer to figuring out a way of getting through to the other timeline without having to use Bobbi or Owen. Which none of us wants to have to resort to doing.”

“What are you going to send them?” Jemma asked. “Instructions on how to build a time machine on their end?”

Fitz shook his head. “Something much more simple. Something that they know is coming from us and not from someone else random.” He held up the rectangular device connected to Bobbi’s pod via cables. Into the device, he had keyed the words: “Working on it. - Fitz.”.




**Original Timeline - July 4, 2021**

“Am I the only one who thinks this is strange?” Coulson asked.

“That we’re here without Daisy?” Yo-Yo asked. “No. It feels weird.”

They holographically sat in silence in the Krazy Kanoe, staring at the empty seat where Daisy had sat the previous year. 

“You still can’t figure out a solution?” Mack asked Fitz.

Fitz shook his head. “I can’t. Everything involves either Bobbi or Owen. And Bobbi is adamant that she won’t leave him. I can understand that she would choose Owen over Hunter, but -”

“Children are precious,” Mack said quietly; it was clear that he was thinking of Hope. “If you can’t ask yourself to leave Alya, you can’t ask Bobbi to leave Owen. And, to make things worse, Owen wouldn’t ever be able to leave the timeline. He’d be stuck in a world where he doesn’t belong.” He paused. “Even though he would be growing up in this world, so he probably could belong.”

“What if you offered Bobbi the chance to bring Hunter back with her?” May asked. “If all three of them stayed in this timeline, do you think she might consider it?”

Jemma pressed her lips together. “She might,” she admitted. “But I don’t think she’d want to leave all her friends over there. It’s a massive thing, to uproot your whole life, from people you know and care about. She barely knows anyone aside from the two of us and May. She slightly knows May because as a teacher at the Academy, May has had time to visit us, even though she doesn’t really know the rest of you, especially Mack and Yo-Yo, who are still out in the field. And Deke...he might not know that they’re his grandparents as well, but to make him lose them as well as us…. Deke’s lost so much in his life. I don’t want him to lose them too.”

“After Deke sent Lincoln here, he already lost Bobbi,” May said logically. “Unless you can figure out a way to get them back without using a tether, he won’t get her back, grandmother or no.”

“Does this mean that a Deke won’t be born in that timeline?” Yo-Yo asked. “Because Owen is here? And what does that mean for the Owen Shaw - or Owen Hunter, I guess - who will be born to the Bobbi and Hunter here? Do they have kids yet?”

“As far as I know, they don’t,” Fitz said. “Mack and I are still in contact with them and as far as we’re aware, they aren’t expecting. But it’s Hunter and Bobbi. Expect the unexpected with those two.”

“Where’s Bobbi now?” Mack asked. “I mean, the other timeline version of Bobbi.”

“Looking after the kids,” Jemma said. “Both Alya and Owen. She’s a really good mother. But I know she misses Hunter a lot. And she’s only met the few of us because we’re all afraid of what will happen if the rest of the world finds out about doppelgangers…. Aside from walks in remote Perthshire, she’s barely left the house.” 

“Maybe that’s what she needs,” Mack suggested. “If she were to meet our Bobbi and Hunter, she might change her mind. If she hears what they would do.”




**Original Timeline - July 4, 2021**

“Why are we here?” Bobbi asked Jemma as they stood outside an apartment in New York City. Fitz and the kids were back in Perthshire; neither Jemma nor Bobbi had wanted to have a babysitter look after them when Fitz could stay and watch the kids. It had been mere hours since Fitz and Jemma had had their ill-fated reunion with the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team without Daisy. 

“We’re going to meet some friends,” Jemma said. “They know we’re coming...and they want to talk to you. They already know about Chronicoms and time-travel, so seeing you won’t be a shock, but nonetheless...it might be a bit of a shock for you.”

Jemma reached out and tapped on the door. There was a slight pause and then the door opened. 

“Jemma! We’ve been waiting -” The voice speaking cut off. “Oh, bloody hell.”

“Hunter?” The Bobbi beside Jemma whispered at the same time as the Bobbi inside the room called, “Hunter, is it them?”

“Oh, hell,” Hunter said. He stepped back to allow Jemma and the other timeline Bobbi to step into the apartment; the Bobbi inside the apartment blanched a little, seeing her doppelganger.

“Well, now I know what May felt like when Kara took her face,” the original timeline Bobbi said. “This is _weird_.”

“Kara took May’s face?” the other timeline Bobbi asked. “Why would she do that?”

“It’s a long story,” Jemma said, intervening before things could become too complicated. Although it had been six months, neither Jemma and Fitz or Bobbi knew everything about the timeline that they weren’t from. “Bobbi, meet...Bobbi. And Hunter. Hunter and Bobbi...meet Bobbi.”

“Hi,” the other timeline Bobbi said, raising one hand and smiling weakly; although she had known what was coming, it was still a shock to see her doppelganger. 

The original timeline Bobbi raised her hand in greeting as well. “Hi,” she said, smiling just as weakly. 

Hunter looked between them again. “Oh, bloody hell,” he muttered. 

All of them sat down at the dining table. Jemma had already caught up the original timeline Bobbi and Hunter on the entire time-travel disaster, so there was no need for the whole spiel again. Instead, the other timeline Bobbi spoke.

“If you two are here to try to convince me that I have to go back to my timeline and abandon my son here to be the tether for us to travel, you’ve really got some nerve,” Bobbi said, bracing herself as if for a fight.

The original timeline Bobbi shook her head. “We’re not here to do that, Bobbi. I would never do that. I would never try to force you into something that you don’t want to do.” She paused. “But I do want you to think about this. When you and Hunter got disavowed from S.H.I.E.L.D., you chose to put your team before yourselves. You didn’t cave, not even for each other. You talked about cheeseburgers and mushrooms, instead of giving into the Russian president’s wishes. Am I right?” 

The other timeline version of Bobbi nodded. “You lived through that too?”

The other Bobbi nodded. “Yes. We chose to protect the team over everything. Even though Hunter once said that S.H.I.E.L.D. is just a job. And it’s what we live through afterwards that matters.”

“I always put S.H.I.E.L.D. first before I had a son,” Bobbi said. “Even when I was pregnant, I was still going out in the field and doing what was best for the team. But now that he’s been born…. It’s not that I don’t care about my team. But Owen….”

The original timeline Bobbi nodded. “I understand,” she said, patting her doppelganger’s arm. “And so does Jemma. I don’t have a son, but Jemma has a daughter.”

“I don’t want to hear about Jemma,” the other timeline version of Bobbi said, waving her hand. “I’ve been hearing nothing but how I need to go to the other timeline to rescue Daisy, Sousa and Kora from her and Fitz. So really, I don’t want to hear about how Jemma has a daughter.” She glanced at Jemma. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Jemma said, her voice serious. “We’ve been pressuring you a lot and I’m sorry. You’re right...I would never want to leave Alya that way. And I don’t think an implant to remove your memories would help you, given that Daisy, Sousa and Kora know about Alya and Hunter and Lincoln know about your pregnancy.”

“Yeah, no,” both timelines of Bobbi said at the same time, making Jemma laugh.

The other timeline version of Bobbi sighed. “What do _you_ think?” she asked, turning to look at Hunter. “And I’m not asking you because I think you’re my husband. I know you’re not. I’m asking you because you’re probably the only person in this timeline who can come close to his thought process.”

Hunter sighed, sticking both hands in his pockets. He looked thoughtful and serious as he spoke. “Look, Bobbi, I don’t want to tell you what to do either,” he said. “But what I do want to say is...well. When my Bobbi and I got disavowed from S.H.I.E.L.D., all we had left in the world was each other. From what I can tell, you two were lucky because Deke wanted to keep you both and had the technology to allow both of you to use nanomasks when you went out in public so you could still work in the field. If you went back to your timeline, left Owen here and brought Hunter back so that you could be a family here...well, that might end up being your actual disavow. Your actual Spy’s Goodbye.” He paused. “I’m not saying it wouldn’t suck, because it would. But what I am saying is...well, although you two have your rough patches, he’s probably worried sick about you. When my Bobbi was kidnapped, all I could think about was her. Now this is even worse for your Hunter because he’s got a whole two timelines to worry about and he doesn’t know where you are.” 

The other timeline version of Bobbi swallowed hard. “I don’t want to leave him,” she said. “I miss him. I love him. But Owen….”

“Owen will be fine,” Jemma reassured her. “We’ll look after him.”

Bobbi looked at her. “The last time I was the tether in the timeline, time was seriously messed up for me,” she said. “Deke and Lincoln screwed something up -”

“And that won’t happen again,” Jemma said. “I’m not speaking ill of Deke, but when Fitz and I were in charge of time-travel when we first created the alternate timeline where you’re from...no one got hurt. Physically. Emotionally, yes. We had to leave Deke behind, yes, but Owen will be fine here while you bring some of us back to your timeline to help Deke and his team.”

Bobbi pursed her lips. “If I agree,” she said, “And this is a big ‘if’, mind, who’s going to go? And how do you mean help?”

Jemma took a deep breath. “Fitz and I have been talking about it,” she said. “We were trying to figure out a way to make time-travel between the timelines easier. So that Deke and Owen wouldn’t be stranded in different timelines without other people being able to go back and forth. And while someone would have to stay in that timeline in order to allow us to return...well. We spoke with Flint and he’s willing to stay in the other timeline. He’s been practising with his powers and he knows how to create a Monolith that will connect us here to the other timeline. On the other side, he’ll create a chunk of the Monolith and use it to power a machine that we make. When it’s all done, he’ll be able to send whomever he wants between the timelines without anyone else ever having to stay as a tether in another timeline again.”

There was a long silence for a moment and then Bobbi spoke. “You want to use Flint,” she repeated. “May’s student. He’s a teenager, Jemma!”

Jemma sighed. “I am aware of that,” she said. “But we asked him about it. He agreed. We’re not forcing him to do anything. He’s also friends with Deke and he believes he could be happy there. It’s….”

“It’s awful,” Bobbi said. “This solution of yours is no solution.”

“What would you have them do instead, Bobbi?” the original timeline version of Bobbi asked. “This is the only way that they can save their friends...and the only way you can help your team.”

“What about Deke?” the other timeline version of Bobbi asked. “You want to strip him of his grandparents again?”

“I want to see Deke,” Jemma said, her voice strong. “I miss him and I love him and he was a great rock for me when Fitz was gone and I wasn’t sure if he was still alive. I want to see him. I really do. I miss him a lot. So much. I want to see him again...if only so that I can say goodbye. I wasn’t myself when I left that timeline and I never got to say goodbye. I need to...for him as well as for me.”

There was silence for a moment and then Bobbi spoke again. “I’ll do it,” she said, finally. “On two conditions.”

Jemma exhaled. “What conditions?” she asked.

“First,” Bobbi said, holding up one finger. “That no matter what happens, I get to come back to this timeline with Hunter. So that we can raise Owen. If we both live through this disaster with Hive.”

“Done,” Jemma said. “It won’t be easy for Deke to see you both go...but I hope he will understand. From what you’ve told me...I think he will.”

Bobbi sighed heavily. “I think he will too,” she muttered. “We care about him and he cares about us, but, well, he’s still got Lincoln and Mack...and he’ll have the rest of the team. I don’t like it...but there’s no other options, are there?”

Jemma shook her head. One year of trying to find a solution and they hadn’t come up with one. It really was the only way.

“What’s the second condition?” Jemma asked.

Bobbi looked at her. “You come with me.”

“I already said I want to -” Jemma began, but Bobbi interrupted her.

“I don’t mean it like that,” she said. “What I mean is, you must come with me. As a mother to a mother. You would do anything to return to Alya. The same way I would do anything to return to Owen. So you’re going to come with me because I know that with you coming, Hunter and I have the highest chance of getting back to our son.”

There was silence for a moment and then Jemma nodded. 

“Deal.”




**Original Timeline - July 4, 2021**

“You’re willing to go without a memory implant?” Fitz asked, running his hands through his curly hair. He, Jemma and Bobbi were in his lab; Alya and Owen were playing on the floor. Jemma and Bobbi had just broken the news to him that they were going to go to the other timeline without him. “And you want me to stay?”

“Someone has to look after Alya and Owen,” Jemma said. “And we still need your brain. Both of us can’t go, but we can’t freeze you and the kids in time like we did last time.”

There was silence for a long moment. Then Fitz said, sighing, “Bobbi can’t be the only one making sacrifices. I’ll stay.”

“But if you’re not going to tether our jump,” Bobbi said. “Someone else has to.”

“I’m doing it,” May said. She was standing in the doorway, Flint just behind her; Bobbi looked up at her entrance. “Flint’s going with you and I’ll be the tether for your leap. It’s the best solution. If the time drive malfunctions, Yo-Yo can help with that; if Fitz needs mechanical assistance, Coulson and Mack can help with that. Just because Hive is back in the alternate timeline doesn’t mean that we can spare our director or one of our strongest Inhuman active field agents.”

“So it’ll be just the three of us?” Bobbi asked, glancing at Jemma. “You, me and Flint?”

“Yes,” Fitz said. “Hive can sway Inhumans; Yo-Yo wouldn’t be safe going. We don’t even know if Daisy is still immune. It’s been five years. As for Mack, he’s still the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He can’t go.” He paused. “Besides...Lincoln, Daisy, Kora and Sousa will have freed the team from the Hydra facility.”

“And either Daisy, Lincoln or Kora could be swayed,” Jemma reminded him.

“Most likely Lincoln,” Fitz said. “If he’s Daisy in this timeline.” He paused. “Further amplified by Deke being his surrogate father.”

“I hope not,” Jemma said, sighing. “It took months for Daisy to recover -”

“No more speculation,” Bobbi interrupted. “We already know that some things are drastically different; we’ve talked about how the timelines are so similar yet so different. When we get there, we get there. And then we’ll see what happens.”

Fitz sighed again. “Okay,” he said. “But basically, this is how the timeline jump will work. The pod is programmed to go to where the majority of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from our timeline are. So basically, you’ll end up where Daisy, Sousa and Kora are. We don’t know where they are, because we’re arranging for your arrival to be after they rescue the team from the Hydra base, but chances are high you’ll end up at the Playground. Which, as you’ve told me, is also Deke’s current base for your team. With a little luck, it’ll be as simple as that.” 

“What about the differences in time between the timelines?” Bobbi asked. “You say 33 years happened in my timeline, but only one in yours; how do we know that that won’t happen again?”

“We’re going to program the pod on the other side to return to this moment,” Jemma said. “So nothing will change except on the other end.”

Bobbi nodded. “Okay.”

“But time will be passing on this side,” Jemma continued. “So even if the two timelines don’t run at the same time, when we contact Fitz, a lot of time may have passed for him. But it’ll only be temporary. When we return, it’ll be like however much time for him that has passed hasn’t happened.”

Bobbi exhaled. “Okay,” she repeated.

Fitz steepled his hands together. “I have one last theory,” he said. “About the timelines. I have no proof; I’ll only know when Jemma contacts me from the other timeline. If I’m right about this theory, it will solve a lot of problems. If I’m wrong...well, it’ll be a complication, but not too worrisome.”

Flint looked at Fitz. “What’s your theory?” he asked.

Fitz looked from Flint to May to Bobbi to Jemma and then to the kids on the floor. He sighed again. 

“I _think_ ,” he said, stressing the ‘think’, “I think that because Owen was born in the timestream, because he’s from your timeline and because he’s becoming a tether in our timeline...well, I think that the two timelines could possibly move at the same time now. My theory is that a day in your timeline will be a day in ours. If someone in your timeline were to contact us in ours via the hologram communication technology that Jemma, Coulson and I worked on...well, I think we would age at the same time, go through life at the same time. Unless, of course, someone were to jump backwards or forwards in time again, but...regardless. I think the two timelines are coexisting in tandem now.”

There was a long silence. “And we can communicate between the timelines?” Bobbi asked, looking at Fitz and then at Jemma for confirmation.

“Yes,” Jemma said. “If I set everything up on my end the way Fitz and I have planned. And I’ll have Deke to help me. From what you’ve said about the technology, well, it’s a lot more advanced than what we have here because Deke knew how our technology functioned way back in 1983. So yes...hopefully we’ll be able to communicate via hologram over the timelines. The message that Fitz sent a month ago went through. So yes...we’ll be able to message and hologram-call even if Flint can’t send people back and forth too often. That’s why I said Fitz can’t be the tether and how we’ll access his brain even if he can’t be there in person.”

“What about Hive?” May asked. “If he gets his hands on Flint -”

“We have to make the machine first,” Jemma said. “The machine that powers the Monolith piece that Flint will create. And we have a contingency plan for its creation. Beyond Flint not knowing how to make it on his own. Fitz knows some details, as do I, but neither of us knows everything on our own. Essentially, Hive would need more than just Flint to get back to our timeline.”

May nodded, glancing at Flint, then at Fitzsimmons and then at Bobbi. “Makes sense. When do we leave?”

Jemma took a deep breath and when she spoke, her voice came out strong. “As soon as we say goodbye.”




**Alternate Timeline - 2016**

“And that’s how we came to this timeline,” Jemma told Deke. “It was...quite a mess.”

Deke nodded, putting the last few pieces of the machine together and starting to work on fitting them perfectly into place with the screwdriver. 

“I don’t blame Bobbi for not wanting to make Owen the tether,” he said. “Nor do I blame all of you for wanting to return. But on the bright side...the whole original team knows where you all are, right? And it sounds like they’re all willing and ready to help.”

“And I have a lot of talking to do when we connect to them,” Jemma said, sighing. “A lot has happened. Too much for a few days.”

Deke sighed. “I know.”

As he spoke, he pushed the last piece of the puzzle into the device. For a moment, nothing happened and then, in front of them, there was a flicker of colour and light.

“Well,” a familiar voice said.

“Bobo!” Deke exclaimed.

“Hey,” the hologram of Fitz said. 


	63. Chapter 63

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post!!! I was taking 4 flights for 48 hours...and it was really challenging to write at the same time!!! But here's the next chapter and I hope you guys like it!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 63**

After enthusiastically greeting Fitz, Deke left Jemma and Fitz to their reunion and to let Jemma fill him in on everything that he had missed. He headed back to the medical rooms to check on Lincoln and Daisy. It had been over an hour since he had last been there, but apparently there had been no change in Lincoln. Daisy was still sitting with Lincoln, but now she wasn’t alone. May sat with her, Lexi asleep with her head in her mother’s lap.

“Is everything okay in here?” Deke asked quietly.

May looked up at him, her dark eyes shifting from a concerned expression to a harder one when she saw Deke. Deke was struck with the ugly reminder that she still blamed him for Andrew’s Terrigenesis. And now he had more stuff to apologize for, stuff that he was now aware about, thanks to all the discoveries that the team had made over the last few days. 

“May, I’m sorry,” Deke apologized. “I didn’t know that Raina was a traitor or that she orchestrated Andrew’s Terrigenesis for her own benefit. I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

May’s expression tightened with anger and she rose, gently putting Lexi’s head in Daisy’s lap. That, more than Deke’s apologetic voice drew Daisy out of her stupor, for she reached down with one hand and gently stroked Lexi’s hair, her other hand still holding Lincoln’s, her gaze locked on his sleeping face. However, Deke was grateful for her attention to Lexi; at least that meant that she was still reachable despite her obvious anxiety. He didn’t want her to fall into a depressed state. 

May grabbed Deke’s arm and hauled him out of the room, her eyes furious despite the rest of her face remaining fairly emotionless. Deke allowed her to pull him along, not making any move to defend himself, despite her grip being so firm, he was likely to get bruises from her treatment.

“Ward told me about that,” she said angrily. “About Raina and Hive. I thought you were to blame before and at the time, I might have been overreacting a little, but now, now Andrew’s Terrigenesis is really your fault.” She slammed him up against the wall. “You were the one who trusted that Inhuman bitch. This entire mess - Hive, the swayed Inhumans, Lexi being hunted, even Lincoln’s condition right now - that’s on _you_.”

Wow. May had gone for the jugular. Quite literally, because her forearm was now at his throat, pinning him to the wall. 

“I know,” Deke said. “And I feel terrible -”

May shoved him harder up against the wall, her dark eyes wild and angry. “This is your fault,” she snapped. “So what do you plan to do about it? How do you plan to defeat Hive? And don’t give me that cock-and-bull story about blowing him up in space with a nuclear bomb. Because someone else on this team dying is not going to fly. No one is going to die because of this insane Inhuman.”

“I….” Deke was momentarily speechless. Things had been happening so fast, he hadn’t had time to consider an alternative solution to someone on the team dying in space. He definitely didn’t want anyone to die, but he hadn’t had time to figure out a plan. 

“You’d better figure something out fast,” May said sharply. “Because time is passing, Deke Shaw, and quickly. And your solution better not involve my daughter, otherwise you’ll find yourself missing an arm faster than you can scream for help.” 

She released her hold on him, stepping back, but her expression was still furious. Deke exhaled, relaxing, but only slightly; May was dangerous with or without a robotic arm. 

“And don’t think that my respect for Lincoln and Daisy will spare you,” May added. “They may be Inhumans and they may have agreed to protect Lexi, but I will not spare you for their sake.”

Deke didn’t doubt it. Affection for others only went so far and May loved her daughter more than anything, especially because she was the only reminder of Andrew that she had left. Maybe Lash had been a monster, but Andrew was still her husband whom she loved. 

“I’m sorry, May,” Deke said, his voice sincere. “I never meant for Andrew to be turned, or for him to die and I’m so sorry about your arm and for putting you and Lexi in danger, even though it was unintentional….”

May’s expression tightened. “Ward also told me that Lexi volunteered to undergo Terrigenesis to protect him, Miles and Koenig while the rest of us were in D.C.. We don’t even know what kind of powers she might have. My daughter is too young to go through Terrigenesis! I swear, Deke -”

“She’s not going to go through it yet,” Deke tried to assure her. “You’re right; she’s way too young. I wouldn’t try to make her do that even if it was our only option for defeating Hive.” He paused. “And it’s not.”

“When we were at the Retreat, Lexi was _this_ close to being turned,” May hissed, holding two fingers apart to show him how close a call it had been. “The only reason she didn’t get transformed there and then was because Daisy used her powers and I took the crystal for her. I would do anything to protect my daughter, Deke, and right now, defeating Hive is the best way of doing that. So tell me, what is your plan for defeating him? Because whatever it is, I’m in.”

Deke grimaced. “Jemma is working on the Inhuman vaccine, the antitoxin against Hive and the immunity for Hive’s powers,” he said. “Once Lincoln wakes up, he’ll help her. They’ve already worked on it some on the Zephyr -”

“Things are moving too quickly, Deke,” May warned him. “You do realize that you’ve been to the Playground - which had already been attacked - and then you went to the Academy and were promptly attacked and then you went to the Hub and were attacked? How long do you think before the Lighthouse is under siege?”

“We’ll be ready for him if he comes here,” Deke said, but May scowled at him.

“You might be able to fool a lesser competent agent with that confident speech, Deke Shaw, but not me,” she snapped. “Lock down the base. I’m not sure if you heard, but Daisy and Lincoln used the ShawDrive to get to D.C., not to mention that Yo-Yo essentially kidnapped Jemma using it. Hive knows that you have a teleportation device. Miles got Mack to blow it up, but how soon do you think before they manage to replicate that as well? Not to mention that Trip and Kora are talking in his head, so you can only imagine what he might be telling her about the team.”

Deke gaped at her, abandoning all forms of pretense that he knew what was going on. 

“Trip and Kora can communicate?” he demanded. “How the hell -”

“He didn’t give details,” May said. “Is he compromised? Because I don’t know if he is or not and I don’t want to take that chance!” 

“Oh God,” Deke muttered. “The second the Quinjet lands, we have to get him into containment.”

“IfKora’s really helping him, he’ll know that,” May warned. “She can predict the future, Deke.”

Deke cursed under his breath. “Come with me.”

The two of them ran from the medical rooms to the communications centre where Miles was talking with the four in the Quinjet; Ward was sitting in a chair next to him, taking a well-deserved nap. 

“Quinjet to base, E.T.A. is two minutes,” a familiar female voice spoke over the communications. 

Deke’s brow furrowed in confusion and Miles mouthed at him: “Sharon Carter”.

Deke nodded in response and Miles said, “Roger that, Quinjet. Opening the hangar doors for you. See you soon.”

Miles switched off his mike and turned to Deke. “Is there something -”

“Ward, wake up,” Deke said. “The second the Quinjet lands, we need to get Trip into containment. ASAP.”




The first round of Primitives had just emerged from their transformation, much to both Kora and Radcliffe’s horror. While there had been some future possibilities where Raina had fixed the Absolution virus, it was now obvious that either she hadn’t bothered or Hive was going to give her time to fix them. Kora suspected the former; she knew that Radcliffe had been appalled by his creation in the original timeline but had been forced to produce more Primitives nonetheless. 

Kora took a step back, but as she did so, she realized what timeline they were travelling down. She gave an involuntary gasp, pressing her fingers to her forehead and her thumb to her ear, under the guise of a headache, but Hive wasn’t paying attention to her. He was watching the Primitives with fascinated eyes, the same way Nathaniel Malick had observed his humans with stolen Inhuman powers, like he had given them a gift. 

“They’re abominations!” Doctor Radcliffe said, staring at the creatures, similarly stunned and appalled to Kora, although his shock was much more than hers. 

“They’re part of us,” Hive said coolly. “Part of me and the Inhuman race.”

Kora attempted to back further away, but now Raina spoke. “They deserve what’s coming for them,” she said. “The humans. Don’t you agree, Kora?”

“I think Hive has different intentions for them than you do,” Kora said. “You want revenge. He’s blessing them. Saving them.”

Hive turned to look at Kora, a small smile crossing Kara’s face. “Someone who understands,” he said. “You are right, Kora. But then...you would be correct. You are their parent as much as I am.”

Kora smiled in return, attempting to act natural, but by now Raina was studying her with a curious expression, as though she knew something Kora did not.

“Then perhaps we should bring more than just Agents Morse and Hunter to Afterlife,” Raina said. “Agent Triplett, for example, as...incentive for Kora.”

Hive/Kara’s expression morphed into one of disgust. “A human, Kora? You can do much better than that.”

Kora shook her head, trying to appear calm and unphased by the accusation. “I thought an inside man would be useful,” she said. “And if he has feelings for me, then all the easier for me to manipulate him.”

Hive studied Kora with fascinated eyes. “What do you want from him, Kora?” 

“Just insight as to what the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are up to,” Kora said. “But I believe they will be catching on to him soon.”

“You believe?” Raina asked. “Or you know?”

Her voice was slightly dangerous now but Hive held up a hand. “Down, Raina,” he ordered.

Raina subsided, but her yellow eyes were glowing with frustration and anger. As much as she and Hive were ‘partners’, Kora knew who really held the power in the relationship. If Hive wanted Raina gone, there would be no stopping him. Raina was only around for as long as she was useful.

“I only have use for a human if you wish to turn him, Kora,” Hive said, turning to her. “The decision is yours. Sooner or later, he will be turned, when I gift the humans with their emancipation from their fragile human bodies. Perhaps if you turn him sooner...he will understand.”

Kora tilted her head to the side. “Perhaps,” she said. “But he is in one of the most fortified S.H.I.E.L.D. bases at the present. Helping him escape would tip our hand prematurely. Like I said...I believe he will be caught soon. But that is not guaranteed.”




Trip’s palms were sweating as the Quinjet started its descent. While Kora had not been speaking directly to him, he knew that her triggering her microphone and earpiece had been on purpose. She had been warning him that something was going to happen to him; either Hive was going to come for him or someone had ratted him out. Given that only two people knew that Kora was in his head - Sousa and May - he was hedging his bets that May had turned him in. 

Not that he blamed her. The fact that Kora was helping him sort of sounded fantastical even to him and he was the one she was helping. Technically. 

Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma were the only ones in the timeline who had seen the sway properly before and even then, Jemma had never personally witnessed Daisy under the sway. By Daisy and Lincoln’s adamant statements, they declared time and again that it was not possible to fight the sway, not without the immunity from Lash or the immunity that Raina had created for herself and Lincoln. While Trip did not know why or how Kora had lucid phases, he had a pretty good feeling that when she was trying to help him, she was genuinely trying to do so. She had teleported him out of D.C. to keep him safe and she had saved him from Yo-Yo after James had blown up the Zephyr, albeit at the expense of Jemma and the possible return of Katya. Trip did not know if it was a coincidence or if she had had orders to get Jemma and Katya anyway, but either way...he was giving her the benefit of the doubt.

He hadn’t told Kora anything; in fact, most of the time, they had talked, or tried to talk about her. Aside from that, really she had been saving his life and giving him instructions on where to go and what not to do to save him. 

The Quinjet landed and Sharon powered off the engine, pulling Trip out of his gloomy thoughts. 

“Are you staying, Sharon?” Trip asked, doing his best to sound normal while he spoke. “Or are you going back to D.C.?”

Sharon flipped a few more switches to turn off the last of the systems and lower the ramp. “I’m staying a short while to assess Lincoln’s condition and report back to Hand and Price,” she said. “Hand wants Director Shaw, and Agents Campbell and Johnson in D.C. for the conference, but if they’re still in recovery, Director Shaw will have to do.”

“Is Deke supposed to go back to D.C. with you?” Mack asked as they started out of the Quinjet. “I don’t think he’ll want to go if Lincoln hasn’t recovered.”

Sharon pressed her lips together into a thin line. “My great-aunt isn’t getting any better, but I’m still here,” she said. “We’re agents. We do our jobs. Director Shaw needs to go back to D.C. with or without the Inhuman agents. Even though Lincoln is his son in all but blood and actual adoption papers.”

“How is Peggy?” Sousa asked, changing the subject as much as because he wanted to as to spare Mack and Trip from more questions about Lincoln, Daisy and Deke. “Is she...any better?”

Sharon looked at him sharply. “You seem to know her very well for someone who apparently only became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent recently,” she said. “Very few people call her ‘Peggy’, Agent Sousa.”

Damn. Even Trip did not call her Peggy. Obviously his grandfather did; Sousa was literally showing his age by addressing her so informally. It was ironic that he should appear rude and impolite, considering his gentlemanly nature and him being born almost a century earlier usually made him more polite than the rest of them combined. 

Before any of them could react to Sousa’s slip-up, May appeared out of seemingly nowhere. She roundhouse-kicked Trip in the face; it hit him hard in the face and he fell to the ground. Before he could retaliate, however, May punched him in the face, stunning him. Ward leapt into view and shot two rounds of ICERs into his chest, completely knocking him out if May’s kick and punch hadn’t already done that.

“May! Ward! What are you two doing?” Sousa demanded, staring at Trip and then at both of them in shock and horror.

“Maybe they’ve been influenced by that Inhuman from D.C.,” Sharon said, pulling out her own weapon and aiming it at May.

“No, we haven’t been!” Ward said, pointing his ICER at Sharon but Mack had also pulled out his weapon by now and was training it on Ward. Sousa was reaching for his own weapon, when Deke spoke, his voice loud and commanding.

“All of you, stand down!” Deke shouted, stepping into view. 

Deke’s voice was so stern that all five of them - Sousa, Mack, Sharon, May and Ward - froze where they stood, although Mack, Sharon and Ward still had their weapons aimed at people. 

“Deke?” Sousa asked, his voice tight. “What’s going on?”

“I think we’d all like that question answered,” Sharon said, still aiming her weapon at May; Ward also had his ICER pointed at Sharon despite Deke’s order for them to relinquish their weapons. 

“Trip’s been compromised,” Deke said.

“What?!” Sharon and Mack protested at the same time.

“There’s no way,” Sharon snapped, leaping to the defense of the man she had known since they were children. 

“It’s true,” Ward said. “He’s been communicating with Kora for a while now.”

“Trip would never do that,” Mack said. “He only just caught me up on what’s been going on, but the Trip we know would _never_ betray the team.”

“Love makes people do foolish things,” Deke said. “Everyone here knows what it’s like to fall in love...although not everyone knows what it’s like to have the person you care about be swayed by an ancient Inhuman.”

“Trip would _never_ betray S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Sharon snapped. “Even if he fell in love.” 

Sousa had paled by now. “They’re not lying,” he said. “Trip told me and May that Kora was talking to him in his head. But how do you know that he’s betrayed the team?”

“Better safe than sorry,” Ward said. “We trusted Raina and look where that got us! Trusting Trip now would be a mistake.”

“What did Daisy and Jemma have to say about this?” Sousa asked, attempting for a solution that might provide some answers. “They know what happened in the original timeline -”

“Daisy contacted Lincoln while she was swayed,” Deke said. “They’ve mentioned it multiple times. We can’t trust Trip in the off-chance that what happened between Lincoln and Daisy then is what’s happening between Trip and Kora now.”

“But did you actually ask them what happened?” Sousa pressed. “That might have been wiser than shooting Trip with an ICER when he could be innocent!”

“You were the one who thought that Trip might be under Kora’s influence back on the Quinjet,” May pointed out. “At the rate things are going, we can’t be taking any chances. Not when there are innocent lives at stake and people have already died because we trusted the wrong people! It’s obviously not Kora’s fault that she’s been swayed, but she’s certainly the one paying for that right now. And, for all we know, Trip might be a subsequent victim as well.” She paused. “Either a willing or unwilling one.”

At that moment, Miles spoke over the loudspeaker in the hangar. “Guys, you might want to get Trip into containment if that’s still your plan. Lincoln’s waking up.”




While Deke and May had fought each other and then they and Ward had greeted the incoming Quinjet passengers, Jemma had been catching Fitz up on all that he had missed over the last few days. Her brain had been overwhelmed by the onslaught of new information after missing just two days; Fitz had even more crazy stuff to deal with. When Jemma was finally done filling him in on everything from Daisy and Lincoln’s engagement to Kora and Yo-Yo’s sway to Flint’s capture to Lincoln’s parentage, Fitz nodded slowly, his brain taking everything in. Then, at his request, Jemma brought the communication device into the med lab, just outside Lincoln’s medical room where Daisy was sitting at his side, her back to Jemma and Fitz. She was holding his hand, watching his face; Jemma wasn’t sure if she had even moved since Jemma had last been there. 

“Some things really don’t change,” Fitz muttered in a low voice. “This is like when we saved him from Hydra all over again.”

Jemma gave him a wry smile. “This timeline is really confusing,” she admitted. “The past and the present are all over the place in this timeline. A few days ago, Deke’s team was captured by Giyera; then Daisy and Lincoln went to Bucharest and were us essentially; then I walked in on Daisy and Lincoln basically making out in one of the med labs instead of the training room; then Lincoln just got his side blown up again by James…. And there are probably tons more parallels that I’m not aware of. This is a mess.”

Fitz shook his head, staring at Daisy and Lincoln. “She really loves him.” It was a statement; the way he spoke made it clear that he was not surprised, which in turn, surprised Jemma. 

“She does,” Jemma said, hugging her elbows as she leaned against the counter, watching Daisy. “And even though he hasn’t lived everything that the Lincoln from our timeline has, it doesn’t matter. They chose and continue to choose each other regardless of what happened in the past...and they are in love with each other. I see it every hour, every minute even. He was the one who proposed, Fitz, not her. This wouldn’t be happening if they didn’t want it to be.” She paused. “But something tells me that that news doesn’t surprise you. You expected this to happen?”

Fitz turned to look at her, a slightly guilty expression on his face. “Jemma…,” he said slowly, “You forget that I never actually saw her and Sousa together. Not the way the rest of you did. But after you told me everything that Sousa did for Daisy...I was aware that it sounded very similar to what happened between her and Lincoln. I just didn’t mention it to her or you because I, like the rest of you, hoped that she was finally moving on. Or moving forward, I should say. Because I, like the rest of us, had given up hope of ever seeing Lincoln again. So I figured, even if she moved forward, with someone who was essentially Lincoln in every way but looks, I figured at least she was trying again. The minute Bobbi mentioned Lincoln was alive in this timeline, I knew Daisy would have to make a choice. I didn’t predict that Kora would return his memories that way, but I figured, if Daisy and Lincoln wanted him to know what happened in our timeline, I thought that Deke would find a way for him to know what happened in the past.” He paused. “He _is_ our grandson, after all. I guessed he might invent a Cerebral Fusion Machine, but well, Kora’s method worked better, I guess, because at least they didn’t have to face the darkest versions of themselves. But I knew that if they wanted Lincoln to remember, Deke would find a way to make that happen. The same way we invented time-travel to protect Alya, he would have found a way to return Lincoln’s memories because it would be what Lincoln wants.”

That was news to Jemma. But it made perfect sense that Fitz would see the relationships with fresh eyes. He _hadn’t_ been around when Daisy had gotten involved with Sousa; he _had_ heard everything afterwards from Jemma. Him confessing that he had known that Daisy was unconsciously projecting was both sad and reassuring at the same time. Fitz had cared enough about Daisy to hold his tongue about what he had known because he hoped that Sousa might make her even the slightest bit happy, even though he had been aware that she wasn’t truly over Lincoln.

“I’m glad you think so highly of Deke,” Jemma said, sighing, but her eyes were sad, sad about the burden that her husband had carried. “I wish you’d told me your suspicions about Daisy. I thought you meant Lincoln might be Keller in the Mack and Yo-Yo relationship, but what you actually meant was that he was Mack. And him and Daisy being together was inevitable.”

Fitz shrugged. “Not the greatest comparison, I am aware,” he said.

“They’re more like us,” Jemma admitted. “In this timeline, Ward gave Daisy the talk about doing whatever it takes to save her and Lincoln because he knows that they belong together; Daisy told me that before taking on the LMDs. I even called them ‘physically linked’ because they seem to always think the same thing at the same time. They were us in Bucharest. If not themselves, they’re us.” She paused. “Speaking of that...Daisy’s always put us first, Fitz. She took on an entire baseful of LMDs, not as a sacrifice play, but because she believed that we - you and I - belong together. Which we do...but that’s not the only time she made us her top priority. She went to deep space with me to find you…. She has always put us first. It’s time we did the same for her and Lincoln, Fitz. For both her and for Deke. He loves Lincoln like the son he’s never had...and he loves Daisy like a daughter now too. That might sound strange to you, but well...they mean so much to him, Fitz.” 

Fitz was silent for a long moment. “It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but when Bobbi mentioned Lincoln was the closest thing Deke had to a son...well, he’s always been fond of Daisy. I guess it doesn’t surprise me that much that he now loves her like a daughter. He of all people would be happy with her getting together with Lincoln. Also...well, it would probably make him happy that she’s with the first love she had before she even met Deke.”

“Fitz!” Jemma protested, but he was smiling; it was clear that he was joking. 

There was silence as Jemma and Fitz watched Daisy and Lincoln inside the hospital room. 

“Would Lincoln leave?” Fitz asked at last. “If Deke’s like a father to him….”

“I don’t know,” Jemma said. “None of us were extremely welcoming to him when he first joined S.H.I.E.L.D.. Coulson made him wear a murder vest, I called him a ‘lovesick fool making a grand gesture’ - which was incredibly wrong of me -, we all got mad at him for frying half the servers in the lab…. But the team here really cares about him. They’ve even welcomed Daisy into their group because they see how complete she makes him. They were much more welcoming to her than we were to him.”

Fitz sighed heavily. “I understand better than most people the situation he’s in right now,” he admitted. “Getting memories that technically aren’t yours...finding out that so many things happened to you, but not to you...I know exactly what he probably felt like until he figured out who he was. I’m actually really glad she chose him. I can’t imagine what it would be like to return and find out that you’d moved on.” He stopped talking. “Actually, I do know what that’s like.”

“Oh, not you with the Will situation too,” Jemma said. “Fitz!”

“What?” Fitz asked. “I’m, I’m, I’m just saying, I get where they’re coming from!”

“Tell Lincoln that when he wakes up,” Jemma said, reaching out to pat him on the shoulder and realizing that she couldn’t because he was a hologram; the realization made her ache on the inside and she hugged her elbows to her chest instead. “Because it’ll be a huge step in showing that our team accepts him, the same way that his team accepts Daisy.” 

Once again, silence reigned for a brief time and then Fitz said quietly, “If our team accepts Lincoln the way his team has clearly accepted her...well. Do you think _she’ll_ stay? When he wakes up?”

Jemma sighed. “Here we are again. I’m tired of seeing our friends ripped apart from each other. That can’t happen again. I won’t let it.”

Fitz looked grim. “Then we won’t let it.”

“I’m serious,” Jemma said. “Regardless of which timeline they choose to be in, I can’t allow them to be separated again. Daisy put us first every single time...it’s time we did the same for them, Fitz. They deserve their happily-ever-after that we got. Whether or not it’s in our timeline.” She paused. “Speaking of...how long has passed in your timeline? Are we co-existing at the same time now?” 

Fitz smiled. “It’s been -”

At that moment the lights in the base flickered and Fitz’s image fizzled as the electricity in the building fluctuated. Jemma looked around, concerned that it might be Kora, but at that moment, Miles spoke in her ear. Jemma was still wearing an earpiece, although her microphone was switched off; she had wanted time to have a private conversation with Fitz. 

“Lincoln’s waking up.” 

That made sense. Both Daisy and Lincoln’s powers were linked with their emotions; whenever they were in distress or heightened states of emotions, they caused natural disasters when they lost control. Jemma was not surprised that Lincoln’s powers were in whack now that he was coming out of his medically-induced coma; he had just survived what had been a parallel of his death in the original timeline. She needed to be there to make sure that he was feeling alright and that there had been no complications with his surgery, even if they might prefer some privacy.

“Lincoln’s waking up,” Jemma said to Fitz. “Fitz, I’m switching off the connection now; I need to check on him. I’ll call you again in a few hours, okay? Update the team on everything I told you, okay? I don’t want Daisy to have to do it when she next sees the team.”

Fitz nodded. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Jemma said, smiling, and then she flipped the switch on the machine, causing Fitz to disappear, just before Deke, Sousa and Mack came into the room. 




“Where are Trip, Hunter and Bobbi?” Jemma asked Deke as the four of them approached Lincoln’s room. 

“Hunter and Bobbi are still in D.C.,” Deke said. “Trip’s with Ward.”

Deke was not lying. Trip _was_ with Ward; Ward was standing guard outside his containment room, at least until they could ask Daisy, Lincoln or Jemma what they thought was the best policy for dealing with Trip’s possible betrayal. Sharon was there as well, but Deke had left out that detail for now, at least until Lincoln woke up; Daisy and Jemma had enough to worry about as it was. 

“And May?” Jemma asked. 

“With Lexi and Koenig,” Mack replied. 

The four of them entered Lincoln’s room, just as the lights flickered again. Daisy leaned forward in anticipation, her eyes alight with hope. 

“Come on, Lincoln,” she whispered, almost to herself. “Wake up.”

The lights flickered overhead and Lincoln stirred on his bed. As he did so, Deke realized what might happen; it was the same thing that happened whenever Lincoln was in extreme emotional distress or anxiety, like when he had just gone through Terrigenesis. He might accidentally shock them if they came too close to him. Deke wasn’t as worried about Daisy; she had been holding his hand for the last two hours and he doubted she would get shocked as well since even subconsciously, Lincoln knew she was there. 

“Now stand back,” he warned Sousa and Mack, although mostly Sousa, since Daisy, Jemma and Mack had all been around Lincoln much longer than Sousa had been. “There’s going to be a big surge of electricity. Electricity’s dangerous so -”

Sousa stared at him like Deke was psycho and he had gone backwards in time. “Do I look like a neanderthal to you?” he asked rhetorically, although his annoyance was evident. Lincoln had hit him in the chest with lightning before, so it wasn’t like he didn’t know what his powers were.

“Still impressed by a lightbulb,” Deke retorted.

“Not accurate or nice,” Sousa countered.

Yep. Definitely had gone back in time. 

“Please, you two,” Jemma said, her expression clearly reading: ‘NOT NOW’. 

Jemma had a point. To be fair, Sousa wasn’t even quite sure why he was there when it was clear that Daisy didn’t need him and possibly didn’t even want him there. The reasons for Deke and Jemma to be there were obvious and it was clear that Mack and Lincoln were friends, seeing as they were both two of the people whom Deke cared about the most. But Sousa...well, his current train of thought was that he was there as part of the facade. Until Lincoln woke up, it made no sense to bother Daisy and Jemma with the knowledge that Trip was now in containment; they could worry about that later. And it would not make much sense for Sousa to be with Ward, nor did Trip need three guards. While Sousa had a newfound respect for Lincoln since the latter had helped him in D.C. with Peggy, he also had a newfound hatred for him, since he and Daisy were now engaged. It was a war of emotions inside him, one that Sousa was still struggling to sort through. 

The lights flickered one more time and then Lincoln opened his eyes. Daisy lit up, a sparkle appeared in her own eyes and she leaned forward, grabbing his hand with her left one, the one that bore her engagement ring.

“Hi, it’s okay, I’m here,” she said softly, a tenderness in her expression mixed with utter relief. “You’re safe now.” She paused, then, wanting him to think of a good time, one where she had rescued him and not the time that he’d died, she spoke again, her smile teasing. “Added bonus, you’re not naked...with needles poking out of your skin.”

Lincoln grinned wryly, fingers interlacing with hers. She leaned forward, as if to perch on the end of his bed, but by now, Sousa had had enough. He was done, absolutely done. He had held his temper through Daisy and Lincoln’s confession of love for one another, also held it when they officially became engaged, but there was only so much he could take. He had paid a lot more attention to their relationship than he cared to admit and he had a pretty good feeling that they were referring to a ‘naked acupuncture’ moment when Lincoln had adamantly stated that Jiaying had been the one who had undressed Daisy, not him. 

“Can we just -?” Sousa interrupted, gesturing behind Daisy and earning himself a glare from Deke and a raised eyebrow from Mack. 

Daisy withdrew from Lincoln a little, although her fingers were still interlocked with his. She turned around, to see Jemma, who had just come up behind her. 

“Oh, um, where are Hunter and Bobbi?” she asked, saying the first thing that came to her mind that had nothing to do with either her or Lincoln. 

At that moment, Miles spoke in the ears of those who were still wearing earpieces, namely Jemma, Sousa and Mack.

“Um, tell Deke that Hand just called to speak to him,” Miles said. “I think his phone is on silent or something because she says it’s urgent and she really needs to speak to him.”

“Deke, it’s Hand,” Mack said, popping out his earpiece and offering it to Deke. “She wants to talk.”

That definitely did not sound good. Deke took the earpiece from Mack, but neither Jemma nor Sousa took out their earpieces; it was practically a tradition for eavesdropping to happen at this point. Deke held up a finger to the rest of them to wait and ducked outside to speak to her, Jemma followed, but Sousa and Mack stayed behind, Sousa plugging one finger in his ear to hear better. 

“How are you feeling?” Daisy asked Lincoln, reaching out with her free hand to touch his face. “I’m so sorry you got hurt -”

“Rather me than you,” Lincoln told her, catching her hand that was touching his cheek to bring it to his lips.

Mack raised his eyebrows at them and Lincoln caught sight of his movement. 

“Mack, meet Daisy,” he said. He paused, looking like he wanted to add something, but glanced at Sousa and refrained from speaking. 

Mack nodded. “We met. In an apartment building that was apparently crashing down, but not really because Tremors here and Pebbles stopped it.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and burst out laughing. 

“Oh, ouch, that hurts!” Lincoln said, feeling his side, and Daisy’s laughter subsided immediately. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, gently pulling aside the blanket to try and see the wound; he was still wearing a hospital gown, so that was an impossibility. 

Lincoln nodded. “Just a little sore. I’m fine, Daisy, honestly.” He caught the anxious look in her eyes and he smiled. “Seriously, don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

He lifted one hand to her face and gently tugged on a lock of her hair, making her smile, leaning into his touch. 

“Of course she’s worried,” Mack said, stepping closer to the bed as well, causing them to pull apart slightly. “You could have died, Sparks!” 

While Mack was not aware of how similar the situation had been to Lincoln’s death in the original timeline, both Lincoln and Daisy were. At that reminder of how close that had come to becoming real, the lights flickered again overhead and the medicine bottles on the cabinet shook as they moved on their own; both Inhumans’ emotions sky-rocketed.

“What’s...are you doing that on purpose?” Sousa asked, taking a step back; while he had seen both of them use their powers before, he hadn’t seen either of them lose control before. 

Lincoln caught Daisy’s hand as she clenched it into a fist, trying to rein in power before she hurt someone. 

“Don’t lose control,” he said. “You’ve got this, remember?”

When Daisy didn’t say anything, he smirked at her.

“Sometimes it’s good to lose control...but not now,” he teased.

He achieved his intended goal. Daisy laughed, swatting at his hand, the tension gone from her forehead. “You lost it too, Sparky, so don’t go judging me.”

Lincoln adopted a mock serious expression. “Zen Masters,” he said with a teasing grin. “We defeat the wars inside our heads.”

Daisy laughed, wishing that Mack and Sousa weren’t in the room so that they could talk in private. 

“You’re the original Zen Master,” she told him. “I wouldn’t have reached that stage without you.” 

The affection between the two was unmistakable and Mack muttered in an amused voice, “And sparks are flying. Not literally of course, but...there goes that metaphorical control.”

Sousa couldn’t help laughing despite it obviously not being something he wanted to think about. Trip hadn’t told Mack about Sousa and Daisy’s history for obvious reasons; he likely had planned on doing so out of Sousa’s earshot. Meanwhile, Daisy and Lincoln turned their attention back to Mack and Sousa, although they were still holding hands. 

“You haven’t lost it in a year, Sparks,” Mack said. “And although I don’t know the last time Daisy lost control…. Are you two okay?”

He looked genuinely concerned and Lincoln leaned back on his pillows, relaxing a little. “Losing control of powers comes with strong emotions,” he said. “Nightmares, confused thoughts and memories….”

“Fear,” Daisy added. “Early days post-Terrigenesis and being unable to control new powers….”

“Ah,” Mack said. “So we’re going with fear?” 

His guess was apt. Daisy grimaced, but before her anxiety could spike, Lincoln’s thumb was rubbing soothing circles on her skin; it was so ironic that he was comforting her despite him being the one who had died. She knew he hadn’t wanted to die and that he’d been scared; the very fact that he was the one comforting her now, like he had on the Quinjet both times - the time when he’d died and the time when he’d lived - made her love him all the more. 

“They’re scared because the wound that James gave Lincoln is the exact same wound that James gave him in our timeline shortly before he sacrificed his life for Daisy,” Jemma said, appearing in the doorway; she had noticed the flickering electricity and heard the shaking objects as well. “If there was anything that would make them freak out, it’s that.”

Sousa stared at both of them in shock; he hadn’t been aware of that either.

“Oh, no wonder you were worried,” he said to Daisy. “And when you -” He cut himself off before he could say words he would regret. A teeny tiny flicker of hope rose inside him, hope that she had been saying that on the spur of the moment because she was afraid that Lincoln would die and that she hadn’t meant it that she loved Lincoln and wanted to marry him. Sousa hated that hope because he loved Daisy and liked Lincoln enough that he didn’t want to hurt either of them, but still...he hated himself for that weakness. 

“I meant and mean what I said,” Daisy said defiantly, tilting her chin up, needing to make the distinction to Lincoln as much as to Sousa. “That wasn’t the first time I said I love y-”

“You made your point,” Sousa said, raising a hand, but Lincoln was grinning. 

“Oh, that dreaded sentence,” he said. 

“Not funny!” Daisy and Jemma said simultaneously. 

“Why is the sentence ‘I love you’ dreaded?” Deke asked, coming into the room, his brow furrowed in confusion, but trying to make light of the situation, not wanting to worry Lincoln and Daisy when they were both so obviously emotional.

“Not that sentence,” Lincoln corrected. “The proper sentence - or its variation, in Daisy’s case - is ‘It’s the first time I said I love you”, only to be cut off before the sentence ends.”

“But you both already said it,” Deke said, confused. “Everyone heard you. Literally everyone on the team.” 

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other, clearly thinking the same thing, although no one else had any idea what they were thinking of. 

“Well, then, Dad, I have a request,” Lincoln said, grinning.

“Uh oh,” Deke said, taking a step backwards.

“Uh oh is right,” Mack muttered. “A request sounds ominous.”

“ _We_ have a request,” Daisy corrected, to which Lincoln nodded. 

“Good point,” he said. “Sorry, _we_ have a request.”

“If I’m going out now to buy a suit and a dress and rings and Zima, do not be surprised at all if I end up coming back with Nana and Bobo’s wedding rings,” Deke warned. “And somehow Nana is going to create a Fear Dimension forest -”

“I actually could sort of do that,” Jemma said. “I could bring over more than Fitz’s and the rest of the team’s holograms; I could bring over the woods of Perthshire.”

“Wait, you already can contact the other timeline?” Daisy asked, her mouth dropping open.

Lincoln’s eyes widened. “How...how much time has passed in that timeline?” 

Jemma and Deke traded glances. “We fixed the communication machine a short while ago,” Jemma said. “So, um, yeah, we can communicate with the other timeline. I spoke with Fitz already; he’s updating the team while we can’t work on the antitoxins and stuff. I didn’t get a chance to ask about time yet because there was just so much to tell him...but yeah. We can communicate with the other timeline. So...they could all be here if you guys, um….”

“Want to get married,” Sousa supplied, saying what they had all been skirting around saying. “That’s what we’re talking about, right?”

As he spoke, Jemma remembered his request to be treated like he wasn’t Daisy’s ex, like he wasn’t hurting every time the topic of Daisy and Lincoln came up. Quickly, she spoke before Daisy or Lincoln could apologize or make matters worse, even by accident.

“Well, yeah, everyone from the old team could be here if you want them to be,” she said. “Even our timeline Bobbi and Hunter because they are aware of timeline travel now. That’s what you told Deke you want, right, Daisy?”

Daisy nodded. “Yeah,” she said softly, but there was a flash of fear on her face as she spoke.

Both Lincoln and Jemma grasped the meaning behind her expression.

“Daisy, I know you’re worried that they might not understand your decision,” Lincoln said softly, squeezing her hand so that she looked at him. “If you want, we can wait until they’re ready or until an appropriate amount of time has passed -”

“Daisy, Lincoln, don’t worry, they _will_ understand,” Jemma interrupted. “Lincoln is part of you, Daisy. Literally and figuratively. You guys are a package deal. If they push him away, they push you away. They know that now. They know...because you ran away after he died. They know you’ll leave again if they don’t accept him. And...you have another family now. Deke’s team. They know if they push Lincoln away you both are going to choose to stay here.”

There was a little silence following Jemma’s speech. 

The fact that neither one of them was denying made Jemma realize that it was at least partly true. Daisy didn’t want to hurt Lincoln by taking him away from his team. The only team that Daisy had in the original timeline still working with her were Kora and Sousa. The others...aside from emails and texts, she only saw them via hologram altogether once a year. And now that Jemma and Deke had set up the communications between the timelines, she could do that from this timeline as well.

And as Jemma stood there, she remembered something that she had told Sousa. Sometimes the endings we think we want aren’t always the ones we need. Well, in this case, she wanted Daisy to go back to the original timeline with her...but maybe that wasn’t what Daisy needed. Jemma knew that Daisy loved Lincoln and would always love him...but maybe staying was exactly what they needed. Even if it hurt Jemma in the process.


	64. Episode 17: Discovery Requires Experimentation - Chapter 64

**Episode 17: Discovery Requires Experimentation**

**Chapter 64**

Deke didn’t want to pressure either Daisy or Lincoln into making such a massive decision at that moment. He knew perfectly well that both of them were highly emotional at the moment; Lincoln’s near-death experience would have caused massive and traumatic flashbacks for both of them. Their random moments of losing control over their powers were testament enough of that. Additionally neither of them knew that Bobbi and Hunter were now MIA and he didn’t want to worry them about that, especially when he knew they - along with everyone else - was incredibly sleep-deprived. Instead, he turned to Jemma.

“Can Lincoln be discharged now?” he asked. “Like maybe sleep in his own room instead of a hospital bed?”

Lincoln grinned at Jemma. “As a doctor, I’m saying I can be discharged,” he joked.

“Hit him for me,” Jemma told Daisy. “Because that is seriously not your medical opinion, Lincoln Campbell!”

Lincoln held up his hands. “Just trying to lighten the mood,” he said.

“To be honest, it might actually be better if you _could_ sleep in your own room,” Jemma said, sighing. “Because if I don’t discharge you, no one’s going to get any proper sleep today.”

“Meaning?” Mack asked.

“None of you are leaving,” Jemma said. “If I don’t allow Lincoln to sleep in his own room, Daisy won’t leave either. I’ll be lucky if I can pry Deke and Sousa away as well. Maybe it _would_ be best if I discharge Lincoln.” 

She eyed Lincoln suspiciously. “Okay, three conditions if I discharge you now,” she told Lincoln. “And those conditions go to you too, Daisy.”

“What are they?” Daisy asked. “Rules about medicine? Pain meds or something?”

“Step out first,” Jemma said, turning to Mack and Sousa. “Doctor-patient rules.”

“Damn,” Mack said. “Doctor Simmons is taking her doctoring very seriously….”

“It’s not that,” Sousa said, pushing him to the door. “I think she’s going to give them some rules about what they can and can’t do until he’s recovered.”

“Oh my God, did _you_ just say that?” Daisy asked, her cheeks flaming. “Sousa!”

“What?” Sousa asked. “You two are engaged, you’re flirting up a storm, can’t I join in the teasing now?”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other. In unison, they said, “Yes.”

Deke knew that they were saying that with the hopes that it would make Sousa feel better about the situation he was in. Sousa smiled at both of them as he made his way to the door. 

“When you decide on a wedding date,” he said, “Invite me as well, please. Even if it is today.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded another glance and then Daisy called, “Sousa, wait! Why are you being so...kind?”

Sousa’s smile dropped. “Just take the blessing, please. And leave it, Daisy.”

He made to walk out again, but then he stopped to speak. “I...I met someone else,” he said, not looking at either of them. Then he was gone, leaving before either of them could speak.

Daisy turned to look at Lincoln. “Was he….”

“Being serious?” Lincoln asked.

“Yes,” Mack said. “Sharon Carter was flirting with him on the Quinjet ride over.”

“Wait, what?” Daisy and Lincoln said in startled unison. 

“Worry about that later!” Jemma said. “Mack, Deke, out please!” She turned back to Daisy and Lincoln. “Ground rules!”

As Deke and Mack made their way to the door, Deke turned to look at Mack. “Was Sousa lying?” Deke asked him in a very low voice.

“Answer me this first, then I’ll reply,” Mack said equally quietly as they left the hospital room. “Were Daisy and Sousa previously a thing?”

“Yeah,” Deke said. “It’s complicated...but Daisy basically got together with Sousa because she thought Lincoln was dead.”

Mack waved away his explanation. “Trip already told me about the different timelines and them being together in another timeline. He just didn’t tell me about Daisy and Sousa, probably because Sousa was in the same Quinjet at the time and he didn’t want to make him feel bad.”

“Okay, so were you being serious about Sharon Carter?” Deke asked; by now they were out of earshot of Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma.

“Yes and no,” Mack said. “She _was_ flirting with him, or at least, I think she likes him, but I also think that he’s not over Daisy at all. He said that because...well, I just met the guy, but I know what it’s like to be caught up on an ex. I think all of us do. I think...well, I think in addition to still being in love with Daisy, he feels a tiny bit glad that Lincoln got hurt and also feels guilty for feeling glad. And feels guilty for trying to stop them from flirting earlier, especially when they’re just relieved that Lincoln’s alive. So he’s trying to make it up in the best way he knows how.”

“That’s...big of him,” Deke said. 

“Yeah,” Mack muttered. “What did Hand want?”

Deke sighed. “Now that is also a long story.” 




When the men were gone, Jemma turned her attention back to Daisy and Lincoln. 

“Okay, rule number 1,” Jemma said. “Firstly, if I discharge you, Lincoln, I feel that this is going to happen anyway, but Daisy, stay with him the entire time because just in case, if he has any problems, he shouldn’t be alone. I’m not saying you can’t sleep - feel free to - but just stay with him.”

“I wasn’t going to leave anyway,” Daisy said, smiling at Lincoln; he smiled back in response.

“Rule 2,” Jemma said. “Sleep on his good side, Daisy, so you don’t accidentally hit his injury. He’s going to be fine, he really is, but it’ll be sore for a while, so you’ll want to take it easy for a while, Lincoln.”

They nodded and Jemma continued.

“Rule 3,” she said. “Actually sleep, this time, okay? You both need it.”

The innuendo was clear; this was why Jemma had wanted Deke and Mack to leave. While Deke obviously knew that they were sleeping together, it was less awkward discussing their love lives with Jemma, as opposed to with Jemma, Deke and Mack. 

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and then chorused in unison, with grins on their faces, “Yes, Great-Nana.”

Jemma stared at both of them. “I am going to kill you both,” she decided. “I love you both, but I am still going to kill you.”

Daisy and Lincoln started laughing again, even though Lincoln’s side was still sore. Jemma shook her head at both of them. 

“I’ll just give Lincoln a brief checkup and then you can both go to your room and sleep,” Jemma said. “The guys can help you walk back to your room, Lincoln; I don’t think there’s a wheelchair around here."

“I can walk,” Lincoln objected, but Jemma was frowning.

“You two just called me ‘Great-Nana’,” Jemma said firmly. “If you’re accepting that as my new role in your life, then you can take this order not as a doctor, not as your teammate, but as your great-grandmother. Okay?”

Daisy and Lincoln traded another glance, this time a wary one, like they thought that Jemma might actually bite their heads off. Jemma definitely could hold that card over Lincoln, but whether she could use it against Daisy was another question altogether.

“Okay,” they both said simultaneously and Jemma smiled. 

“Wonderful,” she said. “Daisy, mind leaving so I check Lincoln’s injuries and then discharge him?”

“Sure,” Daisy said. She stood up, squeezing Lincoln’s hand. “I’ll see you in a minute.” She leaned in to kiss the top of Lincoln’s head and he placed his hands on either side of her waist as she did so. Before she pulled away, she leaned down to whisper in his ear. 

“I want you to know that even though I told you this when you were...injured, I don’t want you to think that I was just telling you that because of your injury,” she whispered, deliberately avoiding using the words ‘going to die’. “I want to marry you. I love you.”

Daisy turned to go, but Lincoln caught her wrist. “I love you too,” he said, pulling her back towards him. “And I want to marry you too.”

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close; she laughed into his neck as she scooted closer. Jemma smiled faintly as she watched them. It was about time; they deserved to be happy. Contrary to making Daisy leave, Jemma felt like backing out of the room to give them privacy. However, as she backed up towards the door, Deke and Mack came back into the room, concerned expressions on both of their faces.

Lincoln looked up. “What’s wrong?” he asked; Daisy also turned, her smile dropping.

“Deke said he had something to tell us,” Mack said. “About Bobbi and Hunter.”

“Are they okay?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma’s smile dropped. “You don’t need to tell them now -” She began, but Daisy frowned.

“Jemma, Deke, we’re not children,” she said. “We might joke about being your children and great-grandchildren and we _are_ family - don’t take that the wrong way - but we’re also agents. And adults. Don’t keep us in the dark. Deke, you did that about the sway and we got drugged as a result; Jemma, you did that about the disaster in D.C. until you and the others desperately needed our help…. We can take the hard stuff. Don’t hide information from us because you’re trying to shelter us. You have to be honest with us. We have a right to know.”

Deke sighed, raking a hand through his tangled hair. Daisy was not wrong; he had been treating them at times as his children first and agents second. He was aware that it stemmed from his desire to protect them, but they were right. They were still agents, they were still in this fight. And he had to be honest with them so that they would trust him.

Lincoln placed his hand on Daisy’s back soothingly, even though he understood her annoyance at her being kept in the dark. He felt a little irritated about it as well. With a sigh, he turned to look at Jemma.

“Where are Hunter and Bobbi?” Daisy asked. 

“I’m sorry…,” Jemma said, her eyes dropping so she didn’t have to look them in the eye. “It’s not….”

“Wait, what happened to them?” Lincoln asked, sitting upright. 

“They...they were incredibly brave,” Deke said. “They….” His voice cracked.

“Deke, you’re scaring us,” Daisy said. “ _What happened_ to them?”

“They...got taken,” Jemma said, her voice also tight and vulnerable. “James and Giyera.”

Daisy, Lincoln and Mack stared at her.

“No…,” Mack said, stepping towards Deke as if he might have a different reaction to what Jemma was saying. “No...they can’t….”

“They...we all do what we have to do,” Deke said, his voice uneven. “But….”

“You saved me,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “And they got taken because of it. You never should have come for me.” He finally pulled out his nasal cannula as he did so, dropping the tubing on the bed as he did so.

Daisy turned back to look at Lincoln, her eyes wide with shock that he might actually think that she shouldn’t have saved him. “I had to. I don’t want to lose you. I…I can’t.”

“They were trying to help,” Jemma said, causing both Daisy and Lincoln to turn back to her. “It wasn’t either of your faults. It really wasn’t. We’d all already left by the time this happened. This was after it looked like all the Inhumans had left, the Watchdogs had fled and Trip, Mack and Sousa were already on their way back from D.C.. Bobbi and Hunter stayed behind to keep up good relations with Hand’s team and the ATCU. They were on guard duty with Banks and Khan. They were taken...Banks and Khan are dead. We’re lucky they were only just kidnapped. It wasn’t your fault. Do you hear me? It wasn’t either of your faults.”

Daisy turned back to look at Lincoln, who sighed. “I understand,” he said, but he didn’t look like he was taking the news very well.

“I left them,” Daisy said, rubbing her forehead with her palm. “I left them to help Lincoln. But I had to...no, this is not your fault, Lincoln. It’s mine.” 

She staggered to her feet, but Lincoln was already scrambling out of bed after her. “Daisy, Daisy -”

“Lincoln, lie back down!” Jemma reached to push Lincoln back down. Having stood up too quickly and still being woozy from pain meds, he staggered, causing Jemma to grab him, Daisy to turn, worry all over her face, and Deke and Mack to step towards the bed in an attempt to help.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Daisy asked. “Jemma, what happened, is he okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lincoln said, waving a hand. “Just stood up too quickly.”

“Lie down,” Jemma ordered. “The rest of you, out. I’m going to check on his wounds, then if I discharge him, he’s going straight to his room to sleep. Same orders for you, Daisy.”

“Can I stay?” Daisy asked, her voice vulnerable all over again. “Please can I stay?”

“Daisy, let’s go,” Deke said, gently. “Lincoln’s going to be fine. And it’s not your fault about Bobbi and Hunter. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Hive. Or me, for letting them stay in D.C. when I should have predicted something like this might happen. It’s not your fault.”

“Daisy, I’ll be fine,” Lincoln reassured her. “It’s literally just a post-op checkup.”

“You doctors and your fancy words,” Daisy said, but her smile was faint. 

She allowed Deke to pull her from the room and Mack followed, looking lost. Bobbi and Hunter were two of his closest friends and while Daisy might be blaming herself for having left them to rescue Lincoln, Mack was grieving a lot as well.

As they stepped out into the corridor, three people came walking down the corridor: Ward, Sharon and Sousa, all of whom looked extremely worried and tense.

Ward saw their faces first. “What happened?” he asked.

“Bobbi and Hunter have been taken,” Deke said quietly. “We’re all...stressed, to say the least. What’s wrong with you three?”

Sousa opened his mouth and his voice was as tight as a drum when he spoke. “Peggy Carter’s gone.”




“Oh my God, Sousa -” Daisy began, but Mack spoke over her.

“Sharon, I’m so sorry,” he said. “We all are. Most of us didn’t meet her, but we all know how much she means to you. She’s your great-aunt and all of us wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t founded S.H.I.E.L.D…..”

Daisy stopped listening as she realized who Sharon was. She hadn’t ever seen Sharon Carter in her timeline before and her heart went out to Sousa who couldn’t even show as much grief as he wanted to because Sharon clearly didn’t know who he was. None of them could even comfort Sousa without raising suspicions.

“I’m heading back to D.C. now,” Sharon said quietly. “Trip will come with me, if that’s alright, Director Shaw.”

Deke hesitated for a split second. He wasn’t sure if Sharon was being serious or not. Additionally, Daisy didn’t know about Trip being in containment and he didn’t want to worry her with any additional stress because she was worried enough about Lincoln, Kora, Hunter and Bobbi. 

Even though she had just asked him to be more honest with her about cases. 

“Do you want company?” Sousa asked. “More company than just Trip, I mean.”

Sharon looked at Sousa. “If you want to come, Agent Sousa, you are more than welcome,” she said quietly. “Director Shaw -”

“I’ll go as well,” Deke said. “She’s one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D., of course I’ll be there.” He paused. “Daisy….”

“Go,” Daisy said. “Lincoln will understand.” 

“It’s not just Lincoln we’re worried about,” Deke reminded her. “We’re worried about you too.”

“She has Lincoln, she’ll be fine,” Sousa said, his voice as even as it could be, given the circumstances. “Right, Daisy?”

Daisy nodded. “Right.” 

“I’m prepping the Quinjet,” Sharon said, turning on her heel. “Be there in five, Deke, Sousa, if you want to say goodbye first.”

She hurried off, Mack following her so that she wouldn’t have to be alone. Deke hugged Daisy quickly and then ducked into Lincoln’s room to say goodbye to him and Jemma. Daisy was left in the corridor with Sousa alone for the first time since this whole disaster had begun.

“Sousa, I’m so sorry,” Daisy said. “I know how much she means...meant to you.”

Sousa nodded, but didn’t say anything. “You, Lincoln and Deke allowed me to say goodbye,” he said quietly. “That’s above anything I could have asked of you and Lincoln.” 

“Sousa…,” Daisy said quietly. “I could go with you if you want.” Even as she said the words, it hurt her inside; she ached at the mere thought of separating herself from Lincoln. But he should stay and rest and he would understand that there was nothing romantic in Daisy’s offer. It was a friendly suggestion, that was all. 

“No,” Sousa said. “You’re half-Chinese...and the Chinese superstition states that it’s bad luck to go to a funeral before a wedding. A bride shouldn’t be at a funeral for three months before the wedding and after as well. Not saying that anything will happen to you and Lincoln, but I don’t want to jinx anything and something tells me you guys will want to get married faster than three months from now. You should stay with him. Rest. Sleep. Be happy. That’s all I want for you anyway.”

“Sousa…,” Daisy said, almost overwhelmed with how kind he was being despite the immense grief he was in. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“That’s really okay,” Sousa assured her. He blew out a long breath. “Thank you for offering to be there for me, but I’d really rather you stay here.” He paused. “Besides, you’ll be in danger if you go and I don’t want that.”

Daisy smiled faintly. “You always have my back.”

“Like I said,” Sousa said. “No matter what happens between us, I’m in this with you till the end. We will defeat Hive and you’ll get your happy ending with Lincoln. You deserve it.”

Daisy bit her bottom lip. “Thank you. For being as unfazeable as always and not being angrier about our engagement and everything -”

“Lincoln’s a good guy,” Sousa said. “You love him. He loves you. I’ll be fine.”

He smiled at her and then turned to go. As that happened, Deke opened the door and called to Daisy.

“Lincoln’s good to go, Daisy,” he said. 

Daisy turned immediately to re-enter Lincoln’s room and Deke stepped out into the corridor. As Daisy left, Sousa couldn’t resist looking over his shoulder at her. But she was gone, not even looking back. Sousa didn’t blame her for that; he knew that her heart totally and completely belonged with Lincoln. But it hurt all the same...as he was letting go of the two women he loved on the same day, one to death, and the other to marriage to a different man.




“So Tremors chose Sparks?” Mack asked. “In like, three days?”

“I think they’ve hit day four now,” Fitz said. “But yes.”

Yo-Yo sighed. “Okay, Mack. You win.”

She handed him a $20 bill and Coulson stared at them. “You bet against Daisy and Lincoln?”

“No, actually,” Yo-Yo said. “I bet that it would take over a week for them to get back together. Mack bet under a week.”

Fitz, Bobbi and Hunter all started laughing. 

“Oh, hell,” Hunter said. “I mean, I never met this Sousa dude, so I was never going to bet against good old Shake and Bake, but the fact that you guys were also betting on Daisy and Lincoln...damn.”

“Hey, come on, when he was at the Cocoon on our last mission together, it was obvious she was missing him,” Bobbi pointed out. “Even though he hadn’t been gone all that long.”

“She dropped everything to go and save him when the ATCU were after him,” Fitz said. “She was talking with Jemma and when he called, she just went.”

“When he died, she walked away,” Mack reminded the others. “She _ran_ away actually…. It took her over four years to even consider trying to be with someone else.”

“Well, they’re engaged now,” Fitz said, before they could go down even more of memory lane. “And Jemma is terrified that Daisy might choose to stay in Deke’s timeline if we don’t accept Lincoln.”

“ _What_?!” The smiles dropped from all of their faces. 

“What did you guys _do_ to him after we left?” Bobbi asked. “Coulson!”

“It wasn’t just him,” Fitz said, sighing. “It was all of us.”

“No, it was mostly me,” Coulson admitted. “I told him that he was only on the team for Daisy, I made him wear a murder vest….”

“Jesus,” Hunter muttered. “At least May didn’t make me wear a murder vest. Because she gave me the same talk about only being there for Bobbi.”

“Well, to be fair, at the time, you both were,” Mack said. “Kinda. Sorta. At the time. It wasn’t always like that obviously, but to Coulson and May, well...it certainly seemed that way.”

“And we clearly didn’t see it any other way until it was too late,” Coulson muttered. 

“It’s different now,” Fitz said quickly. “Lincoln’s not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent because of Daisy. He’s an agent because he wants to be one.”

“Wait, can we circle back to them being engaged?” Yo-Yo asked. “When is the wedding happening?”

“Could be in a few hours for all I know,” Fitz said. “Jemma said...well, she said that they’re basically her and me in this new timeline.”

“Sorry?” Mack repeated.

“A timeline version of Lincoln died,” Fitz said. “Got his memories back; Daisy got a different timeline version of him; it’s been a few days, not an hour, but they’re engaged anyway; there was the...man that Daisy and Jemma were with when they thought they had no chance of getting Lincoln and me back; they went to see Radcliffe in Bucharest; there were some mentions of psychically linked and the first law of thermodynamics; they know something about their future kids; and they’re in the Lighthouse.” 

There was silence for a moment. 

“Okay,” Mack said at last. “I’m not even going to ask about some of that because it was highly confusing, but I think we should all go and shower now so we look presentable for the wedding.”

“So does this mean that I’m supposed to say the other guy has a hog face?” Hunter asked, making Bobbi and Fitz laugh.

Coulson shook his head and Mack sighed heavily, looking from one hologram person to another.

“Wait, are we all invited to the wedding?” Bobbi asked. “Including Hunter and I?”

“Yes,” Fitz said. “All of us are. Daisy told Deke and Deke told Jemma and Jemma told me that she wants us all there. But she is also terrified that we won’t accept him. Because we pushed him away the first time.”

“Wait, that’s crazy,” Hunter said. “He’s one of us. Of course we accept him.”

“You might,” Fitz said. “You never met Sousa...and you saw Daisy and Lincoln together. The same goes for Bobbi. And technically for me as well. It’s Coulson, Mack, Yo-Yo and May whose opinions matter the most. No offense.”

“None taken,” Bobbi said. 

“I helped her get the meds she needed and to stay away from S.H.I.E.L.D. when she needed space,” Yo-Yo said. “I was the only one who saw that she needed time away from S.H.I.E.L.D. when he was gone.” She paused. “Technically speaking, Daisy was my transitioner, the way Lincoln was hers. Well, I mean, obviously they were more than that, but anyway...of course I understand that she would choose him. Of course she would.”

There was silence for a moment as Mack stood there in silence. “She might leave?” he asked. “She’s my partner. She’s like my little sister.”

“But she’s not,” Bobbi said gently. “It’s like when I left, Mack. Sometimes we have to do what is best for us. Even if that means walking away from those we love.”

“You had no choice,” Mack insisted. “Daisy has a choice.”

“And she’s choosing Lincoln,” Coulson said quietly. “I tried to...Lincoln once accused me and May of wanting him to die so that when we got Daisy back, we could go back to being a small messed-up family again. He wasn’t wrong. In fact, he was right. But this time...if she wants to go, we have to let her go. Because holding onto her will just end up pushing her away.” He paused. “Besides...we all know how much he loves her. He died for her to live. He’s one of the few people who ever successfully prevented Daisy from doing something she put her mind to. If he’s not deserving of her...well, there are very few people who are.”

There was a long silence and then Fitz nodded. “I’m seeing Jemma tonight,” he said. “I’ll tell her that all of us are on board with Daisy and Lincoln. And that we’ll be at their wedding. And if, after all of this, if she wants to leave...that won’t be because we pushed her away."




The base was quiet by the time the Quinjet had left. The only people left were Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma, Ward, Miles, Mack, Trip, May, Lexi and Koenig and almost all of them were trying to catch some downtime or were in lockup. Miles was camping out in the communications centre with an earpiece in case of emergencies, Ward was napping outside Trip’s containment cell and Koenig was watching all of Miles’ computer screens and programs that he had already set up to hunt for Kora, Bobbi and Hunter. Everyone else was in their newly chosen bedrooms, asleep for the first time in almost two days. 

After talking with Fitz and becoming intensely relieved that the entire team was happy with Daisy’s choice and had accepted that Daisy had chosen Lincoln, Jemma went to bed. She had been asleep for a while when suddenly the base shook. She jerked upright, suddenly anxious that something was wrong with Daisy. She flipped the lights on; they immediately flickered overhead. 

“Oh no,” Jemma said; she knew that there were very few things that could cause both of those occurrences. 

She grabbed a sweater, pulled it on and ran out of her room. Hurrying downstairs, she ran right into Miles, Ward and Mack, all of whom had woken up at the sudden tremors and had come down to investigate.

“Is that what I think it is?” Ward asked. 

“It could be one of five things,” Jemma said as they ran towards the east wing. 

“Five?” Miles repeated. 

“Yeah, five,” Jemma said. “One, best case scenario, it’s a natural earthquake that’s causing the fluctuating lights.”

“That’s the best case scenario?” Mack asked skeptically.

Jemma gave him a wry look. “Two, it’s Kora and Flint,” she said. “Which I really hope it’s not.”

“Me too,” Miles muttered.

“Three, well, three a, it’s Daisy and Lincoln,” Jemma said. “And they’re having nightmares.”

“Synchronized nightmares?” Ward repeated skeptically. 

Jemma winced. “Yeah, maybe not that likely,” she admitted. “Three b...well, it’s possible that they decided to go and train. And went a little overboard with the powers.”

“After Lincoln got injured?” Miles said, equally skeptically.

“In the middle of the night?” Ward asked.

“Actually, it’s daytime,” Mack said. “We stayed up all night and are sleeping the day away.”

“Anyway...yeah, also not that likely,” Jemma said. 

“And the last option?” Ward asked.

Jemma flushed a little, remembering who she was talking to. “Uh, I meant four,” she said.

All three guys stopped moving and looked at her quizzically. 

“Yeah, you’re lying,” Ward decided. 

“I agree,” Miles decided. “What’s the fifth one? Is it number four? Or three c?”

“Um…,” Jemma began, at a loss for words.

“ _Oh_ ,” Miles said, raising his eyebrows into his forehead and wiggling them lavisciously. “So _that’s_ what they meant about heightened emotions?”

“I’m not answering that question,” Jemma decided.

“Aw, come on, Jemma, I thought we trusted each other,” Miles said, a mock-disappointed look on his face. 

He was actually right. They had worked together pretty well while they had been on the way back from D.C., but all the same, Jemma was not about to divulge information about Daisy and Lincoln’s romantic lives to him. 

“Mind out of the gutter,” Jemma said, but she couldn’t help smiling slightly.

“Ooh,” Miles said. “Does that mean you’re going to be the one knocking on their door to see if they’re okay?”

Jemma shook her head slightly, but she grimaced. “At least I’m letting you guys come, right?” she said semi-rhetorically.




“Daisy, wake up,” Lincoln whispered. “Daisy.” 

The whole room was shaking. Books had fallen off the dresser and the chest of drawers had drawers hanging open. Lincoln reached out to touch her cheek and she jerked awake, grabbing his wrist.

“Oh God, you’re alive,” Daisy whispered. “Lincoln.”

She strangled him into a hug and Lincoln shushed her, stroking her long hair. She shivered despite him being there to hold her - and the shivers weren’t coming because she was only wearing a thin tank top. 

“Dreams?” Lincoln asked. “It wasn’t real, Daisy.”

“It was once,” Daisy whispered back, resting her head against his bare shoulder; he was shirtless because fabric chaffed the bandage around his injury even though it was mostly healed.

Neither of them liked to talk about Lincoln’s death because it felt like taboo, although both of them knew what the nightmare had been about. 

“I’m here, I’m here,” Lincoln murmured in her ear.

Daisy closed her eyes, her breathing slowing down. “Wait, how come...did I wake you?” she asked. “Were my dreams that bad?”

She pulled back to look him in the eye and then realized the truth. “You never went to sleep?”

Lincoln sighed, dropping his hands. “I slept while I was under the meds,” he said. “And….”

“Nightmares?” Daisy asked. “Oh God, Lincoln.”

“My dreams are about losing you,” Lincoln said softly, touching her cheek. “I’m fine as long as you’re here.”

“You can’t not sleep, Lincoln,” Daisy said softly. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Lincoln smiled faintly as she repeated the words he had spoken to her while in the Quinjet.

“I know,” he said softly. “I’m just worried about what will happen to you if something happens to me. I’m just worried about your safety. About what will happen against Hive. When James blasted me earlier...I thought that might be it. I thought that I might die right there in the field. And as a result...when I was lying there, bleeding out, not sure if I was going to make it...it’s you, I was thinking about,” he said.

His meaning was clear. If he died before the endgame against Hive, he was worried about who would protect her and who would die in the Quinjet in the battle against Hive. 

“It’s okay, I'm here, you're safe now,” Daisy said softly. “We’ll figure it out together.”

Lincoln leaned in and kissed her, cutting off her speech. The pressure of his lips against hers was reassuring and Daisy relaxed into his touch. He always made her feel better. 

He pulled back. “I know,” he said softly. 

Daisy wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her forehead against his, and he held her close, hands on either side of her waist. 

“Are you okay?” Lincoln asked softly when she didn’t say anything for a long moment, just staying close to him, sharing the same breath. 

“I’m...worried,” she admitted. 

“About?” Lincoln asked.

Daisy sighed heavily. She didn’t want to tell him that she was worried about the reception that her team might have towards him. They hadn’t been the most welcoming of him when he had been alive. She didn’t want to have her team, her family, fighting against Lincoln, her other half, her forever love.

Before either of them could speak, there was a knock on the door. 

“Daisy, Lincoln, are you guys okay?” Jemma called through the door.

“Yeah,” they responded in unison without budging from their position on the bed, even though they were both more than a little stressed. 

“Was the natural disaster you guys?” Miles asked, making them pull apart from one another with a sigh. 

“Yeah, it was an accident,” Daisy said, sighing as she flopped back on the bed. “Sorry.”

“Can we like...not talk through the door?” Jemma asked. “It’s stressing me out a little because we all know how good technology can be these days. I kinda want to know that it’s you guys in-person and not like...a programmed computer or something.”

Daisy sighed, rolling over to look at Lincoln. He smiled at her, kissed her on the cheek quickly and said, “I got it.”

He headed over to the door and opened it a crack. “Satisfied?” he asked, poking his head around the door.

“Oh…,” Miles said, grinning mischievously. “I think it was three c.”

“Miles!” Jemma protested.

“Hey, he’s shirtless,” Miles pointed out. “I’d say it was three c.”

“Three c is preferable to two,” Ward pointed out. “Because at least it means we can go back to sleep now.”

“Go away,” Daisy groaned. “Unless you’re here to tell me that my team back in my timeline are going to treat Lincoln the same way you’re treating me.”

“And that is…?” Miles asked, confused. “With teasing and innuendos 24/7?”

Lincoln pulled the door open wider to let them in and headed back over to the bed where Daisy sat up, pushing her long hair out of her face. She was only wearing a tank top and a pair of Lincoln’s oversized yoga pants, but at this point, she was comfortable enough around the others not to care. Jemma was her sister and she was accustomed to having Ward and Miles around at this point. Only Mack looked a little uncomfortable, but that was because he ironically didn’t know her half as well as the others did. 

“I’d actually take that,” Daisy muttered as the four of them filed into the room, Ward and Mack leaning against the wall, Miles against the dresser and Jemma taking the desk chair. “Because it means that you’ve accepted me as one of your own. I’d take the teasing any day.” 

Jemma smiled. “I have good news for you,” she said, causing both Daisy and Lincoln to look up; Lincoln had his arm around her and she was resting her head against his shoulder. “Fitz called. He said the whole team’s in.”

“Wait, really?” Daisy asked and Lincoln sat upright in surprise. 

Jemma nodded. “Yeah. They spoke about it...and all of them are on board. They’re happy for you guys. They really are. And they want to know when the wedding is so that they have a few hours’ notice to shower and put on nice clothes or something.”

“Oh my God, this is amazing!” Daisy gasped, her eyes lighting up. “I was worried about nothing!”

“ _You_ worried?” Lincoln asked. “ _I_ was worried! Murder vests! Accusations from Coulson!”

Daisy laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Looks like neither of us has anything to worry about then,” she said.

“Wait, so then I get to be best man, right?” Miles asked and both of them turned to look at him. 

“What?” Miles asked, seeing all five of their stunned expressions. “I was the one who covered up Lincoln’s parentage and made you guys get that gorgeous ring -”

“Miles, if anyone’s going to be best man, it’ll be Mack,” Ward pointed out. “He and Lincoln have known each other a lot longer, you know that.”

“Hey, maybe _you_ should be best man,” Miles said. “You saved Daisy at the Retreat...you promised that you would do anything and everything you could to protect her and you did.”

“I volunteer to be best man,” Mack said, raising a hand. “I’m volunteering. I’m much more mature than Miles. And funnier than Ward.” He glanced at Ward. “No offense.”

“None taken,” Ward said, even as Miles said, “Weddings are supposed to be fun! That’s _why_ you need me to be the best man and give the best man speech!”

“Oh God,” Lincoln said, flopping back on the bed, Daisy laughing as she curled up next to him. “You guys are my best friends, but you are killing me right now.”

“Hey, at least I know where I stand,” Jemma said, laughing, and Daisy rolled over to look at her.

“Of course you’re going to be my maid - matron of honour,” Daisy said. “I was yours. There’s no way you’d be anything else.”

“What about Kora?” Jemma asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

Daisy sighed, rolling back onto her back. “Kora is my sister,” she said. “If she were around, I’d have two. But she’s not...and while I hope we can free her from the sway before we get married...I don’t know if that’s going to happen.” She turned her head to look at Jemma, still lying on her back. “When she showed us our wedding in the visions of the future, she wasn’t there, Jemma.”

Lincoln reached for her hand. “It doesn’t mean she’s the one who dies,” he reminded her. “It could just mean this. That we get married while she’s still swayed.”

Miles took a handful of popcorn from the bowl that was still on the dresser and started crunching it loudly.

“Miles!” Daisy said, sitting up. “That’s ours!”

“I was the one who enabled Lincoln to buy it!” Miles said, picking up the pizza box and handing it to Ward. “Besides, if we’re wedding planning right now, I think we deserve a snack.”

“It doesn’t feel right to be wedding planning when the others are at Peggy Carter’s funeral,” Daisy said, biting her bottom lip. “And Hunter and Bobbi are still missing.”

“That’s exactly why we should be wedding planning,” Mack said. “We’re waiting for Miles’ programs to find something...and there’s nothing we can do in the meantime. Well, that’s not quite true, there are lots of stuff, but anyway...we all need a break right now.” 

“Plus, it’s a light in the darkness,” Ward reminded her, taking a slice of pizza and handing the box to Mack. “I want to think of someone’s happily-ever-after and your guys’ happy ending is definitely something I am down for. In an hour or something, we can go back to saving the world. Right now, we get to pretend that the biggest problem in the world is who gets to be Lincoln’s best man.”

The others all started laughing.

“Okay,” Lincoln said, grinning as he sat up and took a slice of pizza from the box that Mack was offering him. He handed the box on to Daisy. “We do need a break.”

Daisy rolled her eyes, leaned forward and took a bite of his pizza without bothering to take a slice of her own.

“Hey!” Lincoln protested. 

“Yours tastes nicer,” Daisy teased, pushing the box over to Jemma. “You’re sharing.”

“Fine,” Lincoln said, pulling her in for a quick kiss. “If we get to wedding-plan for a short while.”

“Fine,” Daisy said. “But put on a shirt first because you’re seriously distracting when you look like that -”

A loud beeping from Miles’ tablet averted all of their attention. They all looked up, Jemma and Ward still chewing on their pizza. 

“What is it?” Daisy asked, dropping her head onto Lincoln’s shoulder with a sigh. “Is that the program tracking Hunter and Bobbi? The one tracking Kora? Is it the team back in D.C.?”

“Hang on,” Miles said, pulling the tablet out of the waistband of his pants. “Oh...Kora’s back in the system. She broke in earlier, by the way, that’s what switched off coms momentarily in D.C.. This time she circumnavigated the anti-subversion code and gained access to Trip.” 

“Wait, what?” Jemma asked, lowering her slice of pizza. “I thought Trip was in D.C. with Deke, Sousa and Sharon Carter?”

Miles looked sheepish. “Um...he’s in containment.”

“Containment?” Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma asked at the same time.

“Yeah….” Miles began. “He was communicating with Kora -”

“He was _what_?” Daisy and Lincoln said simultaneously. 

“Wait, give me that.” Jemma snatched the tablet from Miles, dropping her slice of pizza back in the box.

“Hey, what -” Miles began, but Daisy and Lincoln were already speaking, cutting off Miles, staring at one another as they realized what had happened. 

“It’s a pre-recorded loop,” Daisy said before Jemma could look at the footage. “That’s what I did. Kora would have known how. Oh my God. The hangar.”

“Daisy.” Lincoln grabbed her arm. “Lexi.”

“Oh my God,” Daisy said. “May wouldn’t have -”

“Trip might,” Lincoln said. “Or Kora herself even. If they were desperate. Either Hive really wanted her to kill her or Trip might have taken her for a trade -”

“Oh my God,” Daisy repeated. She turned to the others. “Where the hell is Lexi?” 

“With May,” Mack said. “Sleeping in the quarters on the other side of the building -”

Both Daisy and Lincoln scrambled off the bed and ran for the door.

“Clothes!” Miles shouted, throwing their shirts and pants towards them. 

They each started hopping into them, trying to move down the corridor as they went. 

“What’s going on?” Mack asked as Jemma hurried out the door and into the corridor.

“Trip’s broken containment,” Daisy gasped, shedding her yoga pants behind Lincoln, out of sight of the guys and pulling on leggings instead.

“Kora broke him out,” Lincoln said, pulling on his shirt.

“It’s a trap,” Jemma finished, already rushing down the hall. 

Miles, Ward and Mack looked at each other.

“For whom?” Miles asked rhetorically.


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65**

“Trip? Can you hear me? It’s me...Kora. I’m so sorry I didn’t warn you about them fast enough for you to get away.”

Trip was lying on something soft and fluffy. It was strange, strange and quiet and...and someone was talking. Loudly. 

_Kora?_ _How can I hear you? They took away my earpiece, didn’t they?_

“TV in your room. I hacked Miles’ system and replaced the live camera footage with a pre-recorded loop of footage. You can speak out loud now, by the way. They won’t hear you.” 

“Oh...right,” Trip said, blinking his eyes open and looking at the ceiling. It was white. White...he was in a containment cell. He rolled over and caught sight of the television display of Kora. She looked pale and bloodless; her eyes were bloodshot and she looked thinner than before, like she had lost a lot of weight.

“Hey,” she said. “It’s good to see you.”

“Kora,” Trip said, sitting up. “What are you doing?” 

“I came to get you out,” she said. “If you want. Everyone’s distracted. Half the team are in D.C. and Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma, Ward, Miles and Mack are in Daisy and Lincoln’s room. They’re eating pizza and planning Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding.”

Trip frowned. “Are you _trying_ to hurt my feelings?”

Kora sighed. “No. I’m just trying to say they’re distracted. And they were the ones who knocked you out.”

“That’s because they don’t know that you’re helping me,” Trip said. “Well...sort of. They’ll understand that I wasn’t helping you or Hive...that I just have your voice in my head...and that you’re fighting Hive. They’ll understand.”

“No, they won’t,” Kora said, massaging her forehead like she had a headache. “They won’t, because you already tried convincing them that you weren’t helping me and that I’m trying to fight this insane... _thing_ and even Daisy doesn’t believe you when you told them that I was different. I can get you out. I can get you to D.C.. I won’t bring you here - believe me, I won’t - but I can send you to D.C. where it’ll be safer. Or home. Do you want to visit your mum?”

“No,” Trip said. “This is insane, Kora. They’ll come around sooner or later. Daisy and Lincoln wouldn’t let me stay in here -”

“They’re eating pizza right now,” Kora said. “And planning their wedding.” 

Trip stared at Kora. “Wait...are you saying that they all know that I’m in here? I know obviously Ward and May and Mack do, but the others….”

“They’re supposed to trust you, but they don’t,” Kora said. “I can help. I promise I won’t bring you here. That’s all that matters, right? I can get you away, keep you safe, protect you….”

“Protect me?” Trip asked, standing up and walking towards the television. “Wait, Kora, what’s going on? Why...oh...oh my God. This is it, isn’t it? We’re nearing the endgame. You’re trying to send me away because you think I might be the one in the Quinjet with the warhead if I stay.”

Kora averted her gaze, unable to meet Trip’s eyes. She bit her bottom lip. 

“Please, please, please trust me,” Kora whispered. “I know this sounds crazy and I know I might not have done a lot to gain your trust -”

“Kora, instead of trying to protect me, tell me where you are,” Trip pleaded. “I’ll come and get you. One man. An extraction. Hive won’t notice.”

“Of course he will!” Kora protested. “There’s no way you’d get away with it. I’m not breaking you out to have you risking your life trying to save me. In the original timeline, you died when a Terrigen shard stabbed you. Do you really want that happening again?”

“Of course not!” Trip protested. “But I’m not going to leave you there! I have to try and do something!”

“No,” Kora said tightly. “This is crazy. Just let me get you out of that room and I can put you in a Quinjet to Tahiti or some place where it’s peaceful and there are no wars, no crazy Inhumans...alone. Far away from here.”

“Kora, I’m not going,” Trip insisted. “Unless you get out too.”

“I can’t do that, you know I can’t,” Kora snapped. “Hive won’t let me.”

“Then I’m not going to Tahiti!” Trip argued. “I’m going to...wherever you are.”

“You don’t know where the hell I am!” Kora retorted.

“I can damn well find out,” Trip said. 

He hurried back to the bedside table. He had seen the footage of what Lincoln had done at the Academy; he knew how to break out of containment without Kora’s help using a shard of a mirror, a pencil and the tape dispenser.

“Trip! God dammit, Trip!” Kora snapped. “Listen to me, please!”

Trip ignored her, breaking the mirror and picking up a shard of it.

“Dammit,” Kora muttered. “Okay, Trip. Get to the hangar. Hurry. I’ll get you out of there, but god dammit, hurry.”




After learning that Kora was likely breaking Trip out of containment if she hadn’t already, the six agents ran down to the communications centre. It was the centre of the Lighthouse; they needed to go there first before splitting up to go elsewhere. When they reached the room, Miles tossed them each an earpiece.

“Tell us where to go over the coms,” he said. 

Even as he spoke, Daisy and Lincoln were already running up the staircase that led to the east bedroom quarters. 

“Daisy, Lincoln, where do we go?” Ward asked, shoving an earpiece into his ear.

“Miles, lock down the base,” Lincoln said. “Seal all the entrances and exits.”

“Already doing it,” Miles said, typing quickly into his computer.

“Jemma, Ward, go to containment,” Daisy said. “Whoever was guarding his cell will probably need some medical treatment...if there was anyone there.”

“Koenig,” Ward said. “I sent him down there after the natural disasters on the base….”

“Mack, go to the hangar,” Lincoln ordered. “You might find Trip there, but be careful. He might have some sort of trick up his sleeve.”

“On it,” Mack said, rushing off towards the hangar. 

“Miles, lock down the Quinjet,” Daisy said. “Kora’s going to program it to autopilot to get Trip out of there. Or...he could just fly out on his own. Because he knows how to fly.”

“All of you, watch out for randomly blinking red signal bulbs,” Lincoln said. “It’s likely a trick. To distract you from Trip who might run behind your backs while you’re looking at the weird blinking light.”

“That is...awfully specific,” Miles said.

“Shut up,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison; it was what Daisy had said to Sousa in the time loops while they had been stuck in the timestorm. 

“What did I say?” Miles asked.

“I actually don’t know,” Jemma admitted.

“Just go!” Daisy ordered.

Everyone ran in different directions, except for Miles, who stayed in the communications centre to lock down the base from where he was. As they split up, an alarm started blaring; Miles had triggered the base lockdown. The main exit doors started closing and sealing, although the rest of them stayed open. 

“Which room is May’s?” Daisy asked as she and Lincoln reached the corridor of bedrooms; they had sprinted up a staircase and were now in a corridor of identical doors. 

“Fourth room,” Miles said. 

“Copy that,” Lincoln said at the same time as Jemma said, “We found Koenig. He’s out cold. Trip’s gone.”

“Miles, any luck with finding Trip on the cameras?” Ward asked. “We’re running around like headless chickens.” 

There was some scuffling on the other end of the line before Miles spoke.

“I had to go to the main set-up,” Miles said; the others could hear him pushing discs into different ports. “To finish locking down the base.”

“Don’t worry,” Daisy said. “She’s probably kicked you out of the cameras as well. I did.”

“That’s reassuring,” Miles said grimly. “I’m trying to get her out!”

“I’ll join you in a second,” Jemma said. “After I get Koenig up to the medical rooms, I’ll meet you there. And don’t worry, you don’t have to give me instructions on what to do because I’ve already done this once. I know you’re a horrible teacher. Your reputation precedes you. Also, Ward’s joining the hunt for Trip. If he can find him.”

“Damn,” Miles muttered. “Wretched future predicting Inhumans.”

“You said it,” Ward said darkly.




“Another dead end, what’s going on?” Trip asked as the exit door sealed in front of him before he could get out of the base. 

“I hate my sister,” Kora muttered darkly. “And Lincoln. And Simmons.”

“I’m sorry?” Trip asked, turning around to find another exit.

“Just how I know what they’re going to do before they do it, they also know what I’m going to do before I do it,” Kora said. “At least in this particular scenario.”

“Really?” Trip asked.

“Don’t ask,” Kora muttered. “And as to why the doors are closing...Miles...he’s taken full control of the lockdown.”

“I’m trapped in here?” Trip asked. “I thought you can predict the future! How is this happening?”

“Because, like I said,” Kora said darkly, “Daisy and Lincoln and Simmons know what’s happening as well. Relax, I’ll get you out.” She paused. “Damn. I hate the future.”

“Let me guess,” Trip said. “You just kinda said what Daisy told Lincoln?”

“You’re not going to die,” Kora said flatly. “That’s why I’m going to put you in a Quinjet to Tahiti or some place far far away.” 

“Kora…,” Trip warned. “I told you already that I can’t just walk away from this.”

“Do you want to end up in a body bag?” Kora demanded. “Ah, god dammit, I really hate the future.”

“I think this is the past you’re worried about,” Trip said. 

“Either way, I still hate it,” Kora said. 




Daisy banged on the door that led to the fourth bedroom. “May, it’s Daisy and Lincoln, open up,” she called through the door. “Is Lexi with you?” She tried the door handle. “Dammit. Locked. May?”

“Quake it,” Lincoln said from just behind her. “Fastest way to get in.”

“Back away from the door if you’re in there,” Daisy called and then blasted the door open with a quake pulse. The door flew off its hinges and Daisy stepped into the doorway. 

The room was empty. 

Even though it looked empty, Daisy stepped into the room, quickly crouching to look under the bed; Lincoln ripped the blankets off the bed to make sure that no one was hiding under the covers. There was no one in the room. 

“Dammit, they’re gone,” Daisy muttered. “Miles? Some help here?”

“Can’t see the cameras, Daisy, trying to keep Kora out of the system,” Miles said. “Didn’t you guys encounter May at any point when you were playing cat-and-mouse?”

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “But she didn’t have Lexi at the time! Lexi was never even born in that timeline! That was when blinking lights came into play.”

“Fantastic,” Miles muttered sarcastically. “So if May is May, and Jemma is Jemma, and Mack is Mack, and Kora and Trip are Daisy and Lincoln, who am I then?”

“Fitz,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison.

“Jemma’s husband?” Miles asked. “Ew.”

“Trust me, I feel the same way,” Jemma said darkly. “About you.”

“Shut up, all of you,” Mack said. “This isn’t funny.”

“You’re right,” Lincoln said. “Because I don’t like Trip’s odds all of a sudden.”

There was silence for a moment.

“We have to find him,” Ward said. “I’m in the communications centre now...do we have the cameras back?”

“Nope,” Miles said. “More worried about Kora undoing the lockdown and Trip getting out than accessing the cameras.”

“Should we let him get out?” Lincoln asked suddenly. “Because I technically didn’t get out and that was the point. If we let him go, will we change the outcome?”

“No way,” Daisy said immediately. “Trip’s not Inhuman. If we let her break him out, he could end up as a Primitive!” She paused. “Also, Lexi’s not here. If any Quinjet gets off the base, it’ll have her in it.”

“You’re right,” Lincoln realized. “Mack, hang tight, Trip’s probably on the way to you. Destroy the cameras up there. So that Kora will be blind.”

“And Miles, make sure Kora doesn’t lock you out of the Quinjet systems,” Daisy added as she and Lincoln sprinted back downstairs, heading for the hangar; the way to access it required them to go down, across and then up again. “Because that’s what she’s going to try to do!”

“I really hate the future,” Miles said darkly. 

“Trust me, this is the first time I actually like knowing what’s going to happen,” Daisy said. “Because for the first time, we’re on the same playing field.”




“Remind me why I’m not going to the hangar?” Trip asked as he ran back towards containment which had been abandoned long ago; Kora had confirmed that Jemma, Ward and Koenig were no longer there. “If I hide, I’m a sitting duck!”

“Because that’s exactly what they think you’re going to do,” Kora said. “Get inside the containment module. Use the panel to program it to elevate out of containment. You’re getting out of the Lighthouse. You’re not hiding, we’re just using a different method to break you out.”

“Smart,” Trip admitted. “But why didn’t you just have me get into that in the first place to leave? Why have me set off the alarms?”

“Because Koenig was going to see you either way,” Kora said. “Now they think they know what’s going on, whereas in actuality, they don’t. And I’m setting up a red herring for them as we speak. Also...I hoped we would have longer before I set off Miles’ security measures.”

“Great,” Trip said. “So your future knowledge is as sketchy as theirs?”

“Just get moving,” Kora said. “Or you’re going to get caught.”

“Yes, boss,” Trip said, pulling out the panel attached to the containment module door. “Almost in.”




“How is it possible that we have three people who know the future, two of whom know _exactly_ where Trip should be and what Kora is doing, versus one person who knows the future and we’re still losing?” Miles asked. 

“Shut up, Miles, we’re trying!” Lincoln said as he and Daisy ran back downstairs from the bedrooms which May and Lexi had vacated. “Mack, watch the quinjet maintenance doors. Trip might come from there.”

“On it,” Mack said. “Any other tips?”

Before Lincoln could respond, Jemma spoke up. 

“Hang on, doesn’t Kora know that we know what’s happening?” Jemma asked. “There’s no way she’d try to beat us the same way Daisy technically beat us. And I say technically, because Lincoln actually won. Even though Daisy thought she won.”

Daisy cursed. “You’re right. Is there another way off this base? This is the Lighthouse, after all, not the Playground.”

“That’s not reassuring!” Ward said. “Because now we really don’t know where he’s going! Did anyone ever sneak out of the Lighthouse?”

“Yes,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison.

“Great!” Mack said. “Who was it, where did they go and how did they do it?”

“It was me,” Daisy said. “Again. And I stole a Quinjet. Again. And I went to space without sufficient fuel. So I was floating. In space. Which sounds...stupidly familiar. But there was no bomb. Or ancient Inhuman. So...well...yeah.”

“Are you kidding?” Miles asked.

“No, she’s not,” Lincoln said. 

“Great,” Mack said sarcastically. “Let me guess. You programmed it to fly out of here on autopilot as well?”

“Nope,” Daisy said. “Although I would have done. Because I can’t fly Quinjets. In person. In actuality, _you_ flew it out of there.”

“Excuse me?” Mack said. 

“Don’t worry, that time, I was doing the right thing,” Daisy said. “Admittedly going rogue.”

“Yeah, and that time, Sousa helped,” Lincoln reminded her even as they ran down the corridor towards the hangar.

“Christ, what is it with Daisy and her boyfriends and stealing Quinjets?” Miles demanded.

“At the time, Sousa wasn’t my boyfriend,” Daisy said. “But don’t worry, I didn’t ever steal one for you. Or for Ward, for that matter.”

“Technically, Ward stole it from you,” Lincoln reminded her. 

“That wasn’t Ward, that was Hive,” Daisy said. “And you stole it from me. Not him.”

“I did the right thing,” Lincoln said.

“No, you didn’t!” Daisy retorted. 

“Daisy,” Lincoln said, pulling her to a stop in the hallway. “I did. You would have died.”

“You _did_ die!” Daisy snapped. “Don’t you dare, don’t you _dare_ do that again.”

Before they could get into a bigger fight over who would die for whom, Ward interrupted. Unlike Miles, though, his interruption wasn’t to tease or make a joke. 

“Um, guys, I think we have a problem,” Ward said. 

“Another one?” Jemma asked.

“Yep,” Ward said. “Didn’t you guys drive here? Did you lock the garage down?”

“Oh no,” Jemma said. “Miles already reprogrammed the cars for autopilot so it doesn’t matter if Kora knows how to do that or not. Regardless of whether or not Trip has keys and whether or not he can hotwire a car, she can drive him out from anywhere in the world.” She paused. “Oh...this is happening again.”

“Sorry?” Mack asked, confused.

“Ah...spent so much time trying to secure the base and the Quinjet, I didn’t even think about the cars,” Miles said, groaning. He dashed over to a panel and started pressing keys on a keypad. There was a beep and Miles shook his head. “She’s locked us out.”

“Uh, okay, I’m on it,” Ward said.

“Ward, watch your back,” Lincoln said. “If that’s the way that Kora’s using to get Trip out of there, Trip is going to attack you. Even if you try to take him down non-lethally.”

“How do we know that it’s not a trick?” Jemma asked. “This is exactly the conversation that Mack and Fitz and I had before Mack went after Lincoln in the hangar. Does Kora know that this is all happening?”

“I didn’t,” Daisy said. “But then again, Kora knows a lot more than I did at the time.” 

“We’re screwed,” Miles muttered. “Time sucks.”

“I think we established that a long time ago,” Lincoln said grimly. 




Trip quickly stepped into the containment module. As the doors closed behind him, he spoke to Kora.

“So, what’s happening now?” he asked. “Because I don’t think we can fly a containment module to wherever we’re going. Besides, how soon until Hive checks up on you?”  
“Theoretically not for a while,” Kora said. “But you’re right. Here we go.” 

The next second, the containment module started rising. It emerged in the hangar and the doors opened to reveal no one.

“Looks clear to me,” Trip said, stepping out into the hangar.

“Mack’s going to ambush you,” Kora warned. “If I’m not much mistaken.” 

“Now you warn me about that?” Trip asked, but he was already heading towards the Quinjet. 

“Don’t worry,” Kora said. “Even though Mack predictably busted the cameras, I still know what’s going on. I have my future-predicting and all-seeing eye. You won’t be on your own.”

Trip was more than halfway towards the Quinjet. “Kora, I can fly this plane, you’re not going to fly me to Tahiti or some place,” he warned. “Tell me where you are.”

“Trip, for God’s sake -” Kora began and then shouted, “Behind you!”

Trip whirled around, just in time for Mack to plow into him and send him flying. 

“Can’t let you leave, Trip!” he shouted.

Daisy, Lincoln and Ward swore over the coms. 

“Are you kidding?” Daisy demanded. “The bluff was a double-bluff?”

“Hang tight, Mack, we’re coming,” Lincoln said; the sounds of the Inhumans running was unmistakable over the coms. 

“Same here,” Ward said. “Be right there.”

“Trip, get the hell out of there, my sister, Lincoln and Ward are on their way to you right now,” Kora warned. “If you don’t get out of there now, they’re going to stop you from leaving!” 

“Let me go!” Trip shouted, struggling with Mack. “I’ve got to get to Kora -”

“You’re on a fool’s errand,” Mack said. “The only reason she’s helping you is so that Hive can make you into a Primitive!”

“Miles, get me through to Kora,” Daisy said, even though she was feeling sick to her stomach with horrible flashbacks. Lincoln and James on the Quinjet had been bad, but now listening to Mack and Trip fight was even worse, knowing that the same thing had happened between Lincoln and Mack in the original timeline. “Hijack whatever network they’re on! Do it!”

“Doing, doing,” Miles said; they could hear the click of his fingers on the keys as he typed. 

“Hurry up!” Lincoln shouted as he and Daisy scrambled up the exit hatch towards the hangar. 

“Mack, you don’t understand,” Trip said, still struggling with him. “I need to go.”

“Mack, don’t let him Taser you or something!” Lincoln shouted. “Because an electric shock is what happened next -”

“I’ll keep your arms pinned down all day if I have to,” Mack warned; there were loud scuffles from both guys in the hangar.

“Mack, watch out!” Lincoln shouted, but at that moment, Trip grabbed him by the head and flipped him over his shoulder and onto the ground. 

Mack grunted in pain and Daisy shouted, “No!”

“I’m in,” Miles said. “It’s all yours, Daisy.”

“Run, Trip!” Kora shouted. “Go! Daisy and Lincoln are a lot faster than Yo-Yo and Coulson!”

“You know that sounds really stupid, Kora,” Daisy said; Lincoln was scrambling up the ladder that led to the hangar of the ramp. “Considering that Yo-Yo can run really really fast.”

“Hello, Daisy,” Kora said, showing no surprise at Miles hijacking her coms. “You know what’s really stupid? The fact that you and Lincoln and Ward are the ones chasing down Trip.”

“If you’re telling me that because we were the key players in the betrayal last time, I’m well aware,” Daisy said, as she started climbing up the ladder. “You don’t think I know how ironically horrible this situation is? Do you think I like knowing whose role _you’re_ playing?”

“No,” Kora said. “But I _do_ know that because you know exactly whose role Trip is playing, that you’re going to let him go.”

“Are you insane?” Lincoln demanded; he could also hear what Kora was saying. “You think we’re going to let him _go_?”

“No way!” Daisy protested at the same time. “If we let you take him, he’s going to become a Primitive!”

By this time, Daisy and Lincoln had reached the hangar; they could see Trip inside the Quinjet, flipping switches in the cockpit.

“Don’t do this, Trip!” Lincoln called. “You don’t want to do this!”

“You two of all people should understand why you have to let him go,” Kora said. “You know what will happen to him if he stays at the Lighthouse.”

Kora’s meaning could not be clearer. Even Miles had figured it out earlier, when he had said that Kora and Trip were Daisy and Lincoln in this timeline. And both Daisy and Lincoln knew what Kora meant when she said what would happen if Trip stayed. 

Daisy pressed a hand to her face as realization dawned at long last. “Oh God.”

“Yes,” Kora said. “It’s going to happen. I’ve seen it. You have to let him go.”

“Not if Lexi is on board,” Daisy said. “We can’t do that. Not a child, Kora.”

“She’s not on board,” Kora said. “Trip, open the ramp. Show them.”

Trip obeyed. The Quinjet was empty; there was no one but him on board. Daisy and Lincoln had a full plane view of the Quinjet and it was void of people aside from Trip. 

“That means nothing,” Lincoln said. “And you know it. There were two Quinjets involved last time, Kora.”

“And there’s only one Quinjet on the base,” Kora replied. “Sousa, Deke and Sharon Carter took the other one to D.C., didn’t they?”

Daisy took a deep breath. Fighting Kora was like fighting the Chronicoms; she knew exactly what was going to happen before it did. To make matters worse, she knew what had happened in the past and what was likely to happen again. 

“Don’t do this,” Lincoln said, addressing Trip. “Trip, step out now. She’s going to bring you to her and turn you into a Primitive. You don’t want to do this.”

“I’m not bringing him to me,” Kora said in all three of their ears. “I’m not. He’s going far away from here. Alone. Just him. I’m not joining him, so don’t think I’m lying or trying to fool him or you two because Daisy already tried that one and we all know where that one went. Ironically, he wants to try to save me by coming to extract me, but seeing as he’s not Inhuman or immune, that’s sure as hell not going to work. But anyway...if Trip doesn’t leave now, you know what’s going to happen.” Her voice broke.

“Oh God,” Daisy whispered, reaching for Lincoln’s hand. “Oh God.”

It was very clear now what Kora meant. If Trip stayed, he was going to be the Lincoln in this timeline. It was so obvious, in all the things that were happening. Kora had talked to him in his cell, she had broken him out, but instead of trying to bring him to Hive, she was trying to do the opposite, to make him stay far away. Alone. Just him. Far away from everyone….

It was an impossible choice. Let Trip leave and _try_ to trust that Kora wasn’t going to betray him? Or let him stay in what was highly likely a death sentence? 

“Let him leave,” Kora said. “You two of all people should understand why he can’t stay. Trust me. Please.”

“Who’s in control of the plane?” Lincoln asked. “Trip? Are you controlling the Quinjet? Or is Kora?”

“Right now, he is,” Kora said. “But I’ll be honest. I need to take control of the Quinjet. Or else Trip is not going to go to a remote place, away from S.H.I.E.L.D.. Because he wants to try and save me. But if he doesn’t get away now, it’s soon going to be too late. Please. Let me do this. Lexi’s not on board; there is no other Quinjet at the Lighthouse. This is not a trick. Trust me. Please.”

“Daisy, Lincoln, what’s going on?” Ward asked; they could hear his footsteps over the coms as he ran towards the hangar. “Stop the Quinjet already!”

Kora grimaced. “When Ward gets here, it’ll be too late,” she warned. “He won’t understand. You know he won’t. He already didn’t when it was you two in containment at the Academy.”

“Kora’s fighting Hive,” Trip spoke up at last. “That’s why she was communicating with me; she was trying to help me. She’s fighting for control, Daisy, Lincoln, you have to believe me. And her.”

Daisy shook her head. “That’s impossible,” she said. “Kora, how are you fighting Hive? I couldn’t!”

“I don’t know,” Kora said, the honesty apparent in her voice. “But you have to trust me. Please. Unless you want...unless you want Trip to die.”

It was the first time any of them had voiced aloud what was going to happen to Trip if he stayed. Daisy and Lincoln stared at him, wrestling with the decision, unable to decide what to do. 

“I….” Daisy looked at Lincoln, but his face was as wrought with indecision as hers was. 

“This is not a trick,” Kora said. “On his part or mine. There is only one Quinjet in the Lighthouse because the others took the other one to D.C.. He’s not a hologram; he’s real. Trust me. Let him go.”

Before Daisy could decide what to do, Lincoln let loose a bolt of electricity which flared straight through the open ramp and into Trip. Daisy gasped in shock, but the electricity fizzled and then died; Trip was nothing more than a hologram.

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered. “How did you know?”

“Coulson and I saw the holographic form of Felix Blake once,” Lincoln said. “Back when we were hunting Watchdogs. There was a delay between his speech and his mouth moving. I remembered when Kora mentioned a hologram.”

At that moment, they heard the whir of something overhead. Daisy and Lincoln both looked up and gasped. The containment module had risen high into the sky and was now heading into a Zephyr.

“Oh crap,” Daisy said. “She used the modules. I should have known. That’s what I did to get to Zephyr One to go to Hive.” The pained look was obvious in her eyes when she turned to look at Lincoln; he squeezed her hand tightly as they watched the Zephyr vanish from sight as the cloaking formed over the aircraft. 

“We can’t just let them go,” Lincoln said.

“Take the Quinjet,” Daisy said, turning towards the Quinjet. “If Hive’s Inhumans are in that Zephyr, Trip is as good as dead.”

They both sprinted for the Quinjet but by that time, Ward had reached the hangar.

“Don’t!” he shouted, racing towards them, Jemma hot on his heels. She stopped to help Mack, but Ward kept running. “You go after them now, you’ll become live bait for Hive. He still wants you two! He already has Kora and Flint and Hunter and Bobbi and maybe he even has Trip now. You want to give him you two as well?”

Ward moved incredibly fast; he tackled Lincoln from behind, pinning his arms to his side and when Lincoln stopped moving, Daisy halted as well. Lincoln used his electricity powers to shock Ward and shrug him off into the floor and as Daisy raised her arm to quake him, Jemma started shouting at both of them.

“Stand down, both of you!” she shouted. “Ward’s trying to help!”

Both Daisy and Lincoln froze; in no timeline would either of them willingly hurt Jemma. It wasn’t a situation where they might get confused about who Ward really was, plus Jemma was staring at them in the face.

“You two can’t go after Trip,” Jemma said. “It’s too late; if Hive gets his hands on you two, it’ll be all over.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded a glance, but the horrible thing was that Jemma was right. If Hive got them, it _would_ be all over. There would be no one else left to fight Hive if they stayed; they were the only ones immune left. 

“We’re immune,” Lincoln said. “If we go -”

“Both of you already tried fighting Hive,” Jemma said. “You’re not enough on your own, immune or not. You’d just be giving him what he wants. You know that.”

Daisy pressed her hands to her face anxiously. “We can’t just abandon Trip,” she said helplessly as Lincoln knelt down to help Ward upright.

“God dammit, I’m sorry, Ward,” Lincoln said, helping him to his feet. “Freaking deja vu. That’s what I did to Mack in the original timeline and the circumstances...weren’t good.”

“Same here,” Daisy said, swallowing hard. “I’m so sorry; all of this...you reminded me of when Lash had just liberated me from Hive and….”

“Say nothing else,” Ward said, holding up a hand. “I remember what you told me in the Quinjet. I was Hive’s host in your timeline. I get it...both of you have some serious problems with my face.”

“Sorry,” Lincoln said guiltily as Ward winced, straightening up. 

“We have to find Trip,” Jemma said, hurrying up, Mack behind her. “For all we know, he’s still on the base. Lincoln was. If Trip is -”

“I really hope he’s not,” Daisy said, her face scrunched up in worry. “If he is, Lexi might be in that module. And then that’ll mean that both of them are going to die.”




Bobbi opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of something hard, the ceiling was white and her wrists were bound, but her head was on something soft. Hunter’s lap. At least that meant he was alive...and she definitely was as well, seeing as she ached all over. Death wouldn’t be this painful.

“Hunter? Hunter?” she whispered.

“I’m here,” Hunter grunted; it sounded like speaking was a little difficult. When Bobbi looked up at him, she realized that both of them were wearing murder vests; she presumed that the murder vests had been stolen from S.H.I.E.L.D. when Hive’s Inhumans had attacked the Hub.

“We’re in a containment module,” Hunter said. “On a Zephyr. I think.”

Bobbi sighed, pushing herself upright; Hunter supported her back to help her sit up “The last thing I remember was the wall exploding.”

“I think that was James,” Hunter said. “That Inhuman packs a hell of an explosive.”

“Is he the one holding us hostage?” Bobbi asked. 

“Not only him,” Hunter said. “It’s hard to see, but I think there are at least three rogue Inhumans on board. And a couple of other prisoners.”

“Who?” Bobbi asked.

“Come and look,” Hunter said; he shuffled sideways to give her some space to look out. She shifted sideways as well and then gasped when she caught sight of what was going on. 

“Crazy, right?” Hunter said. 

Outside the containment module, just inside the lab space, Doctor Johnson was back to his normal self, but there was a floating gun at his head. Flint was unconscious in a corner; James, Giyera and Yo-Yo were standing around Doctor Johnson as he issued instructions to them. As Bobbi watched, Doctor Johnson issued a command to Giyera, who telekinetically replaced the empty bag of blood for transfusion with another one. 

“Are they...operating on Katya?” Bobbi asked, watching as Doctor Johnson glanced at the stats on the machine and then shook his head, saying something to Yo-Yo, who nodded, bending down over a cupboard to pull out more medical equipment.

“Yes,” Hunter said. “I was pretending to be asleep while they were talking about this, but they’re considering having Doctor Johnson do surgery on her if it looks like she’s going to die before we get to Hive’s base or wherever they have the GH-325. He tried insisting that he’s not a neurosurgeon, but they want him to do it anyway...if it’ll save her life.”

“Christ,” Bobbi muttered. “I thought she was dead!”

“Me too,” Hunter said darkly. “You’d think that putting a bullet through her skull would be enough of a giveaway that we want her gone.”

Bobbi sighed. “Why are we here? Did you see what happened to Khan and Banks?”

“They’re gone,” Hunter said. “I saw their bodies when we were being dragged out of the wreckage...Banks had a bullet in his skull and Khan’s chest was completely crushed. There’s no way they survived.”

Bobbi sighed. “What about the others? Did they make it?” she asked.

Before Hunter could reply, James left the lab and came towards the containment module, glaring at them. 

“Morse, come with me,” he said. “Hunter, stay back.”

“Like hell -” Hunter began, but James held up the detonator to his vest. 

“You try to fight me, you go boom,” James warned. “Morse, come with me.”

“What do you want?” Bobbi asked weakly as the doors to the module hissed open.

“You’re going to help Doctor Johnson with his surgery,” James said.

“I have a biology degree,” Bobbi said. “I’m not a neurosurgeon or even a _general_ surgeon! I can’t operate on Katya! She could undergo permanent brain damage or -”

“She’s already kind of crazy,” James said. “You wouldn’t be making things any worse.”

The implications were terrible. The very fact that Hive didn’t care if Katya suffered even more brain problems than just her insanity was horrifying. Hive just wanted her for her powers and was willing for Katya to become even more crazy than she already was, just for her ability to sway Inhumans. 

“Come,” James said. “Or your husband goes boom.”

Bobbi tried to get to her feet, but she apparently wasn’t moving fast enough for James. He grabbed her arm and hauled her upright.

“Try any funny business and he’s dead,” James warned. “Explosions are kind of my thing.”

He dragged Bobbi over to the lab, closing the containment module doors behind him. Hunter scrambled over to the side of the wall, staring at Bobbi as James hauled her over to the lab.

“Bobbi!” He slammed his fist into the glass, but the Inhumans ignored him. 

Hunter banged his head against the glass.

“Come on, guys,” he muttered under his breath. “Figure out where the hell we are and come rescue us already.”


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66**

When Deke and Sousa returned from D.C., almost an hour after Trip’s escape from the Lighthouse, they headed straight to the labs where most of the team had gathered. Even though it meant that the room was bursting at the seams, everyone had unanimously decided that it was best that all of them were in the same room; at least that way, no one could be kidnapped or convinced to escape the base.

As Deke and Sousa neared the room, they stood in the doorway for a brief moment, watching the chaos; it was so busy that no one noticed them there.

Jemma was working with May, testing the functioning capabilities of her robotic arm. Ward was trying to help them, but instead of taking it slowly like she should be, May looked like she was trying to punch Ward in the face. Next to them, Lincoln was taking Lexi’s blood sample and she was squeezing Daisy’s hand tightly; as brave as Lexi was, needles still scared her. Daisy was crouched down to be at the same height as Lexi, hologram Fitz and working with Mack and Koenig with a bunch of metal parts on a table, and Miles was sitting on the counter opposite them, his legs propped up on a chair as he worked on his laptop.

“Is that a Terrigen crystal?” Lexi said, catching the attention of both Deke and Sousa; she was admiring Daisy’s engagement ring. “It’s beautiful.”

“Don’t touch that!” May lunged in between Daisy and Lexi, grabbing Lexi’s arm, yanking her away from Daisy. 

Everyone fell silent at her outburst; Jemma and Ward had both moved forward when May had, but she had still been quicker than they were. As they moved, they accidentally knocked Miles’ legs off his chair and he almost fell over. The vacuum syringe went flying from Lincoln’s hand and shattered on the floor and Daisy was shoved out of the way as May pulled Lexi away from her. 

It was a testament to how much both Daisy and Lincoln trusted May that they allowed her to come that close to them...and also a testament to how quick May was. 

“It’s a pure Terrigen crystal, May!” Lincoln said as Daisy got back to her feet. “It won’t hurt you and it won’t turn Lexi. It’s not going to break. When I made it, I misjudged the calculations on how solid it should be. It won’t ever break.”

May eyed them both, but she trusted Lincoln. Her stance relaxed fractionally, just a tad of the relaxing of her shoulders. 

“I would never hurt Lexi, May,” Daisy said earnestly. “I wouldn’t have gone near her if I thought there was even the slightest chance that the ring would turn her. I would never do that to her or to you.”

Daisy and Lincoln’s eyes met. It was a big change from when Daisy had thought that Terrigenesis was a birthright and everyone had a right to go through it. When an innocent child’s life was on the line...Daisy didn’t want her being transformed if there was another option. 

There was silence for a moment. May’s face shifted. 

“My mistake,” May said, a little stiffly. “I didn’t expect….”

“I would never have given Daisy a ring that would prevent her from touching our human friends or that might involuntarily transform other Inhumans,” Lincoln said. “Neither one of us would ever hurt Lexi, May, you know that.”

“I’m sorry,” May said, exhaling a slow breath. She extended an olive branch in an attempt to pacify them. “That is...a beautiful ring.”

“It is,” Lexi said. “I want one.”

That broke the tension in the room and all of them laughed. Daisy knelt down again next to Lexi. 

“Well,” she said. “I don’t know if Lincoln has any more pure Terrigen crystal jewellery that won’t break, but how about this? You can be one of my flower girls at the wedding.”

Lexi’s eyes lit up. “I would love that! Who’s your other flower girl?”

Of course Lexi was smart enough to pick up the fact that Daisy had said ‘one’.

“Alya,” Lincoln said immediately. “Am I right, Dais?”

Daisy laughed, turning to look at him, the affection in her eyes unmistakable. “You know me so well. Is that okay, Jemma, Fitz?”

She glanced at both of them and Jemma smiled in response. “Alya would love that.”

“I think the flower petals would disappear as she throws them,” Fitz said thoughtfully. “But if you’re okay with disappearing flower petals, sure.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded a grin. 

“Definitely down for disappearing flower petals,” Daisy said, voicing what both of them were thinking. 

“Where is it going to be?” Lexi asked excitedly. “When?”

This prompted another exchange of glances between Daisy and Lincoln. That was one thing they hadn’t fully decided on yet, although they had sort of discussed where, considering the location had been in the vision that Kora had shown them. Admittedly, they had talked about it, what felt like ages ago, but was really just over a day previously. 

“You want it there?” Lincoln asked, seeing the unspoken question in her eyes.

“It’s where we met,” Daisy said, taking his hand to stand back up. “I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere else.”

“Okay,” Lincoln said. “Afterlife it is.”

They smiled at each other, not making any move to kiss or show any outward sign of affection, although everything that was passing between them was as romantic, if not more, as any sign of physical affection. The moment was broken by Miles, who had straightened himself out on the counter he was sitting on. 

“Afterlife’s empty right now,” he said, adjusting his computer in his lap. “After Hive returned and Deke found out about the sway, he evacuated Afterlife. We could safely get all of us, including holographic Fitz and the rest of your team there. Whenever you want.” He nodded towards the hologram of Fitz, who nodded back in response. It was moments like this that made them all feel more kindly towards Miles, even though he loved teasing them. 

“Not today,” Daisy said. “Not on the day Peggy Carter died -”

“The funeral’s not for another few days,” Sousa said, making everyone jump; they had been so caught up on their conversation that none of them had noticed either Deke or Sousa in the doorway. 

“What Sousa means is that we’ll be going to London for the funeral,” Deke said, before any of them could feel guilty about the fact that they were discussing Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding in front of Sousa. Admittedly, none of them had realized that he was there, but that didn’t make the situation any better. “Provided that we can be spared from the battle against Hive.”

“We couldn’t have the wedding without you, Dad,” Lincoln said. He glanced at Daisy, but she was already speaking.

“It wouldn’t be the same without you,” she said. 

Deke smiled, but he looked like he was tearing up a little. Fitz looked back and forth between them like it was a fascinating Ping-Pong match.

“What. The. Hell,” he said. “This is weirder than finding out that Deke is my grandson. Twice!”

That broke the tension in the room again and everyone cracked up, especially Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma and Deke. 

“Hey, both Daisy and Lincoln both called me ‘Great-Nana’ earlier, so ‘Dad’ is really nothing in comparison,” Jemma said. “I actually had to tell Lincoln that I was giving him medical instructions as his great-grandmother and not as his doctor to get him to obey.”

“He didn’t obey,” Miles said, with a smirk. “He was shirtless, remember?”

“Miles!” Daisy, Lincoln and May said at the same time; Daisy covered Lexi’s ears with her hands. 

“Keep it PG!” Daisy protested. “And how did you even know what Jemma told us? You weren’t in the room! Were you spying on us with the video cameras?”

“No,” Miles said. “But thanks for confirming what I suspected.”

“We didn’t do anything earlier,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “Not that it’s any of your business, Miles! I was just sleeping without a shirt because the fabric chaffed the bandage on my wound! Jeez!”

“One of these days, Miles, they are going to kill you,” Ward warned, but before Miles could retort, May interrupted. 

“Keep your polluted thoughts to yourself, Miles,” she warned. “Or at least keep them out of earshot of my daughter.”

Miles had the decency to look embarrassed, although it was embarrassment at having made his innuendo in front of Lexi, rather than teasing Daisy and Lincoln for the millionth time.

“Sorry,” he said, waving his hand at Lexi and May. “I forgot.”

“You forgot,” May scoffed, looking incredulous. 

Deke decided to intervene before things became too crazy. “Okay, everyone, updates on what you’re doing,” he said. “And I’m talking about S.H.I.E.L.D. tasks, nothing else.”

Daisy shook her head at the innuendo, although really, it wasn’t Deke’s fault that Miles’ brain had gone in that direction. She released her hold on Lexi, who looked curiously up at her, as if she was wondering why Daisy had prevented her from hearing what was going on. Before Daisy could speak, however, Ward spoke up. 

“May and I are going to train Lexi when Daisy and Lincoln are done with her,” he said. “May’s supposed to be taking it easy and doing physiotherapy, but I don’t think that’s happening.” He shot a pointed look at May while he spoke.

“I’m making sure May’s arm functions at high capacity before trying to figure out what makes Daisy and Lincoln immune,” Jemma said. “Lincoln’s going to test Lexi’s blood sample when he and Daisy get it.”

“When I’m done with this, I’m going to help Miles with tracking down Kora, Bobbi, Hunter and Trip,” Daisy said. “We’re thinking of searching specific locations relevant to what happened in the original timeline because so far, general facial recognition searches have been a bust.”

“I’ve already found out that the Zephyr that picked Trip up was vacant aside from him,” Miles reported. “I’m trying to keep tabs on it, but its location is bouncing from tower to tower, disguising where it really is. Kora’s managing to keep two steps ahead of us...but we’ll beat her. Eventually.”

Mack looked up from where he and Koenig were tinkering with some parts on the table. 

“Fitz, Koenig and I are trying to rebuild your ShawDrive,” he said. “We were thinking that if we might be able to use it to rescue the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent from the Quinjet and leave Hive in there to explode.”

Evidently Fitz and Mack had yet to bond...or at least this version of Mack had yet to bond with Fitz, seeing as he had called him ‘Fitz’ and not ‘Turbo’. Deke could only imagine how strange it was for some of them; at least Daisy and Jemma didn’t have doppelgangers (alive or present) in this timeline. If the wedding had two Mays and two Macks...that would be even more bizarre than the alternate timeline Bobbi meeting the original timeline Bobbi and Hunter. 

“Now that is a brilliant idea,” Deke said, focusing his brain on the necessary science of the ShawDrive. “That is my favourite of all the reports that I’ve had today.”

“This would go faster if you worked on it with us, Deke,” Fitz said. “And once we have it operational, we would need to know the exact coordinates to go to to rescue the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

The very fact that Fitz was asking Deke to help with the ShawDrive meant the world to him. He moved over to Fitz and Mack, weaving in between the agents lining the two counters. 

Fitz glanced at Daisy and Lincoln when he mentioned coordinates, but Daisy shook her head. 

“I don’t know the coordinates,” she said. “All I know is that Coulson programmed the Quinjet for outer space.”

She was keeping her emotions remarkably under control as she spoke, but Lincoln nonetheless put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t actually know that either,” he admitted when Fitz looked at him instead. “All I know is that once the Quinjet hits outer space and stops moving so fast and starts floating, when you have the highest chance for appearing inside the Quinjet and not falling out of the sky, when the communications system can no longer reach the Zephyr...there is one minute left on the timer before the bomb explodes. You have one minute to rescue the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.. But seeing as Hive regains consciousness after the communications fail, you have seconds at best.”

“Oh God.” Daisy pressed both hands to her face, rubbing the skin. 

Lincoln reached for her wordlessly and pulled her into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him, not saying anything. There was nothing that needed to be said. Lincoln had never told her the details of his death; it was not something that either of them liked thinking about.

“What...what happened that night?” Ward asked, causing all of them to look at him. “I’m sorry, Daisy, Lincoln, I hate to ask, but based on what just happened between Kora and Trip, it appears as though we might actually relive the event exactly how it happened, possibly with different people in different roles and if we want to prevent the future from happening, we should know what happens before it does.”

Ward had a very good point, but nonetheless Daisy shook her head. 

“I can’t...Ward, I’m sorry.” Her voice was shaking even as she spoke. 

She headed for the door and both Lincoln and Jemma moved after her. It took all of Sousa’s willpower not to follow her as well, but it wasn’t his place to do so. Sousa swallowed hard as Lincoln caught up with Daisy before they were about to leave, intertwining his fingers with hers. Today was getting worse and worse. If there was ever an option for entering another life or doing something to forget about what he was currently going through, Sousa would take that option in a heartbeat. Before he could dwell on any situation for too long, Sousa was thankfully distracted by Deke, who caught Jemma’s attention before she could follow Lincoln and Daisy out of the room. 

“Let him comfort her,” he said quietly. “Explain to us what happened.”

With Daisy and Lincoln gone, Jemma and Fitz had full reign to explain the events of the night Lincoln died. Jemma sighed, sitting down in a chair.

“There are some details that neither Fitz nor I know well enough to be able to fully explain,” Jemma said. “Some even that Daisy doesn’t know, some that only Lincoln knows, and vice versa.” She blew out a heavy breath. “For those of you who heard or saw the explosion earlier today when Lincoln and James were fighting...that’s what happened minutes before he died. Fitz and I treated his wounds, we left Daisy and Lincoln to talk, then we - the two of us, May, Mack and Coulson - were attacked by Primitives.”

Fitz took over. “Just before we were attacked, Jemma noticed that Daisy was gone. She’d gone to try to put the bomb in the Quinjet and kill Hive. We didn’t notice because we were too busy trying to fight the Primitives, but Lincoln had gone after her. He saved her...and the next thing all of us knew was that they were talking over the coms in the communications centre of the Zephyr. We tried to turn the Quinjet around, but there was nothing we could do.” He paused, clenching his jaw. “I have never _ever_ seen Daisy as desperate as she did that day when she begged Coulson to help her save him.”

“Because Daisy doesn’t often beg,” Deke said grimly.

“That day, she did,” Fitz said. “That day, she did.” 

There was silence for a moment and then Jemma spoke. 

“I do know that Lincoln fried the manual controls of the Quinjet,” she said at last. “And saved Daisy’s life. But how exactly, she never told me because it hurt her too much to mention it in detail. And...well, Daisy’s wariness around you, Ward...it’s nothing personal. She -”

“In your timeline, I was Hive’s host,” Ward said. “She told me while we were on the way to the Retreat...and yes. I can understand why she can’t stand to look at me.”

“If they’re struggling now, I think it was three a,” Miles said soberly. “Synchronized nightmares that caused the base shaking and fluctuating lights….”

“We can’t ask them what happened that night,” Jemma said, changing the subject from what had caused the base to shake earlier in the day. “It would break them, forcing them to relive what had happened...you saw how hard it was for Daisy when Lincoln was telling us how long we had to rescue the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Quinjet. Lincoln might tell us, but not if it would hurt Daisy. In many ways, it’s harder being the person left behind than the person who dies. I’d rather not push them for answers.” 

“They’d tell me,” Lexi said, surprising all of them as she spoke. 

“No, Lex, don’t -” May began, but Lexi shook her head.

“Momma, last night, I persuaded them to go back to their date night when they were going to interrupt everyone’s work,” she said. “They only came back to work because Sousa went to get them. They’ll tell me what happened. Time frames and all.”

“I think it’s best if we figure out what happens,” Mack said slowly. “Then we can stop it from happening again.”

There was silence for a moment, May clearly wrestling with the situation.

“Momma, please,” Lexi said. “Maybe earlier today was my purpose...to go with Trip and save Kora. But I didn’t. At least let me do this. I don’t have to go through Terrigenesis to be able to help this time. Let me find out what happened that night. They’ll tell me. Then they won’t have to tell you and I can.”

May sighed heavily. “Alright. Just...let Jemma take your blood first. So we can see what happens to it post-Terrigenesis.”




When Lexi was gone, Fitz stood up straight. “There’s something else we need to discuss,” he said, causing all of them to look at him. “I had this idea last night...and it’s complicated. I didn’t think it was suitable for Lexi to hear about it and I’m glad Daisy and Lincoln don’t have to hear it either...but anyway.”

“Fitz?” Jemma asked, looking at him in concern. “What is it?”

Fitz sighed. “I was thinking that we could try to predict the outcome of what happens,” he said.

“What?” Deke asked. “But we don’t have access to the timestream - do you have access to the timestream?”

“No,” Fitz said, sighing. “Kora’s the only one who can predict with clarity what might happen. Oh, and of course, Raina and Robin. But we have something else that might work. It would be very difficult because things are changing all the time, but if everyone is honest, brutally honest about where you are in life and what you’re doing and what’s going on...I can run a simulation. I can figure out the future based on -”

“The Framework,” Jemma realized. “Oh my God, Fitz, you’re going to run a simulation based on our lives and -”

“We said so ourselves,” Fitz said. “The Framework is a duplicate of our world. So many things are the same, Jemma. Mack, Nicole and Hope. Bahrain never happened. Ward and Trip are alive and agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. It wouldn’t be the same as the digital hellhole that we went through, obviously, but I’m just using that as an example of how we can try to predict what will happen. I won’t take away people’s biggest regrets, but what I will do is put everyone in the way they are. And try and see what happens.”

“You’ll still need someone to go in,” Deke said. “It’s a virtual reality. Someone has to plug themselves in and see what happens.”

“Isn’t it dangerous?” May asked. “If you end up with two lives inside your head -”

“You can be conscious in the Framework,” Jemma said. “When Daisy and I went in, we were aware that the Framework world was a lie. We can do the same for whoever goes in.”

“So they wouldn’t have two lives in their head?” Miles asked, sitting upright.

“Not really,” Fitz said. “They would be aware of the possibilities, but they would be aware that one world isn’t real.”

“Fitz can’t go in though,” Jemma said. “You’ve got three lives in your head, Fitz, the original timeline, the alternate timeline, the Framework and you even looked at the timestream briefly...you can’t. The Framework would be a terrible trigger; just how Daisy and Lincoln are struggling with Hive’s return, the Framework would be a nightmare for you, Fitz. It has to be someone else.”

“I’m not suggesting I go in,” Fitz said. “Because I’m not with you guys. In order to see what happens, I’d have to go to the team from wherever in the world my doppelganger currently is. It should be one of you guys because then you’d be able to find out who dies and how.”

That was a mind-boggling revelation in and of itself, but those who knew the Framework, at least in theory, were able to understand what Fitz was talking about. 

“I can’t either,” Jemma said. “We wouldn’t be able to predict if I show up in this body or in my doppelganger’s. And if I turn up in my doppelganger’s, then that wouldn’t work either.”

“Well, by Jemma’s theory about Fitz, it shouldn’t be Lincoln,” Deke said. “Like Fitz, he’s already dealing with two lives -”

“He doesn’t look like he’s struggling,” Mack said, looking up.

“Trust me, at first, he was,” Deke said. “You just don’t see it now because he’s had time for the memories to settle somewhat, but when he first got them back, he was really confused.”

“He’s right,” Sousa said. “When Lincoln first got back his memories...he had a hard time. He shouldn’t go in.”

To all of their credit, none of them mentioned how it was very generous of Sousa to defend Lincoln; all of them remembered how Sousa didn’t want to be treated like Daisy’s ex anymore. Admittedly, Sousa hadn’t been around Lincoln as much when he had first gotten his memories back - the people who had been around him the most had been Daisy, Deke, Kora and Trip - but he knew if Lincoln got hurt in there, it would only hurt Daisy and that was the last thing he wanted. 

“I could do it,” Mack said reluctantly. “Deke shouldn’t because you’re director, but I could -”

“No offense, Mack, but you’re still playing catch-up,” Deke said. “The person who goes in should be someone who already knows all the intricacies of the situation, someone who has been here since the beginning. You and May shouldn’t be plugged in.”

“I’ll do it,” Ward said. “I was here from the beginning -”

“No,” Deke said. “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to have seen Kara at the Retreat. I don’t want to make you see the woman you love try to kill all of us. You’ve been through enough already.”

“Everyone’s been through hell and back,” May muttered under her breath, but Miles spoke up before the others could respond to what she was saying.

“I’ll do it,” he said grimly. “It’s a video game basically, right? I’ve been playing them all day with the programmed cars. It’ll be fine.”

Jemma chewed her bottom lip. “Actually, Miles….”

“No, I’ll do it,” Sousa interrupted. “Miles has been doing so much coordination for the team and all your programs are still running trying to find Kora and the others -”

“Daisy can do that as easily as I can,” Miles said. “As much as I hate to admit it, she’s really good at what she does. She beat my security camera defenses on the Playground in less than fifteen minutes and that was with barely knowing how our technology works. I’ll go in.”

Jemma hesitated, but Fitz voiced what she didn’t want to say.

“You need to stay on the outside, Miles,” he said. “When we went into the Framework, Daisy was able to change the way the world was working by writing more code. She was able to protect people while on the outside. We’re stretched very thin as it is. The only people who have the knowledge how to work the Framework are you, me, Daisy and Deke. Deke and I need to work on the ShawDrive, plus I’m not even really in your timeline. I’m a hologram! You and Daisy need to split tasks whenever she comes back; one of you in tracking down the Inhumans, one of you protecting the person in the Framework.”

“Jemma can’t program the code?” Miles asked.

Jemma shook her head. “No. Besides, Lincoln and I will be working with Lexi’s blood sample and the antitoxins and Inhuman vaccines and the like. I can’t do the coding.”

“I’ll go in, then,” Ward said. “Seriously. As it is, I’m just triggering some sort of PTSD for Daisy and Lincoln; I’ll do it. You can just plug me in and Miles can keep tabs on me.”

“Wait,” Jemma said suddenly as she remembered something. “Fitz...if you plug Ward in...will it be the same as in our Framework? Will dying in there kill you?”

Fitz heaved a sigh. “That’s the other thing I needed to mention,” he said reluctantly. “It’s also why Miles needs to stay on the outside. So he can move the escape location to wherever the person is as well as protect them.”

“No,” Jemma said immediately. “Fitz, it’s too dangerous.”

“If this is the only way -” Ward began, but Jemma was already speaking. 

“Going into the Framework could kill you,” Jemma said, shaking her head. “Permanently.”

“If Miles is there to protect whoever plugs themselves in, the risks aren’t as high as what you’re saying,” Sousa pointed out. 

“Don’t pretend that that’s really your honest opinion,” Jemma snapped.

“I’m not pretending, you’re being overly cautious,” Sousa retorted.

“Yeah, and you’re being a -” Jemma began, only for another voice to cut her off.

“Stop talking, Jemma, now,” Lincoln said as he, Daisy and Lexi entered the room. “You do _not_ want to finish that sentence.”

Jemma went white as she realized what was happening. “Oh God.”

“What’s going on?” Daisy asked, looking between Lincoln, Jemma, Sousa and Fitz in confusion.

“Fitz came up with a possible solution for predicting the future -” Sousa began, but Jemma cut him off.

“You told Lincoln off for wearing a murder vest; don’t go plugging yourself into the Framework!” she said. “Daisy would never want someone acting so -” She cut herself off. “Dammit.” She stood up. “We need to get out of this scenario. I’m going to work in the other lab. Fitz, Lincoln, are you guys coming?” 

“Yes,” Fitz said. “Mack? Deke?”

“Coming,” Deke said. He turned back to look at his team. “None of you are going into the Framework. My decision is final. Fitz, Mack and I are going to work on the ShawDrive, Lincoln and Jemma are going to work on their doctor-science stuff, Daisy and Miles can work on tracking down Bobbi, Hunter, Trip, Kora, Yo-Yo and Flint. We’ll go from there.”

He turned and walked out of the room. 

“Deke is Coulson,” Fitz said to Jemma as she picked up the device that he was being projected out of. “It’s official.”




“Remind me why all of us decided to relocate labs?” Miles asked, half-an-hour later, stretching his neck to the side and popping it. They had been working for a while and he was getting stiff from sitting still. 

The second lab had more than half the team occupying it. The two medical doctors were hunched over a series of microscopes and computers, Fitz was giving verbal suggestions to Deke and Mack who were piecing together the ShawDrive, and Daisy and Miles were working on their computers. 

“Because,” Deke said, looking up from his work, “My grandparents are as inseparable as -”

“As your children,” Miles said, smirking. “Message received loud and clear.”

The real answer was that Jemma wanted to avoid getting into a disagreement about the Framework with Sousa similar to her argument with Lincoln over the antitoxin, so she had walked out before the situation could be lived again anymore. Fitz had gone because he and Jemma were inseparable, meaning that Lincoln had to go to work with Jemma, and Deke and Mack had to work with Fitz. Daisy and Lincoln were as inseparable as Fitzsimmons, so Miles had ended up being dragged along for the ride. 

“Shut up.” Daisy kicked him in the ankle. “How are the specific location searches going? I’m thinking in addition to Union City, Montana and all the Malick residences, we should try the Badlands, the Transhumanists’ Club and the hotel in Bucharest….”

“On it,” Miles said, typing into his computer. “Have you found where the Zephyr is yet?”

“Not yet,” Daisy said. “I’m hunting down our hacking signature because that’s what Kora uses, but still...no luck.” 

While Daisy and Miles were speaking in hacktivist language, Lincoln and Jemma were discussing Lexi’s blood.

“Post-Terrigenesis, it’s got similar components to Lash’s DNA,” Jemma said. “But we can’t say if it’ll look the same after Hive dies. If Inhuman powers change based on the evolutionary need at the time, then for all we know, it could change _because_ Hive dies. Has that ever happened before?”

“I don’t think anyone has ever tried looking at all the science behind powers,” Lincoln said. “It would take an exhaustive study for years, regularly transforming a pre-Terrigenesis Inhuman’s blood, and very many Inhumans as case studies. Even Jiaying’s records were just detailing abilities, where they lived, genealogical tracings, nothing on how powers were decided. And it’s possible that there are more powers than the ones that we found out about. That’s why there was no record of precognition prior to Raina.”

At the far end of the table, Deke, Fitz and Mack were working on the ShawDrive, looking at previous designs on a tablet.

“It would be better if we made the portable version,” Deke said. “Easier than carrying around a giant machine, especially if we have seconds to get whoever is in the Quinjet out of there.”

“Agreed,” Fitz said. “But the smaller the components, the harder it is to make. And I’m not there, so you two are going to have to do it on your own. If you rewire -”

The lights overhead flickered and all of them looked up.

“Lincoln?” Daisy asked uncertainly, turning to him. “Are you alright?”

“Lincoln!” Jemma caught his arm as he staggered. “What’s going on? Did you test something on yourself again -” She lowered him to the ground even as Daisy and Miles rushed to her side, Miles able to support most of Lincoln’s weight.

Lincoln’s nose was bleeding. “It’s not me,” he said, his voice strained. “Daisy can detect and absorb tremors. Something is sapping all the electricity in the building. It’s….”

“The Framework,” Jemma realized. “It uses so much power, the Zephyr almost crashed…. Oh my God.”

She sprinted out the door as Fitz yelled, “Jemma!”, helpless to follow her too far from his source since he was just a hologram.

“I’m on it!” Deke scrambled after her, but halted when he reached Lincoln. “Lincoln -”

“Go,” Lincoln said. “I’ll be fine in a second.”

Deke hated himself for leaving, but he would have equally hated himself for staying. He booked it out of the door, tearing after Jemma. 

“Do you have this?” Miles asked Daisy, gesturing to Lincoln. “If someone plugged themselves into the Framework, I should monitor their status -”

“Go,” Daisy said. “We’ll be fine.” 

“If you want to go -” Lincoln began, but Daisy tightened her hand around his. 

“I’m staying,” she said. “Miles can handle it. I wouldn’t leave you. For the world.”

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead lightly. While she obviously cared about the rest of the team, there was no way that she could leave Lincoln in his weakened condition any more than she could cut off her own leg. Besides, Miles could help anyone who had plugged themselves into the Framework as well as she could. 

Even as she spoke, Miles sprinted out the door after Jemma, and Mack turned to Daisy and Lincoln. 

“What meds do you need, Sparks?” he asked. “Tell me what to get and Fitz and I can get them -”

“We need to get next door,” Lincoln said, his voice strained. “The Framework is sucking the juice out of the Lighthouse and if it -”

“If it doesn’t get enough power, it’s going to shut down, killing the people on the inside,” Fitz finished. “Lincoln can power the machine.” 

“Do you have enough energy to do that?” Daisy asked uneasily. “Lincoln?”

“I know my limits, Daisy,” Lincoln said reassuringly. “Let’s go.” 




Jemma hurtled around the corner, Deke and Miles right behind her as they reached the main lab. 

“What is going on?” Jemma gasped. “Sousa, Ward, no!”

Both Sousa and Ward were lying flat on their backs in recliner chairs, Koenig standing over them. He had just pushed the button on the same device that had sent Daisy and Jemma into Framework that Piper had. There was no coming back from this disaster unless Sousa and Ward found the exit on the inside. 

“What were you thinking?” Jemma cried, but at that moment, the electricity in the room fizzled as the Framework sucked all the juice out of the room. 

“Get back!” Deke pulled her backwards, but he didn’t have to. The surge of electricity was exclusively inside the room; it hit Koenig, miraculously missing both Sousa and Ward, sending Koenig crumpling to the floor on his stomach.




“The Framework’s not going to last,” Miles said, frantically typing into the computer that was connected to the headsets and machines. “It’s sucking juice like a bottomless pit -”

“Koenig, hey, Koenig,” Deke said, turning him over where he had fallen on his stomach. “Koenig, look at me, look at me.”

Koenig was conscious, but barely; he was stirring feebly. 

“Jemma! Help me, I don’t know what to do!” Deke said, looking up.

Jemma raced up with a gurney. “We need to get him onto this and bring him to a healing pod,” she said. “Koenig, what were you thinking?”

“Agents Sousa and Ward said that you gave them permission to go in,” Koenig said weakly. “They wanted to help -”

Deke cursed under his breath. “Koenig, there’s a reason that the Framework operating structure and the ShawDrive are kept at the Lighthouse and not at any of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities! They're supposed to be kept a secret because they're too dangerous to be used! Do _you_ even know how to use them properly? Because Ward and Sousa sure as hell don't!"

“Not the time, Deke,” Jemma said. “Help me with Koenig -”

At that moment, Daisy, Lincoln, Mack and Fitz appeared in the doorway.

“Oh my God,” Daisy said. “Is Koenig okay?” 

“We don’t have time for this, his body is shutting down,” Jemma said. “Mack, help us!”

“On it,” Mack said, ducking into the room. “Sorry, Tremors.”

“It’s fine,” Daisy said, tightening her grip on Lincoln so that he did not fall. “I’m stronger than I look.”

“How is it possible,” Fitz asked. “That this timeline has five Lincolns? The real one; the one who got lured away by Kora; the one who is the so-called ‘lovesick fool trying to make a grand gesture’ - not that that is what any of us should be called; the one who is making a grand gesture but is not a lovesick fool, or at least not lovesick for Daisy; and the one who got electrocuted by a stupid power failure and fried half the computers in the lab?! What the actual hell?! It’s like the world decided to throw as many red herrings into the fire as possible!”

As Fitz spoke, Daisy helped Lincoln over to where Miles was working on his computer, fingers flying over the keyboard. Fitz followed them, blowing out a frustrated breath.

“How much power is left?” he asked Miles.

“Not a lot,” Miles said. “Koenig goofed up somewhere when he plugged them into the Framework. The error in the wiring is what caused the electrical explosion and now we don’t have enough power to keep the Framework up and running. If we had done it properly, this wouldn’t have happened, but now we’re screwed.”

“Not necessarily,” Lincoln said. With Daisy’s help, he sat down in a chair next to Miles. “I can do this.”

He aimed one finger at the port and there was another crackle of electricity. The flickering lights stabilized, although they were significantly dimmer than how they had previously been.

Miles exhaled a sigh of relief. “We’re still in,” he said. “Sousa and Ward have stable vitals, so they must be fine in the Framework. I can monitor their locations from here and send them messages in the hope that it will guide them out after they figure out what’s going on in there.” 

“Lincoln, can you even sustain this for so long?” Daisy asked anxiously. “We were in the Framework for almost a week...and I was exhausted keeping a pulse on May for hours, much less days…. Do we need to find a backup generator or hook the Quinjet up to it or something to power the Framework?”

“Good suggestion.” Jemma spoke up. “Because I need electricity and power to treat Koenig. The healing pod can only do so much.”

“On it,” Deke said, turning to run out of the room. “I’ll get the power source from the Quinjet. Where the hell is May?”

It was an excellent question to which they did not have an answer. As Deke left the room, Fitz said, “Daisy, turn off my machine.”

“What?” Daisy asked. “Why?”

“Lincoln’s sustaining the power in the machine,” Fitz said. “He should save his energy for powering the Framework.”

“I can handle it,” Lincoln insisted, but Jemma looked up. 

“Don’t _you_ go doing something stupid now!” she insisted. “When we get power back, we can restart the connection with Fitz, but if we lose the connection while it’s still on, the wiring will break down and we’ll have to rebuild the wiring. Just keep the Framework up and running. We’ll see you soon, Fitz.”

Fitz disabled the connection from his side and Daisy flipped the switch to turn off the machine. As she did so, Lincoln sagged a little, relaxing against her even as he kept the constant stream of electricity channelling into the Framework machines. As he did so, a little more blood seeped out from one of his nostrils.

“How are you doing?” Daisy asked, putting the machine down on the counter and sliding her arms around his waist to help him sit up better. 

“I’m okay,” Lincoln said. “Just think...think about when you were keeping the Monolith open.”

“That was terrible!” Daisy exclaimed. “I had a migraine because of the vibrations -” She stopped talking. “Oh my God. The inconsistent flow of electricity is making your head hurt, isn’t it?” 

“I can handle it,” Lincoln repeated, his voice strained. “Just...try to make Sousa and Ward hurry, Miles.”

“What were they thinking?” Jemma asked rhetorically, even as she checked Koenig’s vitals and confirmed that his pulse was slow, but steady for the time being. “What even is their plan for getting out?” She paused as Koenig mumbled something in her ear. “Oh God.”

“What is it?” Daisy asked.

“They programmed it for the date ten months after Hive died in our timeline,” Jemma said. “They gave themselves twenty-four hours to find out who dies in space and what has happened to the rest of the world, and us, in the meantime. That’s why both of them went in. To cover more ground and find out what happened to all of us in the meantime.”


	67. Chapter 67

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay in the update! I was working on another video scene that will come out with the start of the next episode which starts the adventure inside the Framework! It's 8.5 minutes long which is why there was such a delay in this update and I'm sorry for the wait! Don't worry, the next chapter will come out at the usual time a day and a half from now, along with the new video! 😊😊😊
> 
> The next episode is called "If/Then". I really hope you guys like the scenes!!! 
> 
> Looking forward to your comments as always and happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Chapter 67**

“How long have we been at it?” Daisy asked agitatedly. “Miles?”

“Almost two hours,” Miles said, looking up from his computer where he was monitoring Sousa and Ward’s presence in the Framework. “How long did you last?”

“Around two and a half,” Daisy said, her voice tense, arms still around Lincoln’s waist where he was leaning against her. “And that was with a smaller concentration of powers than the amount of juice the Framework requires to be sustained. Lincoln? How are you feeling?”

“Fantastic,” Lincoln said, his voice hoarse. “Doing really good.”

Miles mouthed ‘He’s lying’ at her, but Daisy didn’t need to be able to read lips to tell that. The power outage had caused half the computers in the lab to be fried, but now, all of them were dead. Only two laptops were still running, the one that the Framework was connected to and the one that Miles had transferred all his programs onto. The rest of the systems were dead. She grimaced, but at that moment, May came back into the room carrying an IV bag. 

“The banana bag you asked for, Lincoln,” she said. 

“Hook it up,” Lincoln said, his voice strained as he extended his free arm that was not being used to power the Framework. “How’s Koenig?”

“Still with Jemma,” May said as she slapped his arm in an attempt to find a vein. “Deke is still trying to find another power source for the Framework. The Quinjet power source is currently powering Koenig’s bypass machine. He’s in contact with Hand in D.C. to see if he can get an alternative power source.” 

“It’s at least an hour from here to D.C.,” Daisy said anxiously. “There’s not enough time.” 

“I can last till it comes,” Lincoln said, his voice strained. “Or if I can’t sustain it anymore, then you can yank the metaphorical cord and pull them out of the Framework. As long as we have access to their real bodies, we can safely pull them out, right?”

He winced as May pushed the needle into Lincoln’s arm, hooking him up to the IV. 

“Sorry,” May said. “I’m not a doctor.” 

“Miles?” Daisy asked, taking the hand towel from Lincoln to press against his nose. Now that he had one arm hooked up to his IV stand and one hand aimed at the Framework machines, he didn’t have a free hand to staunch the flow of blood from his nose. “We can just pull them out of the Framework, right? If Lincoln can’t keep it running anymore….”

Miles grimaced. “Ordinarily, the answer to that would be yes,” he said. “But...well, some of the systems were damaged in the electrical explosion. I can’t tell for certain because the engineering components of the Framework aren’t my speciality, but all I can say for sure is that I’m _not_ sure if we can just pull the plug and wake them up.”

“Oh God,” Daisy whispered, tightening her arms around Lincoln. “We need another power source. Lincoln can’t sustain this for 22 more hours!” 

“I’ll go and get Deke,” May said. “See if he can fix the Framework so we can just pull them out if it becomes too much. Daisy, maybe you should take over monitoring the others in the Framework so Miles can see if he can fix the mechanical parts.”

May hurried out the door, but before Daisy could reach for the computer, Miles pulled it back.

“It’s okay, I’ve got this,” he said. “You talk to Lincoln. Deke will be here soon.”

Daisy nodded, blowing out a shaky breath. She could feel his body shaking against hers; she knew just how hard he was pushing himself. Keeping the Monolith open for minutes had given her a migraine; Lincoln had been powering the Framework for almost two hours. She was amazed he hadn’t passed out yet, especially since he wasn’t at peak capacity, thanks to the injury he had sustained from James. 

“So,” Daisy said, doing her best to keep her voice even and normal, like he wasn’t struggling at all with sustaining the Framework. “I was thinking...if it’s okay with you, can Coulson officiate the wedding? He won’t be here in-person, which sucks, but...better than nothing, I guess.”

“I wouldn’t have expected anything else,” Lincoln said, smiling faintly. “Tell me more about the wedding.”

It was even more clear than before that Lincoln was struggling. Carefully, Daisy shifted positions so that she had one knee up and he could lean against it. With her free hand, she gently smoothed his blonde hair back from his sweaty forehead. 

“Well, I was thinking more about our honeymoon,” Daisy said. “You know how you always wanted to see the world? We could do that for our honeymoon. Travel, I mean.”

Lincoln shifted a little to look at her better; he was smiling. “Where do you want to go first?” he asked.

“I don’t care,” Daisy said honestly. “As long as I’m with you.”

She leaned down to kiss him, but Lincoln shook his head. 

“Don’t,” he said hoarsely. “You’re too distracting for your own good; if you kiss me, I’m going to forget about sustaining the Framework. Kiss me later.”

Daisy smiled faintly. “Okay.”

She pressed her lips to the top of his head instead and he shifted slightly into a more comfortable position. Miles spoke up in a typical Miles fashion from where he was monitoring the Framework in an attempt to help with the distractions...or at least the beneficial distractions, not the overly distracting ones. Even though the words out of his mouth were more teasing than anything else. 

"Save that for the honeymoon, lovebirds," he teased. "And don't forget to bring me back a souvenir. I’ve heard about how you’ve been to other planets...bring me back something cool. And cooler than a space pen, mind. I could do with some alien puffies.”

Daisy and Lincoln both looked at him quizzically, ignoring the innuendo.

“Who told you about Davis and his space pens?” Daisy asked. “And who told you about Kitson?”

“Jemma, kinda sorta,” Miles said. “She mentioned alien puffs in passing, so I figured trying them would be fun.”

It had definitely been an interesting experience. All the same, Daisy wasn’t sure if alien puffs were the right thing for Miles to eat, seeing as he teased them mercilessly regardless of being high.

“Or,” Miles said, with a grin. “You could somehow get some before the wedding and we could have them at Lincoln’s bachelor party.”

“Oh, you are not organizing that,” Lincoln said, smiling despite himself. “Hunter’s was crazy enough.”

“Hey, space puffs sound like a good alternative to alcohol,” Miles said. “You can get loose without the booze.”

“Nice try,” Lincoln told him, making Daisy laugh. It was at times like this that she was truly confused whether or not she wanted to stay in this timeline or not. Lincoln clearly had a great family here, not just Deke, but the rest of the team, and she didn’t want to take him away from that. Even Miles and his teasing was an addition in her life that she found it hard to live without. Her team back home was all divided and she hadn’t worked with them in-person for a year. Did she want to stay? 

Before she could think too hard about it, however, Deke hurried into the room, his face pale and anxious. 

“How are you doing?” he asked, seeing the strain on Lincoln’s face. 

“I’m okay,” he said, but his face read otherwise. 

Deke rushed over to the machines. “Hopefully I can fix whatever went wrong and we can just pull them out. I don’t know what they were thinking, to just plug themselves in like that. They barely know how the Framework operates!”

Lincoln spoke up. “Actually...well, it’s difficult to say what exactly prompted their choice to go...but Deke, you used the Framework as an escape when you were in your dystopian world. It was a good….”

His voice was so strained that Daisy took over; he had said enough to make her realize what they were talking about. 

“They wanted an escape from reality,” she said softly. “All of us have lost someone we care about...and completely understands what it’s like to want one more moment with them, even if it isn’t real. That’s why the first assumption I made in the Framework was that Lincoln was alive...and why he was the first person I looked up, even though I should have looked up Jemma. They wanted to get away from their thoughts.”

She blew out a long breath, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand, since she was still holding the hand towel for Lincoln’s nose in her hand. 

“On the bright side,” Deke said, squinting at the wires. “I think I can fix some of these components. I’ll give it a go.”




Bobbi had never felt so grateful in her life as to when Alisha arrived. While it obviously meant that there were many more Inhumans to deal with, it also meant that she could finally do something, other than try and fail to perform neurosurgery. Operating on Katya had been one of the most stressful moments of her life, and that was saying something, since she had been transported to another timeline. Doctor Johnson had been in an incredibly challenging state to work with; he was highly confused and, similar to Miles, had lost some of the mobility in his arms thanks to Katya’s influence on him and the drugs that he had injected into himself. As a result, Bobbi had become his hands, but she was no doctor herself. 

Alisha came sprinting into the operating room, carrying a container with the syringe and vial that contained the GH.325. Bobbi had her hands on the bullet in Katya’s head, ready to pry it out after she got injected with the alien drug. 

“What do we do?” James asked. “Just stick it in her arm?”

“That’s what Kora said to do,” Alisha said, flicking the cap off the syringe and tapping it to make sure that there were no bubbles. “Besides, if this doesn’t work, she’s dead. I’m not a neurosurgeon either.”

“None of us is,” James muttered. “Just do it already.”

Alisha lifted the needle to push it into Katya’s arm and Bobbi reacted. Now that she had the opportunity, consequences be damned. After she had first started operating, the arguing Inhumans had told her that all she needed to do was keep Katya alive until Alisha arrived with the GH.325. Now that it was finally here, she had an opportunity to ruin Hive’s plans, even if it meant that she and Hunter got punished for it. She wrenched the bullet out of Katya’s head, turned and grabbed Alisha’s arm, punching her in the face. Alisha dropped the syringe and Bobbi stepped on it, shattering it and spilling the GH.325 all over the floor.

“No!” Alisha shouted, but it was too late, the deed was done. 

James grabbed the back of Bobbi’s head and spun her around, slamming her into the counter and dragging her down it so that all the contents of the table went shattering against the floor. He threw her against the containment module, but as she did so, two Alishas caught her arms, throwing her back into James’s fists.

“BOBBI!” Hunter shouted, slamming a fist against the glass.

“Shut him up!” James shouted at Giyera, who flicked his hand. The containment module rattled, sending Hunter sliding across the containment module as it moved, rather like a rocking horse. 

“Hunter!” Bobbi gasped, but James’s fist in her stomach made her cough in pain instead. He continued to punch her, even as three more Alishas rushed to the operating table.

“Tell me what to do!” Alisha barked at Doctor Johnson. “How do I save her?”

“You can’t,” Doctor Johnson said. “Her brain is already swelling. She’s going to be brain dead in a few seconds. There’s nothing you can do.”

“We can’t do nothing!” Alisha protested.

“Fine,” Doctor Johnson said. “Kill the ones responsible then.”

He nodded towards Bobbi and Hunter; Bobbi glared back at them even as James dragged her hair back to expose her throat.

“Separate them,” Giyera said. “I’ll take the husband. You take her.”

James nodded in response as the two Alishas dragged Bobbi out of the room. He followed the clones up into the upper recesses of the plane, even as both Hunter and Bobbi shouted each others’ names, Hunter ending with, “You did the right thing, Bob! We got this!”

“Now,” Giyera said, waving his hand at the operating tools that Doctor Johnson still had on the counter. “We’ll see what these can do to you.”

He turned to look at Hunter, who glared back at him. Giyera might be a skilled martial artist and a Telekinetic, but he was not about to go down without putting up a good resistance. 




“Daisy, I need your help,” Lincoln said, his voice strained.

“Whatever you need me to do,” she said immediately. “What is it?”

“Use your powers on my side,” he said. “The wound reopened.”

“Oh God,” Daisy whispered as she rolled up his shirt to reveal a mess of blood seeping through the bandage that Jemma had placed over it. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s my powers or the sapping of electricity, but whatever it is...I need you.”

Daisy immediately pressed her palm to his side, creating a vibrational barrier to keep the blood inside. Miles looked at them and shook his head.

“We have to pull them out,” he said to Deke. “They can’t keep doing this.”

Deke was staring at the mess of wires and circuitry. He had been working at it for a while now and his fingers were cut and bloodied from the sparks that had been flying. 

“You’ll kill them if you unplug them,” Lincoln said. “I can...do this.”

“Deke?” Daisy asked. “How bad is it? Can you get Sousa and Ward out?”

Deke closed his eyes. “Maybe...maybe I can get one out. One. If I combine their circuitry and use the undamaged parts from one to repair the other. But there would be a few moments when the machines aren’t working for both people in the Framework. Think of it like surgery, when you stop someone’s heart momentarily to repair other injured parts of the body. We’d be risking a lot, especially because I can’t tell with 100% clarity whether or not I’d be able to repair one of the Framework set-ups enough to pull someone out. And I don’t know if I can reverse it once I start.”

“Oh God,” Lincoln said. “Don’t do it; it’s not worth it -”

“If your life is on the line, it _is_ worth it!” Daisy snapped, her face bone white at the prospect of losing him. 

“It’s not just Lincoln’s life,” Deke said, rubbing a hand over his face. “He’ll pass out before stopping and then Ward and Sousa won’t have enough power keeping them in the Framework. They’ll die anyway. Or at least, their consciousnesses will be preserved in the Framework, but the connection with their human bodies will be severed. They’ll die.” 

Daisy knew all too well what that was like. Radcliffe had done it for Agnes…the Framework wasn’t a reality. She might have been happy there for a while, but it wasn’t real. The Framework was fake. It might currently be incredibly similar to what they were living through but regardless, it wasn’t reality. 

“The logical choice is to leave Ward in the Framework,” Miles said. “Sousa doesn’t know technology from Eve. In order to look all of us up and find out who dies fighting Hive, you need to be able to use a computer at the very least. Ward is much better equipped to do it than Sousa.”

“If you’re going to do it, you should do it now,” Lincoln warned. “While I still have enough energy to be a defibrillator if you need me to be one, in addition to powering the machines.”

“Ah, okay,” Deke said, his face strained. “Daisy can jumpstart your heart, right? If need be?”

“Yes,” Daisy and Lincoln replied in unison; Deke nodded.

“Do we have time to go and get Jemma?” he asked. “Just in case?”

“No,” Miles said before either Daisy or Lincoln could respond. “I’ve been monitoring the power in the system and it’s getting weaker and weaker. Just look at the lights.”

The lights overhead were incredibly dim; in fact, only the one directly above them was still lit. 

“Sorry,” Lincoln said, his voice even more strained than before. “I don’t have the energy to keep the bulbs lit any more.”

“Yeah, okay, we’re doing this now,” Deke said grimly. “Before we lose light as well. Miles, you’ll have to multitask. You too, Daisy. Miles, give Daisy the computer. She needs to check their vitals; I need your hands.”

“Got it,” Miles said. 

He handed Daisy his computer and she balanced it on a chair in front of Lincoln; he was still leaning against her. She still had one hand pressed to his injury, a vibrational barrier keeping the blood at bay. 

“Ready,” Daisy said, glancing at the screen. Both Sousa and Ward were stable...for the moment. At least until Deke started his insane operations. 

“Okay, here goes,” Deke said. “Once we start, there’s no going back, so...brace yourselves. Also...I’m going to have to repair as I go. There are some things I can’t predict until I see the systems.”

None of them said anything, but really, how much more complicated was the situation going to become? At this point, they just had to roll with it. 

“Ready whenever you are,” Lincoln said faintly.

“Okay,” Deke said, blowing out a shaky breath. “Here we go.”

He reached into the machine and unplugged the first wire. 




“Kora, stop fighting me!” Trip snapped as the plane shifted on its axis, away from Trip’s intended path. “Where are we going?”

“Well, seeing as you don’t know where I’m going, then you sure as hell can’t come here!” Kora snapped in response.

“Oh no, don’t go playing that card with me,” Trip said. “I can’t just leave you wherever you are!”

“That’s the best thing you can do,” Kora argued. “If you’re safe, far away from everyone, then there’s no chance of you becoming the fallen agent in the Quinjet! Just let me protect you!”

“I’ll let you protect me if you let me do the same for you!” Trip argued. “As much as you say you aren’t yourself right now, you are. Did Hive tell you to break me out? I sure as hell don’t think so!”

There was silence for a moment, but Trip knew that Kora was still on the line. She was breathing heavily; he could hear her through the communications earpiece that he had stolen from Koenig. 

“Trip, I’m only trying to help,” she said in a strained voice. 

Trip took a deep breath on his own. Arguing with Kora wasn’t going to get him anywhere, especially since he needed her cooperation to get him where he needed to go.

“Look, Kora, all I’m doing is asking you to let _me_ help _you_ ,” Trip said. “There is no purpose in me going to Tahiti or some other supposedly magical place if you’re not there. I told you before that I can’t just walk away from this. You have to let me help you.”

“It’s not that simple,” Kora said. “There are some things I can and can’t tell you and my location is one of the things that I _can’t_ tell you. No matter how hard I try, there are just some things I can’t say and do and the more they interfere with Hive’s intentions, the less I can divulge.”

Trip sighed. “It’s at moments like this that I seriously don’t understand what’s going on with your sway.”

He was not the only one. 

“Do you think any of us does?” Kora asked rhetorically. “I’m no doctor.”

Trip hesitated and then spoke again. Even if she refused to respond to what he asked, he wouldn’t be any worse for the wear just asking. As it was, he still didn’t know where she was. 

“Aren’t Raina and Doctor Radcliffe with you?” Trip asked. “Can’t they figure out what’s so different about you?”

Once again, there was silence for a moment and when Kora spoke, her voice was harder, less affectionate than it had previously been. 

“You seem to think you know a lot,” Kora said. “Whatever I tell you is going to get back to the team, so I don’t see a point in answering your questions about the others.”

Damn. He had lost her. Something that he had said must have caused her to put up her walls again, those boundaries that prevented her from divulging more information to him. He sighed.

“Kora, I don’t know what kind of hold he has on you, but I won’t tell the team anything you tell me,” Trip said. “And you know you’re able to tell if I’m lying.”

Kora didn't say anything for a moment, but when she spoke, her voice was tense. 

“Your intentions now might not include telling the team, but intentions change all the time,” she said. “There are paths where you change your mind. Besides, it’s not me in control here about what I can and can’t say. It’s Hive.”

“Maybe we can figure out what those boundaries are,” Trip suggested. “Then we can talk properly. Without it seeming like Hive is controlling our conversation.”

In actuality, what Trip really meant was without it seeming like Kora was deliberately backing out of a situation where she didn’t want to tell him the truth, as opposed to Hive preventing her from telling him the truth. While he was cagey about his word choice, there was no fooling Kora, who inhaled sharply.

“I know what you’re thinking, Antoine Triplett,” she said, her voice piercing. “And those word games don’t work on me. I can predict your thoughts as well as your words, remember?”

“Hey, can’t blame a guy for trying,” Trip joked, attempting to make light of the situation. To a certain degree, it worked, because Kora exhaled in a less tense manner, seemingly relaxing a little.

There was silence for a moment and then Kora said, “Trip, please. I’m trying to save your life. I...I don’t want to lose you.”

Trip didn’t say anything for a while. Then he said, “Kora, the only way you’re going to lose me is if you continue to push me away. Let me help you.”

Kora laughed out loud. “Do you think Lincoln wanted to leave Daisy when he died? Do you think Coulson wanted to die after he and May finally got together? Do you -”

She cut herself off. “Oh God.”

“What?” At the fear in Kora’s voice, Trip knew that something was really really wrong. What it was, he wasn’t sure, but even under Hive’s sway, Kora panicking wasn’t something he was accustomed to. “Kora, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“The future,” Kora whispered. “Oh God. What have we done?”

“We?” Trip asked, his voice rising. “We as in you and me?”

“No,” Kora whispered. “All of us. Oh God. Why didn’t I see this before?” 

“Kora!” Trip was accustomed to her cryptic comments, but now, it was more frustrating than anything. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Before Kora could reply, however, there was the sound of a door opening over the coms. Kora gasped out loud, but there was no sound on the other side of the line to give Trip any indication of who had interrupted their conversation. Kora grunted, and then Trip heard sounds of her being dragged out of the room. Trip didn’t dare to shout her name, for fear that he would alert whoever was there to his presence. For all he knew, she was being punished for something else, not being in contact with him. It took all of his self-control not to do anything; he took his anxiety out on the armrests of his seat, gripping them tightly enough to draw blood had they been flesh. He held his tongue, but inwardly, he wished more than anything he could give Hive a swift kick in the balls. 

Then the line went dead. 

“Kora!” Trip shouted. Now that the connection was gone, yelling was useless, but at least it was a preferable alternative to remaining silent. He could understand why Ward had taken out his aggression about Kara on a punching bag. Right now, all he wanted to do was hit something. Preferably Hive, but seeing as he wasn’t an option, destroying something was the next best thing. 

Cursing under his breath, Trip stared at the communications system. He had to reach back out to S.H.I.E.L.D.. They might not trust him after his rogue escape, but at least if he contacted them, he might have a chance of figuring out what they had done that had caused such a disastrous future. Or at least, with them, he had a higher chance of figuring out where Kora was. 




“Okay, remove that wire and replace it with this one,” Deke told Miles. “Make sure you cut the sheath, not the wire itself.”

“Roger,” Miles said, then he grimaced, shaking out his hand as it cramped. “Sorry. Still...got some weird juju left from Katya, I think.”

“You have to do it,” Deke said. “I can’t let go of these ports and wires. And their hands are full.”

He was not wrong. Lincoln had one arm connected to his IV and the other was still powering the Framework; Daisy had one hand maintaining the quake pulse that was keeping his blood in his body from his side injury and the other was pressing a towel to his nose. As it was, she had to let go occasionally to reconfigure some of the programs on the computer one-handedly in accordance with the electrical engineering that Deke and Miles were doing. It was literally a four-way operation. Lincoln would remove the electricity from one part of the machine, Deke would rewire something, give instructions to Miles to configure something else, and Daisy would reprogram the structure of the Framework once a different section was up and running. To make matters more complicated, it wasn’t always in that order. Sometimes, she had to reprogram something first with Lincoln still powering that section, then he would release the electricity, then Deke and Miles would get to work. It was the most intricate game of Operation that any of them had ever played and that was saying something, considering they were two hacktivists, a doctor and an engineer from the future.

“Okay, okay,” Miles said, shaking out his hand again. “I got it.”

He reached into the machine with the wire cutters and pressed tentatively. For an agonizing moment, nothing happened. Then the sheath snapped without him cutting the wire. 

“Bullseye!” he said triumphantly. “Got the sheath off.”

“Good,” Deke said. “Now this is the tricky part. Daisy, you need to switch off the brain monitoring systems on both of them momentarily and start a timer. After that, Lincoln needs to remove the electricity from that area. We have three to six minutes before the brain damage starts.” 

“What?” Daisy asked, staring up at him in shock. “You want me to do _what_? If you’re not fast enough, they’re going to end up like Fitz, right? After he and Jemma were dropped to the bottom of the ocean. They might end up with brain damage and speech problems and stuff, right?”

Deke looked at her. “We don’t have a choice. We’ve started the operation and we can’t stop. Even if Lincoln could sustain the electrical energy for the next 22 hours, other systems are going to fail in the meantime. We have to continue.”

“Christ,” Lincoln muttered under his breath. “If Ward goes through hypoxia and ends up with cognitive problems….” His voice trailed off, but both Daisy and Lincoln were well aware of the irony of the situation. 

“Talking about it is not going to make this any better,” Deke warned. “Are you guys ready?”

“Yes,” Daisy said, inhaling sharply. “Ready with the timer.”

“Ready,” Miles agreed. “Whenever you are.”

“Turning off the electricity right after Daisy hits the switch,” Lincoln confirmed.

“3...2...1...go,” Deke said; Daisy flipped the switch, started the clock and Lincoln let the electricity die in that part of the machine.

“I can’t watch,” Daisy muttered under her breath as Deke and Miles got to work. Each of them was working slowly; it was better that they worked slowly and accurately than quickly and risk damaging both systems. 

“Me...neither...,” Lincoln muttered, attempting to sound normal, but he was struggling to talk.

“Don’t talk,” Daisy whispered, trying not to distract either Deke or Miles. “Save your energy.”

At that moment, May came running into the room. “Guys, there’s -”

“Don’t talk, don’t move, don’t speak, don’t breathe,” Deke said. “We’re doing a very intricate operation right now -”

May looked horrified as she caught sight of the timer and empty oxygen levels on Daisy’s computer. “What are you four _doing_?!”

“Tell Daisy and Lincoln the message and walk out,” Deke said, his eyes still locked on the wiring in front of him. “We’re on a very delicate timer right now and if we don’t fix these parts in six minutes, we could end up with two brain dead agents here with their consciousness alive in the Framework, but not out here.”

“Dammit, Deke!” May cursed. She glared at him, but there was nothing she could do or say to make the situation any better at the moment; distracting him would be much worse for Sousa and Ward. “We got a message from Trip. On the last of our phones that hasn’t had juice sucked out of it yet. He’s worried about the future. He thinks Kora saw something that’s even worse than what we had previously imagined.”

“Something worse?” Miles asked, his eyes still on the mechanical components that he was working with, as he used tweezers to separate two intertwined wires. “Something worse than someone dying in space?”

“Maybe she saw the Framework future that they’re seeing now,” Daisy said, biting her bottom lip. “I don’t think sunshine and daisies are in that future.”

“Sunshine maybe not,” Lincoln said. “But at least one Daisy.”

“That’s a worse pun than ‘Skye’s the limit’,” Daisy told him, but she was smiling. 

Lincoln smiled, chuckling a little and then winced as the wound in his side stretched. Blood oozed out of his side and Daisy grimaced as her quake pulse slipped. 

“Oh God, don’t move,” Daisy said at the same time as Lincoln grunted in pain. 

“All of you, shut up!” Deke said. “Daisy! Lincoln!” 

“Sorry,” Lincoln muttered. “Electricity slipped.”

“Oh God,” Miles said. “I think that gave me a mini electric shock.” He was still holding onto the wires though, but he was grimacing in pain. 

“Dammit,” Deke said. “I’ve got a metaphorical bleeder. This wire...we need another connector. It’s completely fried...worse than I had thought. Not Lincoln’s fault. Just something I couldn’t see until we got in.”

Things were going from bad to worse. 

“What can I do?” May asked. 

“Get Jemma,” Deke said, shaking his head. “And Mack. I sure as hell hope they’re out of surgery with Koenig because they’re in for another one.”

“On it,” May said, hurrying out of the room.

“God dammit,” Deke said. “This is worse than brain surgery.”

The greatest irony was that none of them knew that Hive’s Inhumans were trying and failing to perform a different brain surgery on Katya at that very moment.




May opened the door to the operating room, holding a mask over her face. “Jemma, Deke needs you. He’s dismantling parts of the Framework and building it back up while the other parts are still connected. Daisy, Lincoln and Miles are helping, but it’s a mess of an operation.”

Jemma looked up. “I’m trying to fix his heart,” she said. “I’m elbow deep in his chest cavity right now, what do you want me to do?”

“ _Deke_ is elbow deep in Ward and Sousa’s brains,” May said. “If he doesn’t fix what’s wrong with the machines in five minutes, they could end up brain dead.”

Jemma swore. She blew out a breath from behind her mask. “Okay, Mack. Koenig’s been on bypass for two hours now. He can stay on it for a while longer, but I don’t like using the electricity when the Framework could suck the juice at any second if Lincoln can’t sustain it any more. You are going to monitor the electricity levels and his state. Page me if there’s a problem. I’m going to help Deke.”

“You’re leaving the surgery?” Mack asked, almost fearfully. “His chest is right open!”

“Surgeons do this all the time,” Jemma said, heading towards the door. “The healing pod is right there if you need to put him in it momentarily. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

She peeled off her gloves, operating gown and mask and stepped out into the hallway with May.

“So glad that’s not me,” May muttered under her breath. 




“I’m here, what do you need me to do?” Jemma asked as she rushed into the lab. Deke looked up from his work.

“Patch up Lincoln’s side,” he said, ignoring the fact that Mack wasn’t there; there was no time for arguing or complaining. “I need Daisy to use a quake pulse on the wires and hold the parts in their current places even though it’s going to try to crumple in on itself when I remove these parts; she can’t stop his bleeding if she’s helping me.”

“Christ,” Miles muttered. 

“Lincoln, even though the parts are being separated, you need to keep an electrical charge running through the quake pulse,” Deke said, ignoring Miles. “Please, for the love of Kree, both of you, don’t let either power drop. And...I don’t know, make sure that your powers are working in tandem. The pulse needs to be strong enough to hold the components apart, but not strong enough to deflect the electrical charge. Can you do that?”

“You couldn’t have told us this sooner?” Daisy asked. “This is worse than defusing an atom bomb!”

“I have every ounce of faith in both of you,” Deke said. “And besides, I didn’t know that this was going to require such intricate wiring. I couldn’t tell until I opened it up.”

“Okay,” Lincoln said, struggling to sit up, ignoring the fact that this was a hard enough task without being injured and exhausted. “Let’s do this.”

“Hang on,” Jemma said, scooting around behind Daisy. “I need to look at Lincoln’s wound first. Daisy, move.” She shifted sideways, looking at the injury as best she could. “It’s internal as well as external; it’s not just a surface wound. The force of the Framework sapping your energy was enough to rupture the healing on the inside. The body can only take so much before it breaks and that was a weak spot.”

“Solution?” Lincoln asked.

“I’ll patch it for now, then when this very intricate operation is done, you’re probably going to pass out from blood loss,” Jemma said matter-of-factly. “So you’d better have fixed whatever you need to fix with the Framework, Deke, because your power source is going to be gone.”

Deke shook his head. “We’re going to pull Sousa out of the Framework without hurting him, but we can’t do anything about Ward.”

“Oh God,” Jemma muttered. “Okay, May.” She turned to May, who was watching behind them. “You need to get back into Koenig’s surgery and remove the Quinjet power source from the bypass machine and healing pod. We’re going to hook it up to the Framework. Then I’m going to work like hell to wake Lincoln up again and give him more energy so that he can power the Framework when the Quinjet power source dies because it’s not going to last very long. Then I’m going to rush back into Koenig’s surgery to make sure he doesn’t die on the table because there’s only so long he can go without bypass seeing as his heart is open on my O.R. table. Go!”

May ran out of the room without question and Daisy looked at the clock on the computer.

“We’re down to three minutes,” she said. “Before they go into hypoxia.”

“Oh my God,” Miles muttered. “What the absolute hell are we doing?”

“Trying to save everyone’s lives,” Jemma muttered as she pulled out Siloxane to spray Lincoln’s wound.

“I’ll need a blood transfusion soon,” Lincoln said, trying to report his medical condition to Jemma; he had been monitoring his own status as he had declined. “The nose, the side….”

“And you’re exhausted,” Jemma agreed. “Just hold it together a little longer and then you can pass out.”

“Oh God,” Daisy said, staring at the Framework mechanisms, her mind stressed beyond belief. If Lincoln didn’t stop using his powers soon, the overuse might kill him. Even though both of them predicted that he would pass out, Jemma still wanted to wake him up again to power the Framework in a few minutes. There was no way she could help him and her inability was tearing her up on the inside. “Lincoln….”

“Hey...it’s okay,” Lincoln managed to say, squeezing her hand with his hand that was connected to the IV. “I’ll be fine…. I promise. I wouldn’t...miss our wedding for the world.”

Daisy shook her head. “You’d better not. You’re the groom!”

She tried to sound light-hearted as she spoke, but she didn’t sound all that convincing, even to herself. Deke and Miles watched grimly, hands still holding their mechanical tools. 

“No one is going to die today,” Jemma said. “If all of us work together, we can do this. We can.”

It would have been more reassuring if she hadn’t sounded so incredibly stressed as she spoke, like she was trying to convince herself that she was right. After all...there were four lives on the line: Lincoln, Sousa, Ward and Koenig. The slightest error or miscalculation could end up with all four of them dead. 


	68. Episode 18: If/Then - Chapter 68

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I am SO EXCITED to post this chapter and the next video!!! Suggested order for this is to read the chapter and then watch the video, so you'll be able to figure out when exactly Ward and Sousa appear in the Framework, but either way works really HAHA. Because either way, there is going to be backstory spoilers that Ward and Sousa obviously haven't found out yet HAHA. 
> 
> Looking forward very much to hearing what you guys think about this chapter and the video!!! Feel free to comment on the chapter and the video and share it with anyone whom you think might enjoy it! 😍😍😍
> 
> The scene is called: Return to The Framework! 
> 
> Scene Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdjDFrm8ntQ&t=29s
> 
> As always, happy reading! 😊😊😊

**Episode 18: If/Then**

**Chapter 68**

Ward opened his eyes. He was crouched behind a wall, holding a gun in one hand. Beside him was Coulson, also armed; why he was there with him, Ward had no idea. Just around the corner, there were reams of agents carrying weapons, but why there were so many, Ward had no idea. All he knew was...this was a very strange situation to be in, especially since, as far as he could tell, none of his usual team members had his back. To be out in the field without one of Deke’s team watching his back was a rarity.

“Inhuman trackers say that two of them are in the building!” an unfamiliar voice said over the coms. “One female and one male. And another human.”

“Is it them?” another unfamiliar male voice asked. “Quake and Sparks?” 

“If it is, we should have brought more backup,” grumbled a third voice. “There is only so much that our suits can do to absorb their powers.”

“If it’s them, then we _have_ to bring them in,” Coulson said over the coms. “The Doctor has been hunting for them for months. We either take them in today or we waste another few weeks tracking them down again while they get to another safe house.”

“Yes sir!” a series of voices chorused over the coms; Ward couldn’t tell how many voices were speaking at once. 

He turned his head slowly, looking around the wooden building. It looked unfamiliar to him, but then again, if it was a safe house for two Inhumans and another human, then it made sense that he had no idea where it was. He didn’t even know what city they were in, or if there was any new flanking protocol, or anything along those lines. All he could do was follow along and hope for the best. 

“Quake and Sparks,” a familiar voice scoffed and Ward exhaled a sigh of relief when he recognized Hunter approaching, carrying a gun in one hand. “I still prefer Shake and Bake.”

Ward had never been more grateful for Hunter’s ridiculous nicknames before in his life. While everyone from Daisy to Deke to Miles called Lincoln ‘Sparks’, he hadn’t been as sure about Daisy being called ‘Quake’, at least not in this timeline. Even though they were being hunted, it still meant that they were alive. That was good; it meant that at least neither of them died in the Quinjet with Hive. But why they were being hunted down was beyond him. Why were they on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D.? Maybe they’d gone rogue for a while...because they wanted a peaceful life? Although being hunted didn’t sound very peaceful, nor would Deke ever send squadrons of agents after them if they wanted their peaceful happily-ever-after. Ward knew perfectly well that Deke would let them go if they wanted to. But then again, Coulson had mentioned a ‘Doctor’, not ‘director’. Maybe the ‘Doctor’ was Jemma. That would make sense; she would want to bring them back into the fold. But again, that didn’t make total sense. Ward was pretty sure that Jemma, like Deke, would let Daisy and Lincoln leave S.H.I.E.L.D. if that was what they wanted. Still, maybe that explained why Hunter was still around. Maybe Jemma wanted to force Daisy and Lincoln to return to her timeline and was refusing to bring Hunter and Bobbi back with her until they returned as well. 

And who was the human with them? Ward couldn’t imagine that they would bring a human with them while they were on the run, especially if they were running for the explicit purpose of their peaceful future. It _did_ make him wonder if a pre-Terrigenesis Inhuman would trigger whatever Inhuman trackers the other agents were using to keep tabs on Daisy and Lincoln. Provided he was in the right time in the Framework, it was 10 months into the future. That was sufficient time for them to have had a baby. Although being on the run didn’t sound like the right place or time to raise a baby. 

Before Ward could think any further about the millions of questions that he had in his head, Coulson interrupted his thoughts. 

“That’s enough Agent Hunter,” Coulson snapped. He shot him a wary look. “I know they used to be your teammates and although you and your wife and some of your old team are working for Hydra now, your allegiances are clearly still at question. Go with Agent Bakshi and take the back stairs. Agent Ward and I will go up the front.”

Ward almost cheered out loud at Coulson’s words. He had been in the Framework for all of thirty seconds and he now had confirmation that not only Daisy and Lincoln survived, but also Hunter and Bobbi. Then the realization sunk in that Coulson had said Hydra. They worked for Hydra? What was going on? Were they undercover? 

This was...something. On the bright side, in less than a whole minute, he had confirmed that four of his teammates, technically five, if he counted himself, survived the battle with Hive, but still. What was going on? If they were Hydra...had S.H.I.E.L.D. fallen? S.H.I.E.L.D. was a publicly known organization and some of them were public faces. How could they be undercover? How had this happened? How had Deke allowed this to happen? 

Did this mean that Deke was the one who had died in the battle against Hive? He couldn’t imagine S.H.I.E.L.D. without Deke. As long as he had been at S.H.I.E.L.D., Deke had been there. Even though Hand had been his S.O., Deke had still been his director. Although, if there was a ‘Doctor’ in charge of Hydra, maybe this was one of those Hydra doctors who experimented on Inhumans that Daisy and Lincoln were always talking about. Von Strucker and List or someone else like that. _That_ would make more sense. It would also explain why they were pursuing Daisy and Lincoln because they _were_ Inhuman. 

“Aye aye, Captain,” Hunter said, giving him a mock salute, drawing Ward out of his confused thoughts once again. Hunter and another agent in a suit, Agent Bakshi, Coulson had called him, left around the back. 

“Calling for Teams Charlie, Delta and Echo,” Coulson said. 

“Roger that, sir,” another unfamiliar male voice said. “Team Charlie in position.”

“Team Delta in position.”

“Roger that for Team Echo.” 

“Teams Alpha and Bravo, engage,” Coulson ordered. 

It was rare for so many teams to be in position. Ward knew that Daisy and Lincoln were powerful, but he was still surprised that so many agents were being used to track them down. Each team consisted of ten agents; that meant fifty agents on the mission. That was a lot of agents, to say the least. 

At first, there was silence over the coms. And then Ward overheard shouts, thumps and the unmistakable sound of rushing air and the crackle of electricity which were obviously Daisy and Lincoln’s powers at work. 

“Teams Charlie and Delta engage,” Coulson ordered.

Ward grimaced inwardly. As a specialist, he knew the strategy of sending two teams in first, before sending in fresh reserves. The same strategy was used in wars: send in some as a sacrifice, use them to weaken the targets and then the reinforcements could take them down for good. 

Then there was a shout over the coms and the echo of bullets firing.

“Rebel traitors!” Someone shouted.

Coulson’s eyes widened. “Team Echo engage!” he ordered. Then he turned to Ward. “We’re going in.”

Ward was incredibly confused. Rebel traitors? That sounded like something out of a dystopian novel. On the bright side, this wasn’t reality. On the down side, it was a highly possible future. Not the fixed future, but programmed the best to his, Sousa and Koenig’s abilities. Admittedly, Sousa knew nothing about technology, so it was mostly his and Koenig’s input, but still. A highly possible future, but not necessarily the fixed one.

“Agent Ward!” 

Ward snapped out of his reverie. He quickly pulled out his gun and followed Coulson up the staircase. He was incredibly confused, but all he had to do was get through this raid and get back to headquarters. Then he could figure out whatever was going on with this world. He might not be a hacker like Miles, but he knew enough about computers to be able to work a program at the very least. 

Ward was halfway down a corridor, covering Coulson’s back when someone shot at him. The most confusing thing was that these ‘rebel traitors’ were dressed similarly to the other agents on the raid; all of them were wearing some sort of black-armour to protect against bullets and Inhuman powers. Quickly, he ducked behind cover, into a room; Coulson followed, still firing out into the hallway. Despite the echoing shots of the guns, Ward heard, to both his relief and fear, a now-familiar voice on the other side of the wall. 

“Watch out!” Daisy shouted and Ward heard the unmistakable sound of Lincoln’s electricity powers at work. 

That was…not good. Seeing as both of them were being hunted by Hydra. On the bright side, at least they hadn’t been separated or killed, at least up till now. 

Before Ward could decide if fighting against two Inhumans and his former teammates was a good idea or not, especially since had already been on the receiving end of Daisy’s quake pulses before, he heard Deke say, “This just got personal,” in a low and angry voice.

So Deke was the human with Daisy and Lincoln? Well...that made sense, seeing as he loved them like family...but who was now the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Ward was confused beyond belief, but at least that clarified that six of his teammates survived. He just had to find out about the other eight: Sousa, Kora, Trip, Jemma, Miles, Mack, May and Flint. Still, with the current record he had, it would only take a few more minutes. This had to be a record of how good he was at his job. And then he could get out of this confusing reality and back to the real world. 

Ward next heard the unmistakable sound of Lincoln’s voice.

“I love you no matter what happens to us.” 

Well, he might be confused about what was going in the world, but that sentence wasn’t confusing in the slightest. Daisy and Lincoln were obviously still together, maybe they were already married. Ward didn’t know, but it was reassuring that some things hadn’t changed, despite some things being a confusing mess. 

“Hey!” That was Deke, but his voice was closer towards the front of the corridor now; he was clearly moving away from Daisy and Lincoln. 

The next second, Ward heard a loud thud as someone hit something, something hit something else and two human (or Inhuman?) gasps as someone did something. Ward had no idea what was going on on the other side of the wall, but whatever it was, he didn’t have time to worry about what it was. Two armour-clad agents were shooting at him and he had to engage. He ducked back out into the corridor, kicking the gun out of one of the agents’ hands. Coulson was already engaging with two of them; Ward flipped one agent onto his back and stomped on his face, breaking his nose. That might be dirty play, but Ward was in no mood to play around. The man slumped against the floor, out cold; Ward aimed his gun at him, just to be sure. Next to him, Coulson slammed the second agent into the wall, but as he fell to the ground, he heard a gasp.

He handed a gun to Coulson, looking up as he did so. Both Coulson and Daisy stared at one another for a split second, Daisy making no move to attack them. The lack of attack on her part made Coulson stare at her in return, confused, but then his battle instincts took over. He pulled the trigger of his ICER and she crumpled to the floor, the shocked expression still on her face. Whatever she had been expecting, it hadn’t been for Coulson to shoot her. Ward clenched his hands into fists, but there was nothing he could do about it. As far as he knew, Deke, Lincoln and Daisy had just been defending themselves, but he had no confirmation. Instead of trying to help her, he kicked the agent he was allowed to hit in the ribs, taking his aggression out on him. If he was going to find out information about this insane world, that meant playing along with everything the world was throwing at him and defending Daisy was the complete opposite of what he was expected to do. Plus...if she was down, that meant that he had to maintain his cover...of playing along with whatever he was supposed to do. He turned back around to look at where Daisy was lying on the floor; Coulson was crouched over her, pushing a needle into her neck. 

“Daisy!” 

Ward looked up in time to see Lincoln in the doorway. Electricity blasted Coulson away from Daisy, but even as Coulson flew backward and hit a wall, there was an unmistakable bang of an ICER. Lincoln crumpled as well, landing next to Daisy, their fingers lightly brushing as though they were inseparable, even in unconsciousness. 

Agent Bakshi stood behind the unconscious Inhumans. He nodded at Ward; it took all of Ward’s effort to nod back. He had to play his role, he had to see what this world was up to. Besides, it wasn’t real. It felt real, but it wasn’t. Daisy and Lincoln were fine. They were safe in the real world. Even if they were captured here, it was fine. All he had to do was make it through, find out what had happened to the rest of his team and get out. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t real. He just had to keep telling himself that as his friends got taken into captivity….

“We have the human,” a voice said over the coms. “It’s Deke Shaw.”

Well, that was bad. All three of them caught...and who knew what was going to happen next? This future was a mess. 

For the first time, Ward sort of understood the enormity of what Lincoln had been going through when he had suddenly gotten his memories of the other timeline back from Kora. This was a whole other life. In this case, it was a fake one, because this was a simulation, but for Lincoln, that had actually happened to him. Ward hoped more than anything that he could get out of there quickly. This was dangerous; it felt more real than he had thought it might. 

When the voice spoke over the coms, Coulson staggered to his feet. Hunter came into view, dragging Deke over one shoulder. Hunter didn’t appear to be any worse for the wear; he dropped Deke on the floor.

“What do you want to do about the fallen agents?” Hunter asked. “There are over fifty agents either quaked, fried or shot scattered around the building. Both hostiles and friendlies.”

“Your call, Boss,” Ward said, glancing at Coulson, doing his best to sound nonchalant, but he was inwardly horrified. He sure as hell hoped that Hunter was undercover because Deke was Hunter’s grandson. Why was Hunter openly participating in Deke’s capture? How many people knew about their relationship? What the hell was going on? 

“Call in reinforcements,” Coulson told Ward, shoving a phone at him. “Make sure the friendlies get treatment. Kill the rebels.”

That was one call Ward was not going to like making.




“Agent Sousa, sir? The Doctor would like to talk to you.”

Sousa blinked. Several times. He was sitting at a table with a sandwich in front of him. And a bottle of some cloudy liquid. He had no idea where he was, but it looked like an office. 

He looked up. A woman was standing in the doorway. He had no idea who she was, just that she was fairly pretty with dark hair and dark eyes...although she was nothing on Daisy, of course. She was wearing a smart office suit, but seeing as she wasn’t wearing a name badge or anything, he couldn’t even tell who she was.

“Thank you,” Sousa said, deciding that that was the best response to go with. “Did the Doctor say what he wanted?”

The woman shook her head. “The Doctor’s business is far above my payroll, sir. I just came to tell you that he wants you now.” 

Well, that didn’t clear up who the Doctor was or why he wanted him. On the bright side, he had discerned that this Doctor was male. And if this woman was calling him ‘sir’, then that meant that he had some authority here. That was good. Maybe he could get some answers.

“Walk with me,” Sousa said, standing up and pushing his chair in. “Update me on all the latest news, please.”

Her eyes widened. “Haven’t you heard about the raid, sir?” she asked. “It was successful. They brought in two Inhumans and another Inhuman supporter. Rumour is that these are the two whom the Doctor has been searching for.” 

Two Inhumans...that sounded like Daisy and Lincoln to him. But he needed confirmation. 

“Quake?” he asked, taking a gamble. If it didn’t pay-off...well at the very least, he would find out if she was alive or missing or had died in the Quinjet. He didn’t think he could survive if Daisy was dead as well as Peggy, but he needed to know. The whole purpose of this Framework adventure was to find out what was going to happen in the future and, if necessary, how to prevent it. If the woman had no idea who Quake was...well, that would be both good and bad. 

He was in luck. The woman nodded. “And Sparks,” she said. “The rumour is that the human is the former Inhuman-loving director of S.H.I.E.L.D..”

Sousa might be clueless about a lot of things in the 21st century, but this was not one of those things. Quake and Sparks were obviously Lincoln and the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. clearly meant Deke. It was good that they were alive, but captivity was _not_ fun. Regardless of this being reality or not, the fixed future or not. 

“That’s good,” Sousa said as they left his office. He glanced up and down the series of labs, counters and people; he didn’t recognize anyone or anything. 

“This way, sir,” the woman said. She subtly guided him down a row of counters; they were halted by a familiar voice speaking.

“Ms Nathan, are you going to see the Doctor now?” Jemma Simmons asked, a cheerful tone in her voice. “I have some reports that he requested.” She glanced at him. “Good morning, Agent Sousa.”

“Jemma -” Sousa began, more relieved than ever to see her. However, her eyes widened slightly at the familiar tone in his voice and Ms Nathan herself looked a little shocked at the familiarity in his tone. 

“Jemma Simmons,” Sousa said, in an attempt to cover up his faux pas. “The Doctor requested my presence urgently. I’m sure your report can wait.”

Ms Nathan looked even more confused as he spoke. “Ms Simmons’ reports always go straight through to the Doctor, Agent Sousa,” she said. “They are of the highest importance and are generally very well-received.”

Well, that made matters even worse. Thankfully Jemma came to his rescue. 

“Never mind, Ms Nathan,” she said. “I’m sure Agent Sousa here is just nervous to be seeing the Doctor. It’s not every day that one of us gets to see one of the highest-ranking officials of Hydra!”

Whether or not Jemma knew that he was in the Framework as a guest or not, she was doing an excellent job at covering up his mistakes. In one fell swoop, she had told him just how highly-ranked the Doctor was _and_ who they were working for. He had never felt more grateful to her than he did in that one moment. 

“Do you want to deliver your reports to the Doctor yourself?” Sousa asked. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind seeing you, seeing as he admires your work so much.”

In reality, Sousa just wanted to know how much she knew. About why they were working for Hydra, but more importantly, who died in the Quinjet with Hive. So far, all he knew was that Daisy, Lincoln and Deke were theoretically alive and well, and that Jemma herself was standing in front of him. The rest; he had no clue. 

Ms Nathan now looked slightly affronted to which Jemma smiled at him, shooting him a warning look with her eyes. 

“Ms Nathan - Audrey - is more than capable of helping you, Agent Sousa,” she said, handing him her reports. “If you’ll excuse me.”

She turned and Sousa was left, more than confused at what was going on. They walked to the elevator and once they were inside, Ms Nathan spoke, her voice stiff.

“If this is your way of telling me you’re interested in another woman, you should just break up with me and be done with it,” she said. “ _Daniel_.”

What? Since when was he dating a woman called Audrey Nathan? But then, he remembered the look in Jemma’s eyes when she had looked at him. Unless he was very much mistaken, she was undercover at Hydra. And the way she had been addressing him...it seemed like he was as well. Which would suggest that his relationship with this Audrey Nathan was a ruse to get more information. This was more complicated than he had previously thought. This Framework felt real. It was a virtual reality down to the minutest detail. 

“I’m not, Audrey,” he said urgently. “I was just...well, like she said, I’m nervous. About seeing the Doctor. And I was hoping that she could give me an idea of how to deal with him seeing as she works with him so regularly.”

At that, Ms Nathan smiled a little. “I like it when a man admits a vulnerability in front of me.”

When she stepped towards him, Sousa was immediately reminded of when he had had to flirt with the receptionist at Isodyne Energy. Undercover flirtations were definitely _not_ the most fun operation, but at least he wasn’t, as Daisy and Kora put it: _busted_. 




Mack came back into the room with the power source instead of May. 

“I figured you could use an engineer,” he said. “May’s got my pager, just in case something happens to Koenig.”

“Okay,” Deke said tensely. “Daisy, Lincoln, whenever you’re ready, you can start.”

Daisy took a deep breath. “Ready, Linc?”

“Whenever you are,” he replied, squeezing her hand before letting go. 

And Deke opened up the circuits. 

A vibrational pulse emerged from Daisy’s fingertips. She could feel the different components fighting to crumple, but her quake pulse kept them at bay. Then Lincoln’s electrical current streamed through the pulse. It was a delicate balance. At first she pushed too hard, then he did. Sweat dripped from her forehead as she struggled. Part of the problem was that Lincoln’s electricity had to connect to the components as much as she had to hold them apart; the effort to keep the balance was giving her a headache. She could only imagine just how bad it must be for Lincoln, who was injured, sustaining the Framework _and_ trying to power this specific section, which was essentially fighting them. 

“Work quickly, Deke,” Miles said, looking at them. “For everyone’s sake, including your own.”

Deke was already fiddling with the wires. “Come on….”

He was working as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t easy. He pried apart wires, started replacing chips and got to work with tweezers, screwdrivers, and miniature pliers. Mack stood nearby, ready to relieve him, but he couldn’t do much because the section that Deke was working on was so tiny. 

“Damn,” he muttered as the tweezers slipped on a tiny wire. “Come on….”

“Seeing black spots,” Lincoln said faintly. “Dad….”

“Deke, focus,” Jemma warned, even as Deke started to look up. “You too, Daisy. You only have a few seconds left before he passes out.”

Deke nodded grimly, bending over his work. “Miles, that section is ready for programming.”

Since Daisy was occupied with her quake pulse, Miles had taken over the computer and Mack was relieving him as Deke’s second pair of hands. 

“Two seconds,” Miles said, typing into the computer. “And...bingo! Got it!” 

“Mack, power source, now!” Jemma said as Lincoln’s hand dropped and the electricity failed. 

Mack sprang to life, already hooking up the wires and shoving the power circuits into place; Deke, who was holding several wires together remained absolutely still since the slightest movement could damage the circuitry and mechanics even more. 

“Lincoln? Lincoln!” Daisy’s voice was stressed, even though both he and Jemma had warned all of them that he might very soon faint. 

Jemma felt for a pulse at his neck.

“He’s breathing,” she said, fishing out smelling salts from her pocket. “Come on...wake up.” 

In the end, none of them were sure if the smelling salts were a good idea, although the plan _had_ been to wake him immediately after he passed out. Lincoln jerked upright and both Daisy and Jemma caught him as he flailed momentarily. Miles yanked his computer out of the way, nearly tripping over parts of the Framework as he did so. Unfortunately, at the same moment as that happened, the dimly lit bulb overhead died as the last of the juice was sucked into the Framework, just before Mack was able to finish connecting the power source from the Quinjet into the machine. 

“Dammit!” Deke said. “Miles, torch!”

“Daisy, help me move him, now!” Jemma said. “Move!” 

Both Daisy and Jemma lifted Lincoln away from the Framework set-up, settling him far enough away that he couldn’t kick the machines or destroy anything, but close enough that they could see from the dim glow of Miles’ computer. Lincoln was twitching and sweaty and Jemma lifted his eyelids to see the movement beneath them, although how she could see with the light being practically gone, Daisy had no idea. 

“Is he going to be okay?” Daisy asked anxiously, her voice higher than usual with the stress.

“Yes,” Lincoln managed to say, although he was shuddering and shaking. “Not as bad...been worse…anti….”

“He was worse when he took the antitoxin,” Jemma said, shaking her head. “That’s what he means.”

“Oh God,” Daisy said. “Lincoln!”

She couldn’t imagine how bad he must have been when he had taken the antitoxin for her. 

“My body can...handle it,” Lincoln insisted. “Jemma, you know...it can.”

Jemma was already digging out a needle and syringe from a box. “This should relax your muscles and make it easier for you to breathe,” she said as she pushed the needle into his skin. 

“Side injury...” Lincoln said. “Blood.”

Jemma shook her head. “Bandages,” she said. “I need to find you more bandages.”

“Oh God,” Daisy said as she tried to hold him steady; he relaxed slightly against her, but he was still twitching. The blood was already starting to stain his shirt; he was losing too much.

“We are out of time,” Miles said, as the timer on the computer started beeping. “Our six minutes are up. We need to get them oxygen again. Now!”

Deke swore magnificently. “Mack, how’s the power source?”

“Not good,” Mack said. “10% left.”

Deke shook his head. “Okay, we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”

“Was the earlier method the easy way?” Miles asked incredulously and even though that might have sounded funny, it really wasn’t. Nothing about this disaster was funny.




For some strange reason, Ward was finding it difficult to breathe. He was headed back to some Hydra headquarters alongside Coulson, Hunter and Bakshi in a Zephyr with the Hydra symbol on the top of the plane, but for some reason, it felt like air was limited. Maybe it was the altitude.

“Are you feeling alright, Ward?” Hunter asked him in a low voice; they were sitting just out of earshot of Coulson, who was on the phone with someone back at the headquarters. “You look...not too good.”

“I’m...fine,” Ward managed to say, but even that felt difficult. What was going on? 

“Look you’re not still mad at me about the whole Trip thing, are you?” Hunter asked. “I thought we were past that.”

The Trip thing? What had happened to Trip? And what thing was it?

“Look, I’m not saying who’s to blame,” Hunter said. “And I’m sorry I broke your nose. But of course Trip was going to take out his anger about Kora on someone. And at least...at least she didn’t get murdered like Flint. Hive did a number on them both before we killed him.”

Ward needed to keep this conversation going. Answers about three of them? Hunter’s statement was implying that all three of them had survived the battle with Hive, but what had happened to Kora, why had Flint been _murdered_ , and why did Trip blame him? 

But his head was spinning. There was not enough air in the room. Why was Hunter not seeing stars as well? 

“Ward?” Hunter’s voice seemed to be coming from very far away. “Ward? Are you alright?”

With that, Ward slumped forward, blackness encroaching over his vision.




Sousa had just emerged from the elevator, heading towards what Ms Nathan - Audrey - called the Doctor’s office, when his knees felt weak. Something wasn’t right. The room was spinning and his chest felt like an elephant had trampled all over it. It was hard to breathe. Very hard. It felt like Howard Stark’s Midnight Oil all over again, but much worse. 

“Agent Sousa?” Audrey asked. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I….” Sousa could barely get in a good lungful of air, much less make a coherent response. He staggered, leaning against a wall, barely able to support himself. 

“Agent Sousa?” Audrey repeated. “Agent - Daniel!”

Sousa was staring at the ceiling. It was glowing. Was it supposed to glow? Or maybe it was the effect of the lights on his eyes. Everything was so bright and painful. And then the light was overwhelming and he slipped into unconsciousness. 




“We need light; I can’t see a thing,” Deke said. “Someone get a torch!” 

“Daisy, take the computer!” Miles shoved the laptop at her and sprinted to one of the side cabinets, all of them winced when they heard him trip over a chair and start yelping in pain. “God dammit!”

“How long have they been without oxygen?” Mack asked. 

“Oh God,” Daisy said. “Starting the new timer….”

The old timer had been a countdown, now this one was a count-up. There was only so long they could take before it was useless and Sousa and Ward would be dead. 

The light overhead flickered and then started glowing. Barely. It was so faint and it was flickering badly, but the light was there. Just enough to see. Lincoln gasped at that moment, gagging, choking and curling into a ball as his side cramped.

“Lincoln, stop!” Daisy shouted, putting the laptop down to try to straighten him out; the light was his doing. 

“Yes!” Deke scrambled to work now that he could see; he and Mack were working like lighting, as fast as they could in the dim and flickering light that was still better than nothing. 

“Got it!” Deke shouted. “They have O2!” 

At his yell, Miles came skidding back into the area, carrying three torches. As he clicked one on, Lincoln groaned and threw up, Daisy and Jemma both turning him onto his side so that he didn’t choke on his own vomit.

“Lincoln, stop using your powers, now!” Jemma sounded almost as frantic as Daisy was feeling. 

“Lincoln, Lincoln, stay with me, stay with me,” Daisy said, grabbing his hand in both of hers. “You have to be okay, you have to!”

Lincoln relaxed as the lightbulb overhead gave out. 

“Are they...alive?” he croaked out. 

“Oh God,” Jemma said. She snatched the computer off the floor next to Daisy. “They’ve been without O2 for six and a half minutes. But their vitals are stable now. They should be fine. Can we unplug Sousa yet?” 

This last question was addressed to Deke, who was staring at the mess of wires and electrical components in front of him. 

“Not yet,” Deke said, cursing under his breath. “I need a few more minutes. Miles, light.”

Just then, Jemma’s pager went off.

“Dammit,” she said. “It’s Koenig. I have to go.”

Deke blew out a breath, looking up at her incredulously, but not angrily; they all knew what an impossible situation all of them were in. “Go!”

Jemma shoved her pager into Daisy’s hand. “If Lincoln, Sousa or Ward need me, use this to call May. She’ll be with me in the O.R..”

Jemma snatched one of Miles’ torches and took off out of the room. 

“How’s it going over there?” Daisy asked anxiously, as she picked up the computer, glancing at the screen. 

“The hard part is over,” Deke said. “We just need to rewire and reconnect a few more things and then we can pull Sousa out of the Framework.”

“And Ward?” Miles asked. “Is there enough juice in the Quinjet power source to keep him in there for the next 21-ish hours?” 

“No,” Mack said. “Maybe two or three tops….”

“Oh God,” Daisy muttered. 

“I’m...sorry,” Lincoln mumbled, his breathing shallow. “I can’t….”

“Yeah, we need an alternative source,” Deke said. “You need to rest. Like seriously rest.”

Daisy ran her fingers through Lincoln’s hair gently with one hand. “If you need to rest, we have this,” she assured him. “Sleep.” 

“Blood,” Lincoln reminded her. “Losing….”

Daisy swore, pressing her hand to his side; a vibrational pulse forming another barrier. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry, I forgot about it. But don’t worry, I’ve got you. I’ve _got_ you. I can hold this for hours if I have to.” 

Lincoln smiled faintly at her. “Don’t...worry. So much...going on.”

“Hey, hey, stay with me, okay?” Daisy said, not wanting him to go to sleep for fear that he might not wake up. “You need to stay with me. There’s so much we haven’t done yet. And remember what Kora showed us? Kora’s never wrong. Not about us. Remember Bucharest? She wasn’t wrong about that. And she predicted our lives and our families even before Hive. She showed you that, remember? Or at least made you realize that that future was basically inevitable when she first returned your memories. We’re going to get married and have kids and I don’t know what we’re going to name them, but then again, I’m not even pregnant yet so -”

She was babbling at this point. She just wanted to keep him awake and conscious and alive in her arms. She would say anything to keep him with her, although everything she was telling him was true. 

A beep from the computer behind her made her look at it.

“Oh no,” she said.

“What now?” Deke asked, still working on the components of the machine in front of him.

“The computer’s dying,” she said. “We have maybe 20% battery left.”

Deke cursed. “That’s enough to get Sousa out, but not enough to keep Ward in the Framework.”

“Can we _not_ get a break?” Miles demanded. “What the actual hell!”

Then Daisy had a brainwave.

“May’s in contact with Trip,” she said. “He’s in the Zephyr. If he’s close enough, we can use the Zephyr as a power source. It can sustain the Framework for almost a week.”

“Oh, thank God,” Deke said. “Contact him. Now. If you can.” Then he glanced at her and Lincoln on the floor and the quake pulse that she was keeping on his wound. “Miles -”

“I’m on it,” Miles said, grimly. He scrambled to her side for the computer and then dashed back, holding the torch between his teeth so that Deke could still see the components of the Framework machinery. “Come on, baby, last just a little longer….” He was talking to himself again, but if that was what it took to get him to work whatever magic he needed, then that was what all of them would put up with.


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69**

“Welcome back.” 

Ward opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, Hunter and Coulson standing over him. 

“What...happened?” Ward asked slowly as he attempted to support himself on his elbows. 

“You collapsed,” Hunter said. “At first we thought you might have gotten injured in the fight, but as far as we could tell, you’re not hurt at all. You just...stopped breathing.”

“Weird,” Ward said, slowly sitting upright. 

“You should get checked out when we get back to the base,” Coulson said, shaking his head. “We thought you were one of the strong ones, Agent Ward.”

He walked away. Ward blinked and Hunter stuck out a hand to pull him upright.

“You okay, mate?” he asked. “Your heart stopped for a while there…. We thought you might be having a heart attack. Or a stroke or something.”

Ironically, although neither Framework Hunter or this timeline version of Ward within the Framework was aware, Deathlok _had_ stopped Ward’s heart before. Although he hadn’t been without oxygen for that long….

“How am I alive?” Ward asked. “How long was I out?”

“CPR, mate,” Hunter said. “The only reason you don’t have brain damage right now is because I was breathing for you for the last six minutes. Kissing you is not fun.”

Ward shook his head. “Thanks,” he said, semi-sarcastically, but Hunter pulled him to his feet anyway.

“So, we even now?” he asked. “I broke your nose and then saved your life and now we’re good?”

Even though Ward had just woken up from a spontaneous passing out for six minutes, he still had his head on his shoulders. Now that Hunter had brought up the subject of Kora and Trip again, this was the perfect opportunity for him to find out what had happened to them. Additionally, any confusion on his part could be chalked up to the passing out. It was now or never. 

“Trip...how is he?” Ward asked. “And Kora -”

“You haven’t heard back from him either, huh?” Hunter asked. “He and Miles are completely off-grid. I mean...when your girlfriend or crush or whatever tops herself because she’s losing her mind thanks to Hive...I think that would put anyone into depression.”

Okay. Ward was getting tons of information about the team at once. That was good. Who did that leave? He hadn’t heard anything about Jemma, Mack, May and Sousa. He was making progress...maybe he could get out of here earlier than expected. But at the same time, he was starting to get seriously worried. Why were they working for Hydra? If this was the future that was going to occur thanks to them killing Hive, they couldn’t let this future happen. A world where Hydra was at the helm? This was the last thing that he wanted to happen. If this world was a result of any of those four dying...well, someone else should die instead. As horrible as that sounded. Maybe Jemma was the one who died. Daisy, Lincoln and Deke would leave S.H.I.E.L.D. for that reason...and maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. had crumbled in their absence. That also made sense...but Ward hoped that wasn’t what happened. Jemma seemed like a genuinely nice person. Hopefully there was some other explanation for this mess. 

Ward asked the only question he could think to ask in the light of hearing that Kora had committed suicide. 

“How’s Daisy holding up?” he asked, careful to address the question like they were also thinking about her in captivity. 

Hunter’s face darkened. “Inhuman hunting, Ward,” he reminded him. “ _Quake_ ,” - he stressed the word - “and Sparks have been on the run for months. Just upped and vanished. Completely understandable though, considering anyone in contact with Inhumans is taken in for questioning at the very least. Even potential Inhuman sympathizers are taken in and ‘questioned’.” He made quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke, making Ward even more confused.

Inhumans were being hunted? Since when had that happened? Although...that made sense about why Daisy and Lincoln had been taken in. And about why they had been on the run. How had the world changed so much in 10 months? 

“That’s….” Ward couldn’t think of a word to describe how terrible it was without seeming like an Inhuman sympathizer himself. Although Hunter certainly wasn’t acting like a complete Hydra loyalist himself. 

“Mate, you need to get your head straight,” Hunter said. “Did your mini-stroke - or whatever it was - cause you brain damage? Just so you know, you’re acting weird. You need to remember what we’re doing here and that this is a really dangerous time to appear loyal to anyone other than Hydra. Remember?”

Ward needed Hunter to be more specific. But seeing as he might appear to be suffering from brain damage, now was the perfect time to ask questions.

“Hunter, what in the world is going on?” he asked.

“Dude, are you serious?” Hunter looked at him. “Brain damage? Or something?”

He could roll with that. “It’s...all kind of fuzzy. Kinda when like Lincoln got his memories back from Kora. This feels like a whole new world.”

The literal understatement of the world. 

Hunter looked at him. “Okay, mate, we need to get somewhere and talk. Seriously. But not here. This is not safe. This is...we have some serious Hydra heads here. Not like the head, heads, cuz those are obviously the Doc and stuff, but like...yeah, we can’t talk here. Not now. Like...after we report on the raid and stuff. Not now. Not here.” 

“Uh...okay,” Ward said, even more confused than before.

Hunter looked at him. “Get your head on straight, okay? Right now, we’re loyal to Hydra. Yes? That’s all you need to know.”

“Loyal to Hydra,” Ward repeated. “Got it.”

Hunter looked at him. “Seriously. Anything else and you’re going to get taken and tortured or worse. And we can’t blow this. Not when we’re this close to getting into the Hydra empire.”

“The Hydra empire?” Ward repeated. At least Hunter was fully aware that he was confused now. Maybe he could get more answers this way.

“Are you going to repeat everything I say?” Hunter demanded. “Yes. The Hydra empire. It’s like...I dunno, Star Wars. Let’s go with that. The Sith rule the galaxy. That’s Hydra. Ruling the world. Except you can’t think of them as Sith. Think of them as the Jedi. But, they’re Sith. But, you know, they’re Jedi.”

Only Hunter would come up with Star Wars references to explain the conundrum of Hydra. 

“Is Bobbi alright?” Ward asked; Hunter talking about Star Wars was a clear sign of his concern about Bobbi and Ward needed to ask.

Hunter’s face darkened. “She’s alright,” he said. “For now. That’s why - Hydra empire. Yes?”

“Yes,” Ward repeated, although he was even more confused than before at this point. It appeared to him that he, Hunter and possibly Bobbi were undercover in Hydra. Fair enough. They could pass off as Hydra loyalists and could defend themselves if need be. Non-specialist S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had a harder time being undercover, especially if they weren’t trained to defend themselves. “Hydra empire. Loyal to Hydra. Got it.”

Hunter looked at him, trying to confirm if he was serious or not. “You’d better,” he said.

Ward got to his feet slowly and sat down on a chair, trying to regain his sense of normalcy. 

“Yeah…,” he muttered under his breath. “Better get explanations and fast.”




Sousa’s throat felt like it was fire. There was something stuck down his throat; he was choking and coughing. Then the pressure down his throat was relieved and he managed to draw in a ragged breath. 

“Thank goodness,” Jemma said. “How are you feeling?”

Sousa looked around. He was lying on some sort of recliner, hooked up to some machines. 

“What happened?” Sousa asked, his voice hoarse and scratchy. 

“You passed out,” Jemma said. “And stopped breathing. We had to intubate you, but then you suddenly started breathing again on your own. We’re going to do a full body scan and try to figure out if you had a stroke or something. How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” Sousa said, which was not a lie. He was feeling strangely better. Not 100%, but definitely better. “I think. What’s...where am I?’

Jemma’s eyes widened. “Are you having memory issues?” 

Sousa looked around the room. It was white, a medical room of some sort and now all of a sudden, he was confused as to whether or not he was in the Framework or back in the real world. 

“Um...I’m okay,” Sousa said. 

“If you’re having memory issues, it could be something to do with your brain,” Jemma said. “I could call for one of the neurologists -” 

“No, I just need to know where we are,” Sousa said, lifting one hand to rub his forehead and realizing that he was connected to tubes and more medical equipment. He sighed, tugging at the needle in his hand, but Jemma stopped him.

“Sousa, no, don’t,” she said. “Hold still.”

She pulled out a minilight from her pocket and lifted one of his eyelids to check his pupils for their reaction to light. 

“Jemma, seriously, just tell me where I am,” Sousa said. “I know what’s going on. I know who I am. I’m Daniel Sousa, you’re Jemma Simmons, you’re married to Leo Fitz -”

“Stop talking,” Jemma said, her eyes suddenly dark and worried. She grabbed his medical chart off the back of his bed. “You sound like you’re very confused; I’m going to recommend you get a brain M.R.I to check for anything that could have caused the episode -”

“Wait, Jemma, what’s wrong?” Sousa asked, before realizing that that had come off sounding very wrong. In all fairness, it sounded more like Jemma was concerned about something that he’d said, as opposed to genuinely thinking that something was wrong with his brain. “Fitz is -”

“The _Doctor_ ,” Jemma stressed, “Is our boss. And that is it. That is all there is to it. Now, I’m going to recommend you take leave -”

“Whoa, wait, what?” Sousa asked. “Are you...what’s going on? Are you from this time -”

Jemma hissed under her breath, glaring at him. “Are you trying to get us all killed, Sousa? Drop the subject, right now!”

“Killed?” Sousa asked incredulously. “What’s going on? What happened to you and Fitz? Why are Daisy and Lincoln being hunted -”

Jemma’s glare grew darker. She stepped closer to the bed, out of sight of the cameras, subtly reaching into her pocket for a technological device to turn off whatever security measures there were watching the room. Then she walked swiftly round to the door and locked it. 

“Sousa, what cover are you trying to blow?” she demanded in a low voice. “What happened to you?”

“Cover?” Sousa asked, trying to sit upright. “Jemma, okay, you’re going to think I’m absolutely crazy, but the reason I don’t understand is because -”

“How do you not know what’s going on?” Jemma asked, a mixture of concern and anger flashing over her face. “What did that seizure do to you?”

“Seizure?” Sousa repeated. “Jemma, I’m not crazy! What I’ve been trying to tell you is that I don’t understand what is going on because this world isn’t real! I’m from the past!” 

“What?” Jemma stared at him, confused. “You’re already from the past! What do you mean by the world isn’t real?”

“Okay,” Sousa said, raising his hands. “You’re going to understand because you know how the Framework works -”

“The Framework?” Jemma repeated. “You think that this world isn’t real? That it’s a fabrication? That it’s...programming? That we’re lines of code in a machine?”

“Look, I don’t fully understand how the Framework works, but you and Fitz explained this to me!” Sousa protested. “To all of us! You said that if you programmed it to certain specifications, then you could create a virtual reality that predicts the future. You know me. You know how terrible I am at technology. How would I know this if you didn’t suggest it to me in the real world?”

Jemma stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable. For a brief moment, Sousa hoped that she believed him. Then, after a long moment, she spoke. 

“Okay, spill,” she said. “You want me to believe that this isn’t real?” She gestured around the room. “Tell me why, after _everything_ that the Framework did to us, we would be so desperate to send you into the Framework, into the future. Who let you do this? And why you? Technology is so difficult; it would have made more sense if Daisy or Miles or Deke or someone who knows programming would do it!”

Sousa sat up properly. “Look, Jemma, the reason I came is because we were trying to find out who dies in the battle against Hive and how to prevent that. We wanted to save someone on the team. You need to tell me who lives. And why...why Hydra is suddenly ruling the world. And why Inhumans are being hunted. Because that sure didn’t seem like our reality 10 months ago!”

“10 months ago,” Jemma said, pressing her fingers to her forehead. “You think you’re 10 months from the past.”

Sousa raised his hands. “I get that you think that I’m crazy, but -”

Jemma blew out a long breath. “I...I...I don’t know what to think,” she said. “We discussed the possibility of the Framework 10 months ago. I don’t know if you’re going through possible mental problems thanks to the seizure, but I’m going to order more tests -”

“No, no, Jemma, you have to understand me!” Sousa protested. “What can I do to convince you that I’m from the past? That this world isn’t real?”

“From what you’re saying is that you’re from 10 months in my past!” Jemma said. “There is nothing that you can say that would convince me that that’s real because supposedly all you know goes up till 10 months ago!” 

Ouch. That hurt. But it was also true.

“So you have to tell me!” Sousa protested. “You have to tell me who died and how to prevent it because we’re not going to lose someone on the team!”

Jemma stared at him. “No, we’re not having this conversation,” she said. “This is insane. There is no way that this is a fake world; we would never send you into the Framework!”

“You didn’t!” Sousa protested. “You didn’t! That’s the whole point! Two of us came in here without your permission because we knew there was a possibility that this might work! If you could just tell me who died and how this world came to be -”

Jemma raised her hands above her head. “You...you came in here without our permission? Two of you? Why in the world would _you_ do that? You always do the right thing! You _never_ break the rules!”

“Yeah, and that’s before I broke up with Daisy and she got together with Lincoln two days after we broke up!” Sousa interrupted. “I let her go because it was the right thing to do. Maybe what I should have done is pushed for her instead. Fought for her. Done the supposed wrong thing because then maybe I wouldn’t be in this fake world where Hydra is suddenly ruling the world -”

This was the first time that Sousa had voiced aloud what he had been thinking for days. What would have happened if he’d pushed for Daisy? Maybe she would have stayed with him. He knew she was not a cheater; maybe Bucharest wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe _she_ would have broken up with _him_ . Or maybe they would still be together. It gnawed away at him, wondering what might have happened if he hadn’t given her the space she had needed. If he had fought for her instead, Lincoln might have backed down. In fact, Lincoln _had_ been prepared to back down. When he had first realized who Sousa was and that he and Daisy had been together, he had been ready to back away. Maybe they wouldn’t be in love and engaged right now. Or maybe he would have been fighting something inevitable and he would just be feeling humiliated for being rejected, in addition to hurt that she had moved on, supposedly so quickly. 

“Wait, wait, stop right there,” Jemma said, staring at him. “You really think you’re from the past?”

Of course she had latched onto the fact that he was still insisting that he was from the past, instead of what he’d said about Daisy. But in a way, he was grateful for that. His internal humiliation was enough for both of them. And at least the Jemma in the real world would have no idea of what he had confessed to her. 

“I know I am!” Sousa protested. 

“Okay,” Jemma said, rubbing her face with both hands. “You really do think you’re from 10 months ago. I believe you.”

“You do?” Sousa asked, confused, but suddenly elated at her quick change of opinion.

“Yes,” Jemma said. “I believe that _you_ believe that you’re actually from 10 months ago. And I think that this seizure must have caused the confusion. I would call for a psychiatrist, but there is no way that you would survive with this kind of opinion in this world. I’m going to recommend that you go home right this minute. And send someone to check up on you.”

“No, no, no, you need to explain what’s going on!” Sousa protested, but Jemma was already pushing something into his IV drip. 

Within seconds, darkness started to encroach on the sides of his vision and he lost consciousness.




Sousa opened his eyes. This time, instead of staring at a white ceiling, he was staring at a grey one. 

“Thank goodness,” Jemma said. “How are you feeling?”

Sousa looked around. He was lying on a similar sort of recliner, once again hooked up to some machines. It was a horrible feeling of deja vu.

“Sousa?” Jemma asked, staring at him. “Can you talk? How are you feeling?”

“Am I...am I in the real world?” Sousa asked. “No longer in the Framework?”

Jemma sighed, but she looked incredibly frustrated even though she looked concerned at the same time. “The Framework is horrible,” she said. “It feels real; the longer you’re in it, the more realistic it gets. You were in there for minutes at most...what happened? Was it worth it? Your ridiculous grand -” She cut herself off. “Okay, I shouldn’t say that.” She blew out a long breath. “How are you feeling?”

Sousa carefully looked around. They were still in the medical lab; Deke, Miles and Mack were crouched over the Framework set-up, not too far away. The lights were flickering, but from what he could see, the Framework was still plugged into the Quinjet power source. He turned to his right and then felt a wave of nausea wash over him, as he saw Daisy and Lincoln. Lincoln was asleep, Daisy curled up at his side, his arm around her. He wasn’t sure if she was awake or not, but as he watched, she snuggled closer into his embrace. Jemma saw where he was looking and deliberately stepped into his path of sight. 

Her anger and frustration was evident on her face. “You only have yourself to blame for the situation that they - and you - are in,” she snapped. “You have no idea what you and Ward and Koenig did. We have been working like the dogs trying to keep the three of you alive for the last two hours. The only reason you’re alive is because Lincoln almost died trying to sustain the Framework. Whatever programming you three set it for sucked all the electricity out of the Lighthouse, including out of him. If he had died, you would have been responsible. You and Ward and Koenig! And all because of what, because of something that Deke had expressively told you not to do?! Deke is the director; his word trumps yours any day!”

All of them looked up at her outburst; even Daisy and Lincoln stirred, Daisy sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the hospital bed. 

“Jemma -” She began, but Jemma was shaking her head.

“No, Daisy, don’t even _try_ to justify what he did,” she said. “The only reason that all of us are even considering being okay with what he did is because he survived and because Lincoln’s alive. It’s one thing to put yourself in harm’s way and another entirely to put someone else in harm’s way.” 

“Jemma…,” Daisy said, hopping off the bed, and approaching her slowly. “What did you do?”

Jemma looked at Daisy, who knew her better than anyone in the room. Daisy, who had been there for her and Fitz time and time again. Tears sprang to her eyes.

“I had to choose,” she said. “I had to. I couldn’t save them all.”

Both Lincoln and Sousa sat upright in their beds, staring at Jemma. 

“What do you mean -” Sousa began, but Daisy shot him a glare to get him to shut up.

“Who did you choose, Jemma?” she asked. “Is Ward -”

“Ward’s fine,” Jemma said, even as Deke called, “Ward’s stable. For now. As long as the battery lasts on the computer.”

“It’s not Ward,” Jemma said. “It’s Koenig. I tried to save all four of them; I did, I really did, I tried, but I couldn’t.” At this point, tears were streaming down her cheeks and she was gesturing frantically. “I tried; Lincoln tried, but there was only so much we could do. When one of your doctors is also your electricity generator and the Framework is sucking so much power that he’s barely conscious and hanging in there, trying time and again to save two people inside the Framework who had no business being in there...there was no way I could save all of them. We even had to choose between Sousa and Ward! Sousa and Ward!”

“Jemma, calm down,” Daisy said, stepping towards her, raising one hand in an attempt to pacify her. “You’re just feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders right now -”

“Yes!” Jemma protested. “And none of these lovesick fools are helping by going into the freaking Framework!”

“Well, to be fair, I don’t think Ward’s in love with me,” Daisy said, attempting to make the situation lighter; she could not look at Sousa, not only because he had endangered Lincoln’s life _and_ his own, but also because she didn’t want to see his face when she knew he was still in love with her. “He’s still in love with Kara. At least...I hope he is. Because that would be really bad.” 

“He’s still in love with Kara,” Miles said, looking up. “And very very thankfully, I’m not in love with you either. On the bright side, I’m not doing anything idiotic.” 

Everyone looked at Miles and Mack heaved a sigh, shaking his head, as if to say ‘this guy’. 

“That’s not the point!” Jemma protested. “I -”

“Jemma, you need to rest,” Lincoln said, his voice still hoarse and scratchy. “Sleep. You’re overworked. You just did the job of six or seven doctors at once and one of your patients died. I know what that’s like. I’ve worked in hospitals. You treated me and made me rest when I needed to; let me diagnose you this time. You need to rest.”

Jemma rubbed her face with both hands. “But Ward -”

“Ward will be fine,” Deke spoke up. “And you and Lincoln are both here, in this room. That was the whole purpose of having Lincoln and Daisy stay here instead of going back to his room. In case of an emergency. You can just rest here as well.”

“Take a benzodiazepine to relax your mind,” Lincoln said. “You need to rest, Jemma.”

Jemma sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll rest. But if there’s a change in Ward’s condition, any change at all, you need to tell me.”

“We will,” Deke assured her. “Rest, Nana. We’ve got this.”

Jemma hopped onto one of the beds, but even as she sat down, she turned to Sousa.

“Did you at least find anything useful in the Framework?” she asked. “Like at least one person who survived?”

“I actually did,” Sousa said, a little stiffly. “You, me, Daisy, Lincoln and Deke.”

All of them looked up, every single one of them. There was silence for a moment as that news sunk in. 

“Well…,” Mack said at last. “That’s good. You guys can celebrate, come on!”

“Mack, it’s at the expense of one of you,” Lincoln reminded him. “You or Miles or Ward, Trip or Kora, Bobbi or Hunter, maybe even May or Lexi. I don’t know if Lexi counts.” 

“That doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate!” Miles insisted. “And for all we know, maybe no one dies! Sousa only found out about five of you; that doesn’t mean that the rest of us die!” He paused. “And it’s not a fixed future, although it _is_ the likely one.” He turned to Daisy, who was struggling to control the fluctuating emotions on her face. “Just go to him, Daisy. It’s okay. We all know you want to.”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Daisy rushed into Lincoln’s arms, flinging her arms around his neck, breaking down on his shoulder. The relief on her face was unmistakable, but her tears were that of sheer and utter relief that he survived, not sadness. She pulled back slightly to look at him; he rested his forehead against hers, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. 

“You live,” she whispered. “Oh my God, Lincoln, you’re not going to die.”

She pressed her lips to his frantically, but it wasn’t even a romantic kiss, it was a desperate one, as though she had thought they were on borrowed time. Then she hugged him again, one hand around his neck, the other across his back.

“You do too,” he reminded her, his lips buried in her hair. “And that’s what matters. That we survive. Together. I wouldn’t have survived in a world without you.” 

Jemma sighed inwardly. _I’m not strong enough to live in a world that doesn’t have you in it._ Of course Lincoln would tell Daisy something similar to what Fitz had told her. Although she knew perfectly well that neither Lincoln nor Daisy was aware of what they were reliving. That had happened before Lincoln had died and he only had his perfect recollection of everything that had happened to the team after his death. Up till then, he only had his memories. 

Even though Sousa watched them, he was struggling to continue to hide the possibility that Hydra was the high-ranking organization that had taken over the world. However, as he stared at them, wondering if he could destroy their happiness with the other worrying things that had happened in that timeline, including the possibility that Hydra took over the world, he realized that Deke was looking at him.

“What else do you know, Sousa?” he asked, his voice dangerously calm. 

All of them looked up, although Daisy and Lincoln were still clinging to one another. 

Sousa opened his mouth and then shut it again. 

“Who’s Audrey Nathan?” he asked at last.

Daisy and Jemma looked at one another in complete confusion.

“The Cellist?” Jemma asked. 

“Coulson’s ex-girlfriend?” Daisy asked in equal confusion.

Sousa’s eyes almost fell out of his head. That was...so messed up. But at this point, everyone’s family relationships were incredibly messed up. Plus, he had been undercover. It didn’t mean anything...except for the fact that he could possibly get answers from her about this world.

“Who?” Deke asked, glancing between them. “Audrey Nathan? Who is she?”

Sousa took a deep breath. “I think she’s Hydra.”




Kora screamed. Her throat was raw, her back arched as agony tore through her head. She slumped forward on her hands and knees, already feeling the effects of the torture on her brain. It literally felt like it was tearing into two. 

Hive stood over her, his fist clenched as he stared at her. 

“You enabled Katya to die,” he said. “Or did you just set things up to have you human boyfriend escape from me?” 

Kora didn’t say anything. In all honesty, she had offered Hive an option: try to save Katya and let the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. walk away, or capture the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Hive had chosen Katya, like Kora had hoped he would, but Bobbi had also done what she had hoped she would. But now, Kora had to come up with another contingency plan for saving Bobbi and Hunter, not that she was even sure she could anymore. Her head felt like it was splitting into two as it was.

“Answer me,” Hive commanded, twisting his fingers into tight fists. 

“I...I didn’t know Katya would die,” Kora whispered. “I truly didn’t.”

“Did you suspect that she would die?” Hive asked.

“It...it was a possibility,” Kora admitted, her voice faint and strained. “I didn’t know if it would happen.”

Half-truths. The only thing that might get Kora out of this disaster. She couldn’t lie, but she was an expert manipulator of the truth. 

“Did you know that it _might_ happen?” Hive asked, sensing her evasion of his direct question.

This was a question that Kora could not evade. It was a simple yes or no answer.

“Yes.”

There was silence for a moment as Hive pondered her response. “Your human boyfriend...who is he?”

“No one,” Kora said. “I don’t have a human boyfriend.”

That was the honest answer. Trip was not her boyfriend. She liked him; she knew he liked her, but he was not her boyfriend. Raina might have outed her somewhat to Hive, but regardless, Trip was not her boyfriend.

Hive studied her curiously. “Who is the human whom you are in love with?” he asked.

“No one,” Kora repeated. In all honesty, while she had strong feelings for Trip, she was not in love with him. Not yet. More half-truths and bluffs...that was the only way she could get through this nightmare of a torture session. 

Hive bristled, before turning to the Watchdog at the door. “Go get Raina,” he ordered. “And the child Inhuman, Robin.”

The Watchdog disappeared obediently without a word and Hive turned back to Kora, a triumphant smile on his face. 

“Who is Agent Triplett?” Hive asked. “To you?”

Kora managed to give Hive a faint smile. “He’s the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who went to the Badlands with me,” she said. “He tried to protect me from Katya. Because that’s what S.H.I.E.L.D. agents do.”

Hive pondered her response for a moment. “So,” Hive said decisively. “If he means this little to you, then a better incentive for you would be your sister. And her boyfriend.”

Kora didn’t say anything. There had been no question in Hive’s words; she did not have to respond. Hive studied her, his expression growing darker as he thought of ways to get around Kora’s obvious struggles to fight him. 

“What does Lincoln mean to Daisy?” Hive asked and Kora closed her eyes. Finally, a question she could not find a way around. 

“He means everything to her,” Kora said finally. “He would die for her in a heartbeat.”

“Would she die for him?” Hive asked. “Or would she die for you?” 

Kora stared at him, her heart beating in her chest.

“If faced with a choice, whom would Daisy choose?” Hive asked. “You or him?”

“Daisy wouldn’t choose,” Kora said finally, struggling to keep her emotions under control. “She would find a way to save us both.”

“Ah, but suppose she couldn’t,” Hive said, tapping the fingers of one hand against the other. “Suppose she couldn’t. Would she choose you or him?”

Kora hesitated, but Hive waved a hand in her direction and the parasites in her brain exerted an excruciating amount of pressure on her mind. She let out an involuntary scream, every muscle in her body clenching in pain. She gasped, collapsing on her hands and knees, when the pressure on her mind was relinquished.

“Him,” Kora gasped, struggling to breathe. “Him. She would choose him.”

“And?” Hive pressed. “What else aren’t you telling me? What else do you know?”

Kora actually _didn’t_ know. She hadn’t been back around the team long enough to know whether it had happened. She only had hunches and speculation; she didn’t know for a fact if what she suspected was true.

“Kora,” Hive warned. “Tell me, or I’ll have my parasites eat your brains. Let’s try again. Tell me everything that you know or suspect about Daisy and Lincoln.”

There was no getting out of this one. Still, Kora held her tongue and then screamed again as the parasites in her head burrowed deeper into her brain. She writhed on the floor, gasping in pain.

“You’re going to kill her!” Raina’s voice was almost afraid; Hive looked up to see her in the doorway, Doctor Radcliffe carrying Robin behind her. “You won’t learn anything about the future if she goes insane.”

Hive lifted his hand to look at Kora curiously. “Is that a possibility?” he asked her. “That you go insane?”

“Yes,” Kora whispered, spitting blood out of her mouth; she had bitten her cheek in an attempt to stop herself from screaming. “It is. A high possibility that I go completely insane. Worse than Katya. That I end up having no idea of what time it is, what timeline I’m in, who anyone is, whose orders to follow. The more you torture me, the less pressure my mind can take. The more fractured the future gets in my head. You want to know the future? Then stop torturing me for answers because the more you do that, the less I know. The less defined the future becomes.”

Hive stared at her for a long moment and then turned to Raina. “You tell me then,” he said. “Tell me everything you know about Daisy and Lincoln.”

Raina was silent for a moment and then she spoke. “You do not need them,” she said. “You have all you need to take over the world, right now. Our next stop is Indiana; we are to get the operational warhead from ATCU custody. Then your plan will come to fruition, even without them.”

Hive bristled. “What is it with you two and wanting to protect them so badly?” he asked. “Raina, if you don’t tell me now, when James, Giyera and Alisha return with Morse and Hunter, I will rip your powers out of you and put them Hunter. Robin’s powers can go to Morse. Hunter can deal with your powers.”

“You think they’ll be any less stubborn than me?” Raina asked. “I’d like to see you try. They’re strong-willed and will fight you every step of the way. At least with me, you and I want the same thing. The human race to become...Inhuman.”

Kora knew that Raina was lying. Raina wanted revenge on the humans for every single time they had mocked her, had ridiculed her, had discriminated against her. Hive wanted to feel a connection with the other humans, but still...their end goals were the same. 

Hive bristled. Then he turned and grabbed Kora by the hair again, pulling her out of the room. Raina, Doctor Radcliffe and Robin followed, until they were in the room that Doctor Radcliffe used for experimenting on the Watchdogs. It had also inadvertently become Robin’s playroom and Hive knelt down looking through the pictures that she had drawn.

Hive picked up one image. “When does this happen?” he asked Kora, shoving the picture in her face. “Based on this current timeline, when does this happen? Tell me exactly what you suspect, the highest possibility from now.”

Kora didn’t say anything. 

“Hit her,” Hive instructed one of the Watchdogs; Kora gasped as she was slapped hard across the face.

“Have you seen this?” Hive asked Raina, shoving the picture in her face.

“No,” Raina said. “It probably means that that vision is still in flux. When that happens is yet to be decided. Robin probably drew it because it _will_ happen, but when is the question.”

Hive nodded. “Fine. What about this one?” He shoved another picture in her face.

“Yes,” Raina said. “I have. But again, this picture doesn’t specify a when. It only specifies _what_.”

Hive nodded slowly. “Alright. Kora, do you know when this happens?” He held the picture up to her face.

Kora didn’t say anything. Hive clenched his fist and Kora screamed, collapsing to her hands and knees again as the parasites did their thing. 

“Tell me,” Hive said. “Or I will kill you right now.”

“Stop it!” All of them swung around to stare at Robin, Robin who was no more than three, who rarely spoke, was protesting in defense of Kora. “Leave her alone!”

“You tell me, then,” Hive said, bending over her. “When does this happen?”

But Robin had now subsided again, shrinking back, clinging to Doctor Radcliffe’s leg. The doctor picked her up, holding her, even though Hive stepped closer to him.

“She’s just a child,” Doctor Radcliffe said, protectively cupping Robin’s head as he held her. “She probably doesn’t even know when that’ll happen. None of us do. Besides, why do you care when Daisy gets pregnant? We could work with her eggs and his sperm if you want their babies for their powers that badly.”

“Because,” Hive said, snarling in frustration; of all the people who would do anything to protect Daisy and Lincoln, it was his two future-predicting Inhumans. “Because there is no reversing time. People can travel into the past and change it, yes, but doing so creates an alternate timeline. Once she’s pregnant, there is no going back.” He paused, looking down at the drawing. “I even have Flint on the way here now, with James, Giyera, Alisha, Morse and Hunter. And as cryptic as this crayon drawing is, she can’t be much older than when I saw her in Bucharest. This drawing means that I don’t have to use Kora’s eggs or that I plant her eggs in a surrogate. It’s natural. Which prompts the question, when does this happen? Has it already happened?”

Even if Kora wanted to tell him, she did not know the answer. For all she knew, Daisy was _already_ pregnant and just didn’t know it yet. She had predicted the singularity happening in Bucharest, but she did not know if Daisy was already knocked up. The scary thing was, the possibility was there. Kora did not know if Daisy was already pregnant or was going to become pregnant on her and Lincoln’s honeymoon. Although the vision of the wedding had already shifted in Kora’s futuristic eye, thanks to events that had changed, it had moved closer in time than she had previously thought. Which meant it was highly likely Hive’s super-powered Inhuman babies, as Daisy described them, might already be created, or were very soon to be.


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter 70**

May came into the room before any of the others could speak.

“It’s done,” she said, her countenance grim. “I’ve called Trip, called Koenig’s siblings; they’re on the way to pick up his body.”

Jemma heaved a sigh. “Thank you, May,” she said. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that -”

The entire mood in the room shifted. Death was not something they took lightly, but now was not the time to focus on it. Not while more lives hung in the balance. Grief took time to process and time was something that they were clearly lacking. 

A beep from the computer made Miles look at it. 

“When will Trip be here?” he asked. “Because we’re down to 7% and that battery charge is not going up any time soon.”

May looked over his shoulder at the computer. “Not soon enough,” she said. “Trip has to be at least an hour out. Lincoln sustained the Framework for two whole hours and the entire time that was happening, Trip was headed away from here. We need another solution.”

That was putting it mildly. 

“I’ll do it,” Lincoln said grimly, swinging his legs around Daisy to hop off the bed. “We can’t lose another agent -”

His feet landed on the floor and he staggered upon impact. Daisy grabbed his arm, preventing him from losing his balance altogether.

“Linc -” she began.

“I have to,” Lincoln insisted. “Not after Koenig…. Doctors compartmentalize, Daisy. We push down the grief, sometimes we use humour as a grief mechanism, but we try not to think about our feelings until we have time to grieve. I can’t sit here knowing that I could save Ward. Not when Jemma chose to save the three of us over Koenig.”

“It wasn’t like that -” Jemma began and then cut herself off. 

“I know,” Lincoln said, looking at her. “You didn’t make a deliberate choice. But by choosing to try to save all four of us, we lost one. It’s the same thing in the E.R.. We try to save all and we lose people in the process. I have to try.”

None of them had had time to think about the ones they had lost properly. Not only had Koenig died, but Kora, Flint, Bobbi, Hunter and Yo-Yo had all been taken by Hive; Andrew and Kara were also dead at his hands. Even Peggy had recently died, albeit from natural causes. None of them had had time to grieve properly, but the bodies and casualties were piling up. 

“What if you had an energy booster?” Daisy asked, glancing at Deke. “The Centipede serum; were you guys able to get some back at the Hub?

“Centipede serum?” May repeated in confusion but Miles was already shaking his head.

“Bobbi and Trip destroyed that, didn’t they?” he asked. “And even if we had some, surely it got destroyed in the Zephyr explosion -”

“I have some,” Deke interrupted. “I forgot all about it, but I have some. One syringe. When Lincoln and Jemma were still talking with Daisy and Ward, I was in the lab with Doctor Johnson and Miles. I have pocketed some just before the Zephyr exploded. I forgot all about it until you suggested it because there hasn’t been time to think. There hasn’t been time to do anything.” 

Deke was not wrong. 

All of them looked at him, but it was Sousa who spoke up first. 

“Are there side effects?” Sousa asked. “If there is, he shouldn’t -” His voice trailed off as the others switched to looking at him.

“What?” he asked. “Lincoln’s a good guy. We all know that. And if it puts his life at risk like the supposed antitoxin -”

“Theoretically, it won’t,” Jemma said. “Theoretically. Obviously different bodies react to serums differently. Daisy took it before and quaked Talbot into space….” Her voice trailed off as well.

“Jemma?” Daisy asked. “Is something wrong?”

“No,” she said. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just realized...what if you and Lincoln took the Centipede serum and were able to destroy Hive that way? You could quake him to space or electrocute his brains or blow him to smithereens the way you did Nathaniel Malick, Daisy….”

“I only have one dose,” Deke said, pulling out the syringe from his pocket. “There won’t be enough for Lincoln to sustain Ward’s computer or Ward in the Framework if we want Daisy or Lincoln, for that matter, to use it on Hive.”

“Oh my God,” Daisy muttered. “Coulson or the world...now Ward or the world….”

That was a horrifying thought to think about. Coulson was a good man; he was Daisy’s father figure and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. While Ward was not a bad man in this timeline, it was a complicated situation made even more complicated by the mess they were in. 

“I have to do it,” Lincoln said. “Ward’s a good guy in this timeline; he’s not the psychopath from yours. After Koenig...we can’t lose someone else.”

“What if this is what causes the rise of Hydra?” Miles asked. “Was Ward alive in the Framework? What would have happened if he was dead in the Framework? Would he have -”

“I was dead in the Framework the first time,” Jemma said. “I crawled out of a mass grave. But if Ward dies here, as in killed by the separation of his consciousness from his human body thanks to the Framework, then he might end up trapped in a coffin.”

Daisy and Jemma traded wary glances. Of all people, they were the most cautious around Ward, for obvious reasons. 

“When Coulson chose to give me the Centipede serum, he made that choice,” Daisy said. “ _He_ chose. We may have advocated for one thing or another, but all the same, it was ultimately Coulson’s decision. This time, Ward didn’t choose to sacrifice himself for the world. And we don’t even know if me quaking Hive into space or Lincoln making him explode like a bag of popcorn in the microwave for too long or blowing him up like I did Nathaniel Malick is the solution.” 

Everyone looked at her. 

“What was with the second analogy?” Mack asked.

“I described her trying to leave during the post-Terrigenesis healing process like that,” Lincoln explained. “In for too long and the popcorn turns into charcoal.”

“You guys are obsessed with popcorn,” Miles muttered. “Although I wouldn’t complain about a charcoal Hive, for that matter.”

“Anyway!” Deke interrupted. “We need to decide what to do about the serum. Let Lincoln use it now, or save it for later.”

“We can’t lose someone else,” Mack insisted. “Not after Koenig. Besides, we don’t do that. Not if there’s another choice. Not one life for all, unless that person chooses to make that sacrifice themselves.”

That last sentence struck a little too close to home. Daisy glanced at Lincoln, who squeezed her hand lightly. Of all the people there, both of them knew what it was like to sacrifice himself for the people they loved. Ironically, both sacrifices had included explosions in space, killing Nathaniel Malick/Hive, but really, it wasn’t anything too foreign to anyone on the team. Regardless, they couldn't force someone to sacrifice themselves; that person had to step up to make that choice themselves. The sacrifice was up to the person sacrificing, not someone else deciding that they should do it. 

Lincoln headed over to the Framework setup and Daisy, Jemma and Sousa all followed him; Deke handed Lincoln the syringe of Centipede serum. 

“It should work instantaneously,” Daisy said as Lincoln positioned the needle above his skin, sitting down in the chair that she had previously sat in to hold him. “It feels...it feels like Terrigenesis, if that analogy helps. Pre and post-Mist. And you could probably last until Trip gets back. If you use your powers slowly, instead of in one big blast like I did.”

Lincoln nodded. He jabbed the needle into his skin and pressed down the plunger. As the serum entered his body, his back arched and electricity flared in his eyes. Sparks covered his skin and everyone except for Daisy and Deke backed away from the electricity generator. 

“Sorry,” Lincoln gasped as he aimed his hand at Miles’ computer. There was a crackle of electricity and then a tiny stream of electricity entered the computer.

“Is it working?” Sousa asked from behind him. Of all people, Sousa was feeling guilty about Ward’s condition; the others had made the decision to bring Sousa out of the Framework instead of Ward. At that time, it had been one or the other and even though the decision had been made based on logic, not emotions, it was still something that Sousa felt guilty about. They had chosen Ward, not him and now he felt responsible for Ward. 

“The computer is charging,” Miles confirmed. “Ward’s stable. For now.”

“Thank God,” Deke muttered, staring down at the Framework components. 

“I’ll see if I can get Trip to hurry up,” May said, rubbing a hand over her face. “He needs to hurry.”




The Zephyr landed on the roof of a building and Ward, Hunter, Coulson and Bakshi emerged from the aircraft. Ward glanced around and was extremely relieved to realize that they were in D.C., on top of the building that was formerly the S.H.I.E.L.D. Hub. At least he knew where he was, even if he didn’t know the circumstances or why Hydra had seemingly replaced S.H.I.E.L.D..

As they neared the entrance to the building, Bakshi turned to the others. “One of my superiors has called me,” he said, turning to Coulson. “Finish the debrief without me.”

He strode ahead of them into the building and Coulson turned to Hunter. “Come with me to transfer the prisoners. Ward, go and get checked up in the med lab.”

“Maybe I should go with him,” Hunter began. “To make sure that he’s okay -”

“You are coming with me,” Coulson said flatly. “Let’s go, Agent Hunter.”

Ward watched Coulson and Hunter leave, but his stress levels skyrocketed as they left. He was simultaneously relieved and anxious when they were gone because now he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be doing and where he was supposed to be going. He headed after Bakshi into the building, catching the elevator before it closed. 

“Hey,” he said, attempting to sound normal. 

Bakshi nodded at him in greeting, but made no attempt to make any other kind of small talk. However, before either of them could say anything, the elevator stopped on the floor below. Ward’s jaw dropped when Bobbi entered. Bobbi. With dark hair. Long dark hair. 

“Um, hi,” Ward said, trying not to betray any and all of the shock on his face. 

She glanced at him briefly and then turned to Bakshi. “There’s a code black,” she said. “As soon as we get down to the fifth floor, we’re triggering the lockdown.”

Bakshi nodded. “Understood.”

Ward had never been a part of Hydra, at least not in this timeline, so he had no idea what a code black meant. However, he _did_ know what a lockdown meant, which meant nothing good. He glanced briefly at both Bobbi and Bakshi, but his mind was racing. Maybe Bobbi was undercover like Hunter. That would explain her dark hair. But it also did not explain why Hunter had said that she was alright, for now. Or maybe he meant that her position was more precarious because she was in the ‘heart of the Hydra empire’, unlike him and Hunter, who appeared to have more soldier positions, rather than Bobbi, whose position was clearly more of an authority figure. 

Bobbi turned to look at him again and then said to Bakshi, “What is he doing here? Shouldn’t he be with Coulson and Hunter?”

“He needs a check-up,” Bakshi said scoffingly. “He collapsed on the flight back.”

“Oh,” Bobbi said. She turned back to Ward. “You should go ahead of us. The code black was on the med floor. Make sure you get a doctor before we trigger the alarms.”

“Thanks,” Ward said, but even though he said that, he didn’t know where the med labs were. Hopefully the arrangement would be similar to that at S.H.I.E.L.D’s Hub, because at least then, he knew where the labs were.The elevator stopped on the fifth floor and he stepped off the elevator. 

“You have a minute to get to the labs, Agent Ward,” Bakshi said. “Good luck.”

Ward stepped out of the elevator. There was a long series of white cubicles and people whom he did not recognize, all working on scientific stuff that Ward did not know anything about. All heads glanced his way when he entered the room, but only one of them stood out to him. 

Jemma.

He hurried down the aisle of human beings and research stations, but when her eyes met his, he saw the anxiety and fear in them. Something was seriously wrong; she was doing her best to mask it, but when she saw him, even more fear leaped to her eyes. 

She stood up as he neared her and left the room, but he could see in her eyes that he meant for her to follow. She led him to a med room and the second he was inside a checkup room, she rounded on him; he could only presume that she had already cleared the room for bugs and cameras and the like. 

“Sousa’s gone.”

“What?” Ward spluttered in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“Gone! He just...vanished!” Jemma said. “He said that this is the Framework and that this is a fake reality and that he and some others came in here and I didn’t believe him until he just vanished into thin air, but -”

“Whoa, wait, Sousa already talked to you about the Framework?” Ward asked in relief. “So you know that this _is_ a fake reality?”

Jemma stared at him for a split second. “You’re from the real world too.”

“So you believe me?” Ward was beyond relieved that she did. At least one ally in the Framework was better than none.

Jemma raised her hands in exasperation. “I think so. I thought Sousa was crazy, but then he just vanished! Sousa, Ward. Sousa, of all people, just vanished. He’s as human as we come!”

“Okay, okay, good,” Ward said. “Well, no, not good that Sousa just vanished, but well, good that you believe me. Because he’s right. Whatever he told you is right. This _is_ the Framework.”

Ward had a pretty good feeling that Jemma would think that he had lost his marbles if Sousa hadn’t already laid the foundation for him to be labelled as _not_ crazy. He had a pretty good feeling he would be in the psych ward - no pun intended - if Sousa hadn’t literally vanished on her. 

“Okay,” Jemma said, to his utter relief. “Okay. What do you need? What do you want?”

“Tell me who died,” Ward said. “We have less than one minute before a code black happens on this floor - whatever that means - and you need to tell me who dies in the war against Hive.”

“A code black?” Jemma repeated. “Oh no. That’s really bad.”

“What do you mean?” Ward asked; he had been hoping she would focus on the ‘who dies in the war against Hive’ moment and not the code black one, but apparently that wasn’t the deal.

“Okay,” Jemma said quickly. “You need to get out of here. Like now. Because if you’re caught, you’re dead. Dying in the Framework kills you in the real world. You need to get out of here. Now!”

“Jemma, just tell me -” Ward began, but Jemma was already pushing him towards the door. 

“Go!” she urged. 

At that moment, an alarm started blaring around the building. Jemma yanked the door open and dashed out into the hallway, leaving Ward with little choice but to follow her out into the corridor. By the time he was out in the corridor, Jemma had disappeared, having turned right, so Ward automatically turned left, knowing that going in the same direction as Jemma would be asking for trouble. He had taken all of two steps when he heard the echo of Bakshi’s voice in the corridor.

“Place your hands behind your back!” 

This was followed by Bobbi’s clear and crisp tones. “Keep everyone off their phones and tablets. We have a mole, ladies and gentlemen.”

Oh. That was what a code black meant. 

Ward had three choices. Stay and possibly be interrogated for something to which he knew nothing about, flee and be caught for running, and stay and actually do what he was supposed to do, which was find a doctor and get medical treatment. He wasn’t actually sure which one he should do. But he hadn’t completed his mission yet; he still didn’t know who had died in the war against Hive. He knew that he; Bobbi and Hunter; Daisy, Lincoln and Deke; Flint, Kora, Trip and Miles; and now Jemma and Sousa, had survived, but the fates of the remainder - May, Mack and Lexi - were still up in the air. He didn’t want to leave without getting answers about those three first.

He opted for the third one. 

“Agent Ward?”

Ward turned when he heard a voice. A young woman was standing opposite him. He had no idea who she was at all, so bluffing sounded like the good way to go about things. 

“Hi,” Ward said, holding out his hand. 

“Agent Ward, could I have a word?” the woman asked.

“Sure,” Ward said, but his mind was racing. How could he ask who she was without seriously compromising the situation?

“I don’t think we’ve met before,” the woman said; Ward heaved an inward sigh of relief. “But I know that you used to be teammates with Agent Sousa and I thought you might like to hear about it from me before the interrogations start. I was with him before he...disappeared. I’m Audrey. Audrey Nathan.”

She led him into the medical room that was right next to the one that he had just vacated. Ward was about to close the door behind him when he heard a gun click behind him.

“Lock the door,” Ms Nathan said. 

Ward swung around. “Ms Nathan -”

“You’re one of Agent Sousa’s old teammates,” she said. “You’re the mole.”




“Whoa, Ms Nathan, calm down,” Ward said, extending both palms towards her. “You don’t want to do this.”

Ms Nathan was already speaking into her microphone that she had attached to her wrist.

“Security, security, we have the mole,” she said.

Just outside in the corridor, Ward heard Bakshi say, “There she is. Grab her!”

Jemma. 

The sound distracted Ms Nathan and she turned her head slightly towards the sound of Bakshi’s voice. At that moment, Ward kicked at her wrist, knocking the gun flying from her hand. He lunged at her, tackling her around the waist, sending them crashing backwards into the table and smashing through it. She got both legs around his neck in a kind of chokehold; he stood up and grabbed her like a shirt, throwing her off. By this point, they had made enough noise that guards were coming. The door was rattling as someone tried the doorknob.

“I have the mole!” Ward shouted. “She attacked me!”

At that moment, the door flew open; Ward had Ms Nathan in headlock and was cutting off her oxygen supply. 

“Agent Ward!” It was Bakshi.

“She confessed to me,” Ward said. “She admitted to me that she was with Agent Sousa before he disappeared.”

Ms Nathan was trying to speak, but she was clawing at his hand feebly. Ward tightened his hold and she went limp in his arms.

“She was, wasn’t she?” Ward said to Bakshi. “She’s the one responsible for this code black, no matter who you think is responsible.”

At this point, Jemma was the only one who believed him that this was the Framework. Ward needed to keep her alive. She might be alive and well in the real world, but in the Framework...he had to keep her alive to get his answers. Hunter might be able to help, but who knew where Hunter was at this point. Bobbi was a no-go for answers; he hadn’t even seen Daisy, Lincoln and Deke since they had been captured. 

“We need to look at the security footage,” Bakshi said. “But if you are right….”

He snapped his fingers at the nearest guards and they stepped forward, grabbing hold of Ms Nathan’s arms. They dragged her out of the room; Ward felt a wave of guilt at her being taken, but seeing as she was Hydra and not even real since it was a simulation, Ward would choose Jemma any day.

“Escort Agent Ward to holding as well,” Bakshi decided. “Just as a precautionary measure. I’m sure you understand, Agent Ward. We can’t take any chances.”

Ward wasn’t sure if now was the moment to try to bluff or not. However, at that moment, he saw Bobbi marching Jemma down the corridor, both women’s faces blank masks of zero emotions. 

That was the clincher. Ward needed to go into Hydra holding, even temporarily, so that he could get answers from Jemma. He could find a way to break out later. Dislocating a thumb to get out of handcuffs was one way. 

He extended his wrists to be cuffed. “I am completely and totally 100% innocent,” Ward bluffed. “Take me into holding, if you like. You’ll see.”




Trip came bursting into the Lighthouse lab, carrying the Zephyr power source, followed by May, who was holding a gun on him. Everyone looked up, scrambling into action. The only people who didn’t move were Lincoln, who was focused, once again powering the Framework, and Lexi, who was sitting with him. Thanks to the Centipede serum and the now-drained Quinjet power source, this time, Lincoln was forced to power both the Framework and the computer that was keeping Ward alive in there.

“Oh, thank God,” Deke said. “Give it here, Trip.”

Trip handed Deke the Zephyr power source without question and Deke started plugging it in, Miles and Mack helping him. Daisy, Jemma and Sousa rounded on Trip, each looking wary and cautious; Daisy with both palms extended, prepared to quake him. Behind him, May stood in the doorway, blocking his exit, her gun still extended.

“Trip, talk to us, please,” Jemma said tentatively. “What did Kora offer you?”

“You guys are the ones who put me in lockup,” Trip said. “And I just gave you guys the power source that you need to save Ward. Don’t treat me like I’m an enemy!”

Daisy dropped her arms. “Sorry,” she said, rubbing her forehead. “I know exactly where you’ve been...I’ve been there. You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

“That doesn’t excuse what Trip did,” May said, cocking her gun at him. “Besides, how do we know that he’s not Kora’s spy here now?” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey,” Trip said, gesturing towards May to put the gun down. “I came back. And am helping to save Ward’s life. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“It does,” Jemma said. “But -”

“He left because he was trying to save Kora, not because he was trying to leave S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Daisy said, slumping into a chair. “And Kora...Kora wasn’t trying to convince him to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. and betray his team and she didn’t lie to him and tell him that they were going to go away together when all she really wanted to do was get him swayed by Hive and -”

“Daisy, calm down.” Lincoln put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped; she hadn’t expected him to already have been liberated from powering the Framework. “You didn’t do it on purpose, that wasn’t you.” 

Daisy looked up at him guiltily and met his gaze, his soft blue eyes that reflected nothing but understanding and kindness. She slid one arm around his waist from where she was sitting and he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, his breath warm against her hair. 

Trip glanced at Lincoln. “Lincoln! You know I didn’t do anything wrong! You of all people should understand -”

“I do understand,” Lincoln said, lifting his head so that he could speak to Trip. “I know _exactly_ where you’ve been. I know what it’s like to...to be so addicted to something, you’d do anything to get her back.” 

Daisy buried her face in her hands. “Oh God. My sister…Kora….”

“She’s fighting,” Trip interjected. “She’s fighting Hive. She really is. I know you didn’t believe me last time, but this time, you need to. She’s fighting him. It’s like...I don’t know. She can tell me some things and save my life and try to get me to go to Tahiti, but -”

“You might want to believe that, but that’s not true,” Jemma began, but Daisy, Lincoln and Trip cut her off all at once.

“Do not go there,” Daisy warned at the same time as Lincoln said, “This is an entirely different situation,” as Trip argued, “Kora’s not Daisy!” 

“Whoa, what do you mean by that?” Lincoln asked, turning to Trip, leaping to Daisy’s defense.

“It’s okay, Linc,” Daisy said, putting a hand on his arm. “Trip didn’t mean anything by that -”

“What makes you three think that this situation is so different?” Jemma demanded. “Hive’s sway can’t be fought! Don’t tell me that you didn’t try, Daisy!”

“You have no idea what the sway is like,” Lincoln said before Daisy could speak.

“Neither do you!” Jemma retorted, but Lincoln was still speaking.

“You’re not Inhuman, Jemma,” he said. “We have this...this void inside us that feels empty. Terrigenesis fills it, but only to some extent. Daisy wanted a family; she wanted to feel whole, connected and that was what Hive was trying to give her. He would have done the same for Kora. Kora would have felt as lost as Daisy -”

Daisy looked at him. “How did you know -”

“Hive talked to me,” Lincoln said, his expression becoming pained. “He told me that...that he was able to make you whole in a way that I never could. And -”

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered, horrified by his admission. Now she knew the real reason why he had told her that they needed a little time to heal themselves before they could think about being ‘them’ again. It hadn’t been just what she had done to him under Hive’s sway, or what she had done afterwards while she had been dope-sick. It had been because Hive had convinced him that she hadn’t needed him, that she hadn’t loved him enough. “Lincoln, that’s not true, that’s not true at all!” She stood up to face him, grabbing the front of his shirt in order to emphasize her words. “You have to believe me. I _love_ you. I love _you_.”

“Don’t worry,” Lincoln said, cupping her flushed face with his hands. “I know that now. I know that now.”

He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He didn’t hold her for too long though, wanting to comfort her, but at the same time, not wanting to rub it too much in Sousa and Trip’s faces, both of whom were hurting, in different ways. There would be time for them to talk, later. 

Jemma intervened, before any of them could dwell for too long on the problem. 

“But Kora has a family,” she said. “It isn’t like Daisy’s situation; Jiaying raised her and even after her fight with her mother, she still has Daisy -”

“She doesn’t,” Sousa said and all of them turned to look at him. “Not exactly. I know exactly how Kora would have felt, because - well anyway. Sometimes, she feels like the outsider looking in. No matter how much she was there for Daisy and Daisy was there for her and I was there for her, she always felt like the third wheel. The situation would be the same with her and Daisy and Lincoln. To Kora, it’s always ‘them’ and ‘me’.”

“Sousa’s right,” Trip said, still holding his hands in an ‘I surrender’ position. “Kora told me as such on the way to the Badlands, but regardless, that doesn’t have anything to do with me. Hive can’t use that manipulation on me; I’ve been in her life for all of thirty seconds, not months or a year or however long Daisy and Lincoln had been together.”

“That’s not true,” Daisy interrupted. “It’s more than that. You know that. You might have only been friends or together or whatever you guys are for thirty seconds, as you put it, but Kora knows everything about you. Or at least, she knows a whole heck of a lot about you. And it’s not just one-sided. Whatever you guys have, it’s more than a thirty-second relationship and you know it.”

Daisy was not wrong. Kora knew without asking, with barely thinking all about Daisy’s feelings for Lincoln. She had known before Daisy could even ask her to help her with her subterfuge. Kora had known _everything_. Daisy knew that Kora had offered May and Coulson the bribery of Andrew, Rosalind and Lincoln alive in this timeline because, deep down, she hadn’t wanted the Chronicoms to win; she hadn’t wanted Daisy to be reminded yet again of Lincoln. She had known that Daisy would have found it almost impossible, maybe impossible, to give up the possibility of finally having Lincoln back for real. 

“Thanks, Daisy,” Trip said, sighing. “So now you’re suggesting that Kora and Hive are trying to manipulate me? Because Kora was trying to _save_ me.”

“No!” Daisy and Lincoln spoke vehemently at the same time. 

“Uh, okay,” Jemma said grimly, glancing at Sousa, who grimaced in response, as if to say ‘don’t look at me’.

“We believe you,” Daisy said, after a quick look at Lincoln. “I don’t know how, but I believe you when you say that Kora’s fighting him. All that we were talking about Hive was that, well, we were trying to say that...well, that we understand the sway better than you might think. It might make us biased...but we believe you all the same.” 

“Okay,” Trip said, heaving a sigh. “Thanks. For believing me.” 

Daisy smiled sadly at him. “I’m sorry she’s not here right now, Trip,” she said. “I...I miss her. A lot. She’s done so much for me this last year. And a lot of it...I took it for granted. Or I didn’t even realize how much she was doing for me.” 

Trip glanced at Daisy and sighed again. “She did,” he said wearily. “She’s still fighting to protect you because she loves you.”

Daisy slumped back down into a chair. “I know,” she said. “Kora….”

“Kora kept your secrets,” Sousa said. “She hid everything you wanted to keep private about Lincoln. And lied for you. And did everything to protect you. Time and again.”

Daisy sighed heavily. “And you have no idea what I would give to have her here right now. We have to find out how to fight Hive’s sway. Did Kora give you any hints, anything kind of indicator whatsoever as to where she’s being kept?”

“No,” Trip said. “The only place I’m sure she’s not is Tahiti.”

“Tahiti?” Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma and Deke asked in unison.

“Mean something to you guys?” Mack asked, sceptically.

“It’s where Coulson and May spent Coulson’s last days,” Jemma said. “Before he died.”

“Also references the Kree blood,” Daisy pointed out. “That Lincoln and I both got shot up with. And...possibly Kora as well.”

“Possibly?” May asked. 

“Yeah, possibly,” Lincoln said, placing one hand to his temple and the other on the back of Daisy’s chair. “Possibly, because we don’t know if Hive stuck Kora with GH.325 in order to create his Primitives. Because we haven’t seen any Primitives, just Katya-swayed humans.”

“So…,” Trip said. “Maybe she is in Tahiti?”

All of them exchanged concerned looks. 

“I’ll add Tahiti to the list,” Miles promised from where he was still working on the Framework set-up with Deke and Mack. “When we have enough juice to power the computers as well as the Framework and Ward’s devices.”

“Is Ward stable?” Jemma asked. “How are his vitals?”

“He’s fine,” Deke reported. He, Miles and Mack had been steadily transferring the power to the Zephyr power source and then carefully double-checking every system for a mistake. Now that he was done, he put down the screwdriver and wrench with a sigh of relief. 

“We should work in shifts,” he said. “Half of us crash, the other half monitor Ward. Split into teams. An engineer, a doctor and a hacktivist on each team. And those who aren’t one of the above can be runners for the teams above.”

“I’ll go first,” Jemma said. “Lincoln, you should rest. You’re running on Centipede serum right now. Just go and crash. Also, if there's less juice for the Framework later on...you can take over if you have to. But only if you have to.”

“If Lincoln goes second, then I’ll go first too,” Miles said. “Daisy, you can sleep first.”

The very fact that Miles made no innuendos about Daisy and Lincoln’s relationship was a testament to him and wisely, none of them brought it up, even though they all knew why Miles was offering to take the first shift. Mack stepped in before he could think about making a joke. 

“You can sleep first, Deke,” Mack said. “I’ve got a whole ton of questions and I think that these guys can answer them.”

“Fair,” Deke said. “Although, what I will be doing is contacting Hand in D.C.. Runners?”

There were three left: May, Sousa and Trip, not counting Lexi, who had been watching the entire scene with wide eyes. 

“I’ll go first,” May said. “I was the one who called the Koenigs; I want to be up in case they call back. Lexi will stay with me the entire time, either asleep or awake.”

“We’ll be with her when it’s our turn, May,” Lincoln said. “She’ll be safe with us.”

May nodded in response, but before she could say anything, Trip spoke up.

“Do you want me to stay here?” he asked. “I know you have your doubts about me, but you could just...I dunno, cuff me to a table or something if you don’t trust me.”

All of them looked at each other. 

“We trust you, Trip,” Deke said. “But after last time….”

Trip extended his wrists. “Cuff me,” he offered. “If you want. Besides, Kora can’t contact me without an earpiece. She’s a lot of things, but she’s no real telepath.”




The second they were upstairs in Lincoln’s bedroom, Lincoln punched a pillow. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, it’s okay!” Daisy caught his wrist before he could throw another punch and he turned to look at her. His eyes were stressed and wild; she could see the remnants of the sparking electricity in his eyes from the Centipede serum.

“Are you okay?” she asked, gently turning over his hand to ease the tension in his hand and get him to relax. 

Lincoln grimaced. “Like I said...doctors - and agents - push it down to deal with later. Koenig.”

Daisy nodded. “I know.” She hadn’t known this timeline version of Koenig all that long, but none of them had had time to grieve properly. Now that there was time...the emotions were hitting in a wave. Waves of guilt, sadness, fear, sorrow…. It was crashing. Now would be a good time to forget everything that was going on. 

“I’m sorry,” Lincoln said, sighing. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper. It’s just...if I was stronger, I would have been able to keep the Framework alive on my own. Or maybe if Deke had remembered the serum earlier, Koenig wouldn’t have been taken off bypass and died on Jemma’s O.R. table. Because I could have kept Ward in the Framework longer on my own. Or I could have -”

“Shhhh,” Daisy whispered, pressing her finger to his lips. “It’s not your fault.”

She cupped his face in both her hands, feeling the stubble against her palms, using it as a reminder that he was real and present, right in front of her. She traced her thumbs along his cheeks, trying to remind him that she was there as well. 

“It feels that way,” Lincoln admitted. 

“It’s not,” Daisy said, resting her forehead against his. “You did everything you could. Jemma did everything she could too. It’s not either of your faults.” 

Even as she spoke, guilt gnawed at her insides. Koenig had been a trusted agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and every agent lost was one too many.

Neither said anything for a moment, just relishing in each others’ presence, using it as a comfort. Lincoln moved his hands to her waist; she could almost feel the sparks of electricity through her layers of clothing thanks to the recent upgrade he had gotten with the Centipede serum and it wasn’t him voluntarily using his powers. It was her own powers, mixed with his that were causing the distraction. 

“I’m sorry,” she added, looking up to meet his gaze, trying to focus on said distraction and not on Koenig. “I’m sorry...what Hive said to you, Lincoln…. I’m sorry, I’m so so incredibly sorry that you died believing that you had nothing to offer me that Hive couldn’t. I’m so so so sorry. You have to believe me. I love you. I want to marry you. You are _everything_ that I need and so much more. You know how much I needed you back when you were gone. You’re the only one...you’re everything to me. _All_ the stars in my sky.” She paused. “No pun intended?” 

That made Lincoln laugh slightly, but he was still staring at her, his eyes boring into hers. It was then that she realized that they had darkened in the time that she had been in his embrace; she knew what he was thinking.

“I’m going to kiss you right now,” Lincoln said, his voice slightly lower than usual. “Unless you stop me.”

“Now’s the time to lose control,” Daisy whispered in response and pressed her lips to his frantically, hands sliding down from his neck to tug at his shirt. 




Kora heaved a sigh as she stared at the drawings in front of her. She had been left with Robin and Doctor Radcliffe, drawings scattered all around her. Primitives were guarding all of them and Doctor Radcliffe was reluctantly drawing more blood from her arm. But now...now she had seen something else in her mind’s eye. Something unexpected, but not unwelcome. In any of their point of views. 

“And so it begins,” Kora muttered.


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter 71**

Ward had been in holding for exactly thirty minutes before a Hydra agent came to release him. He had been counting the time based on his heartbeat, wondering how soon it would be before Hydra came to liberate him, if at all. And then, just as the thirty minute mark was reached, one of the Hydra agents came. 

“Hello, Agent Ward,” a voice said; Ward looked up to see Sunil Bakshi standing at the entrance to his cell.

“Bakshi,” Ward said. “Are you -”

“You’re in the clear,” Bakshi said. “You did good taking down Ms Nathan. We cleared you a few minutes ago. So, as a...reward, we thought you might like to interrogate our mole.”

Ward walked over to the edge of his jail cell. “Interrogating Ms Nathan?” he asked.

“No,” Bakshi said. “Interrogating Ms Simmons.”

That was...unexpected. Ward had not expected to be released from prison and immediately be thrown into interrogating someone, much less Jemma. Hunter thought that he had brain damage and if he relayed that to anyone else...well, Ward could be in for a hell amount of trouble. Although maybe he could pretend that the brain damage had made him forget that he had brain damage. That was a weird circuitous cycle that made just enough logic to not make him sound absolutely crazy, albeit with him sounding absolutely crazy at the same time. 

“Ms Simmons,” Ward repeated. “You think she’s the mole?”

“She was with Agent Sousa shortly before he disappeared,” Bakshi said. “In fact, she was the last person with him before he disappeared. You’ve been doing well in the combat field, Agent Ward. We thought if you proved yourself in an interrogation setting, we might promote you.” 

Ward raised both eyebrows at Bakshi in a dubious manner. He might be 10 months behind what was happening in this world, but he knew enough to guess when he was being set up.

“Bakshi, it sounds like you’re happy to have me interrogate Ms Simmons because she is a former teammate of mine,” Ward said. “And I don’t appreciate being manipulated in this manner.”

There was silence for a moment and then Bakshi bristled. 

“These observation skills are exactly why we think you do perfectly in a higher-ranking position in Hydra, Agent Ward,” Bakshi said. “What do you say?”

Ward paused. “Allow me access to all her personnel files, as well as any files related to hers,” Ward bargained. “And you have a deal.”




Ward started scrolling through Jemma’s files. As far as he knew, they were up-to-date with her records, but they were updated with the information on the Jemma Simmons from this timeline. He didn’t know all the details of how Jemma had come to be in this timeline or how old she was in reality, but he _did_ know that both Daisy and Jemma were older than their records stated. 

As he looked at her files, three more appeared in the form of tags; her files were being updated as he read them. Curiously, he brought the cursor closer towards it and grimaced when he saw the updates. A file on Deke and two more, one each on Quake and Sparks, appeared, all three with restricted access. He had a pretty good feeling that the biological relationship behind Jemma and Deke was why it was restricted, but as for Daisy and Lincoln, the very fact that their monikers were being used, instead of their full names, suggested that their Inhuman status was the reason behind their restricted files. 

Ward glanced over his shoulder. He was in a small room, Bakshi standing outside while he looked at the files. He had to be quick and he was no Daisy or Miles; he doubted he could hack into their files to see what Hydra had on them. Instead, he clicked back to Jemma’s file, hoping to be able to find more updates about the missing members of the team: May, Mack and Lexi. 

Ward clicked on the search bar, but as he did so, Bakshi entered the room.

“Agent Ward, why are you looking up the new Inhumans?” Bakshi asked.

Shoot.

“I was wondering if there is a coincidence with this mole and the recent capture of Shaw, Quake and Sparks,” Ward said. “There are certain things I know as their previous team member; I was looking up their information in order to make sure that I was up-to-date before interrogating Ms Simmons.”

Bakshi raised a sceptical eyebrow at him. However, Ward’s story was more than plausible and Bakshi clearly believed him because he pulled up a chair to sit in while he explained. 

“Quake and Sparks are in holding cells,” he said. “The Doctor is taking a personal interest in Quake’s case. Another high-ranking Hydra official is interested in Sparks.”

“Is there anything I should know about their cases?” Ward asked. “That I can use as leverage?”

Bakshi studied him for a long moment. “They are undergoing physical scans right now,” he said. “They’re resisting...a lot.” 

“Physical scans?” Ward repeated. “As in….”

“Full medical checkups,” Bakshi confirmed. “And we’re confirming a lot of...interesting and redacted information.”

Ward frowned. “Redacted information?” he repeated. “Bakshi, I need the full information in order to interrogate them.” 

“Agent Ward, if you need all that information in order to interrogate them, then you clearly aren’t the agent we thought you are,” Bakshi said. “So….”

Ward grimaced inwardly. Bakshi was no idiot. He wouldn’t be such a high-ranking officer in Hydra if he was. Still, Ward was no idiot either. He would get the information he needed out of Jemma by hook or by crook. Because if anyone would know what was wrong about Daisy and Lincoln, it would be Jemma. Jemma who knew them better than anyone else in this timeline, including Deke. 

“Of course,” he said. “I’ll do the interrogation now.” 

He stood up and left the room, cursing under his breath. Why in the world they were getting full physical scans was beyond him, but he sincerely hoped that it was nothing serious. Although, if the information about their scans was redacted, then it was definitely serious.




A knock on the door roused both Daisy and Lincoln from their sleep. 

“Wake up,” May called through the door. “Your turn for the shift.”

Daisy groaned, stretching under the covers, feeling them brush against her bare skin. She twisted to look at Lincoln; his eyes were open now, watching her. He smiled at her, eyes not leaving hers as he called out a response to May.

“We’re coming, May,” Lincoln said. “Thanks.”

“The faster you come, the less Miles will tease,” May replied, and while her logic was sound, both of them wanted to prolong their time together before rejoining the rest of the world. Whenever they were together or had time just to be themselves, it was as if the problems of the world faded and it was just them, in peace and quiet. 

They heard her walk away and then Daisy sighed, smiling ruefully at Lincoln. 

“Nightmares?” she asked.

“None,” Lincoln confirmed. “You?”

Daisy shook her head. “None whatsoever,” she said. “Not sure if it was your presence or the sex that made it a dreamless sleep.”

She grinned at him as she spoke, shifting closer under the bed covers, teasingly close, but not touching him, despite her close proximity to him.

“Maybe both,” Lincoln teased, kissing the tip of her nose and making her laugh. “Wait till our honeymoon. You’ll get the best sleep of your life then.”

“Or maybe we won’t sleep at all,” Daisy smirked, moving even closer to him, inches between them on the bed, but being careful not to let her bare skin touch his; if it did, she doubted that she would have the self-control to get up at all. Her willpower had its limits. 

Lincoln raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re not doing much in making sure we get up in time to avoid teasing from Miles,” he said, but his expression was playful.

“You really think Deke will let him rip us apart?” she joked, but she sat up, wrapping one of the sheets around herself as she looked around for her clothes.

“Maybe not,” Lincoln admitted, also sitting upright and reaching for his jeans. “But Deke isn’t the world’s most tactful guy when it comes to not teasing us either.”

By the time Daisy and Lincoln got downstairs, Deke and Sousa were already present, Mack, May and Lexi had disappeared, Jemma and Miles were preparing to leave, and Trip was asleep, handcuffed to a bedpost.

“Oh, good, you’re here,” Jemma said. “Lincoln, I need to check your wound before I leave.”

“Oh.” Lincoln looked a little taken aback and a little sheepish at the same time. “Um -”

Jemma caught sight of his expression, as did Miles.

“This time, I think it was three c,” Miles said, his face as straight as possible, but his straight face lasted all of two seconds before he grinned lavisciously at Daisy and Lincoln. 

“I have a feeling I don’t want to know what that means,” Deke decided.

“Lincoln, how are you a spy?” Daisy demanded, her face on fire, but she was trying to suppress her smile all the same. 

“Jemma would have found out anyway,” Lincoln said sheepishly. “Doctors know everything. Even if I’d attempted to lie, she would have figured it out.”

Daisy thought about the hickeys that she’d given him and realized that he was right. There was no way that Jemma wouldn’t have discovered the truth. 

“Yeah, well, it’s one thing for Jemma to know and another thing for the _entire_ team to know,” Daisy said, but she was teasing. She shoved him in Jemma’s direction. “Go do your thing.”

“I hate you both,” Jemma said when Daisy realized what she’d said and both she and Lincoln started laughing. “Lincoln, if you start working on the Inhuman vaccine after this, I swear….”

Lincoln grinned at Jemma appreciatively. “Were you working on that just now?”

“There are samples over there,” Jemma said, sighing. “Couldn’t do much with the lack of electricity and lights, but still...well, I made some progress. As long as you two don’t start arguing about the Inhuman vaccine, I’m golden.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and started laughing again. Jemma shook her head, but she was finding it hard to suppress her smile. 

“Why is it always me?” she asked rhetorically.

“Sorry, Great-Nana,” Lincoln teased, making both Deke and Miles join in the laughter and Jemma give him a weary, but amused look. Despite all her attempts to imply that she disliked finding out about Daisy and Lincoln’s love life, all of them knew that Jemma was extremely happy that _Daisy_ was happy and had come to accept Lincoln as part of her large and peculiar family. 

“Actually, I think I’ve had it worse,” Deke said, glancing between them. “I -”

“Let’s just go,” Jemma said. “Come on, Lincoln.”

Lincoln and Jemma headed to the medical side of the room so that Jemma could examine his side before any of them could make any more jokes. Daisy flopped down into a chair next to Miles.

“Anything I need to get caught up on?” she asked, addressing not only Miles, but also Deke and Sousa. 

“I actually have a question,” Sousa said, making all of them look at him. “Could you tell me more about Audrey Nathan? In your timeline, was she Hydra?”

Daisy sighed, remembering what Sousa had mentioned to them before May had returned to tell them about Trip and Koenig. “To be honest, I don’t actually know that much about her. I wasn’t on the mission when Jemma and the others went to rescue her. I was back at Providence with Ward and Koenig. But I do know that she attracted the attention of Marcus Daniels who had the power to manipulate the Darkforce. That was how S.H.I.E.L.D. came to protect her.”

“Marcus Daniels?” Miles repeated. “Does this guy have something to do with Will?”

Daisy elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Not everyone is related, you idiot.”

“Could have fooled me,” Miles said, with a grin. “Look at Deke and Jemma and Fitz and Bobbi and Hunter, and Lincoln and Rosalind, and you and -”

“You’ve made your point,” Deke said wearily. “Is Marcus related to Will, Daisy?”

“I think Fitz would have found that out if he were,” Daisy admitted. “But I have no idea.”

“Fair enough,” Deke said. “But anyway, do you know anything else about this Audrey Nathan?”

“Audrey Nathan?” Jemma repeated as she and Lincoln rejoined the others, Lincoln still pulling his shirt down over the wound on his side that was starting to heal. His check-up had been short, but efficient. “She’s the second chair of the Portland Symphony Orchestra...or at least she was in our timeline. She was Coulson’s love before May, before Rosalind even. As far as I know, she’s not Hydra, though.”

“It’s possible that in this timeline, if she didn’t go to S.H.I.E.L.D. for protection, she got help from Hydra,” Daisy said slowly. “If she was still being stalked by Marcus Daniels.”

Daisy and Jemma exchanged anxious glances.

“We could run a search on her,” Miles suggested. “We have enough power to use electricity for other stuff, aside from the Framework, but we should use it sparingly.”

“Are your programs for tracking down Hive still active?” Daisy asked. “Maybe if there’s power to spare, we could look for any active Hydra bases.”

“I called Hand to run a search,” Deke said. “While the other shift was monitoring Ward in the Framework. She said that Stephanie Malick and Sunil Bakshi have disappeared.” Deke looked worried as he spoke. “She’s also sending some agents to bring us a replacement power source for the Zephyr.”

“Is the conference happening today?” Lincoln asked. “The one with Coulson and Price?”

“No,” Sousa said. “While we were in D.C. earlier, they decided to postpone it because of Peggy.”

“Ah.”

There was little that the others could say in terms of comforting Sousa. Instead, Deke changed the subject in order to draw the attention off of him.

“Speaking of Price…,” Deke said and then paused. “She’s concerned about you, Lincoln.” 

Lincoln bristled as he sat down next to Daisy. “She’s not my mum, Deke,” he said. “Real mums don’t give up their kids unless there’s no other option. She had other choices than to leave me and Amanda with an alcoholic.” 

Deke nodded, not pushing the subject. His parentage was obviously still a touchy subject and the last thing he wanted to do was push. 

“I just...I said I would tell you,” Deke said cautiously. 

“Message received,” Lincoln said, a little stiffly; Daisy placed her hand atop his in a comforting manner. She had a lot she wanted to say about parents who gave their babies away or who had them taken away from them, but she, like Deke, didn’t want to push the issue. Cal and Jiaying had always loved her, no matter how twisted some of their love had been; her abandonment hadn’t been voluntary. But Lincoln’s abandonment hadn’t been because Rosalind had had no other choice. She had chosen her job over raising her two children.

There was silence for a moment, a little awkward pause in the room. Then Sousa spoke up, changing the subject before any of them could dwell for too long on the complexities of family.

“Who exactly are Stephanie Malick and Sunil Bakshi?” he asked.

“Stephanie is Gideon’s daughter,” Daisy said, jumping for the opportunity to change the topic of conversation. “She was a true believer of Hive and the whole Hydra mission of bringing him back. So when I told Deke that Freddy was the Grand Wizard of Hydra, I wasn’t kidding. Freddy, then Gideon and Nathaniel, then Stephanie.” 

“And in your timeline, Nathaniel became Hive?” Miles asked.

“At one point, he hosted Hive, yes,” Jemma said. “Lincoln blew him up in space.”

“And in this timeline?” Miles asked.

“He didn’t host Hive, no,” Deke said. “Daisy blew him up in space.”

Miles looked at them, his lips twitching in amusement. 

“Long story short,” Daisy said, before he could make another joke. “All Malicks suck.”

“Good to know,” Miles said. “So this Stephanie - is one of us going to blow her up in space?”

All of them looked at him. 

“What?” Miles asked. “Humour is a good mechanism to reduce stress!” 

The more stressed Miles was, the more he teased. Considering the amount of ribbing he had put them through over the last few days, he was probably _incredibly_ stressed. 

“Knowing our luck,” Deke said grimly. “Nana’s going to shoot her.”

All of them turned to look at Deke.

“What?” he asked. “I shot Freddy...admittedly after he fathered Gideon and Nathaniel and it was admittedly very late, but still, I shot him.”

“Yeah, but we need to find out where she is before one of us has the wonderful luck of being able to put a bullet in her,” Jemma said, sighing. “Deke, do you know where she and Bakshi are?” 

“No clue,” Deke said. “Hand doesn’t know. She’s reaching out with her resources in D.C. as well and we’re trying to track them, but we’re honestly not sure.”

Daisy sighed heavily. “More lost people whom we can’t find.”

“I’ll put out a tracker for them too,” Miles said, swivelling the computer towards him. “See if I can find them.” He paused. “By the way, Daisy, Tahiti was also a bust. If you have any more specific location searches for us, now would be a good time.”

Daisy sighed, raking her hands through her hair. “I’ll take over, Miles. You should go and sleep.”

Deke glanced at him. “Yeah, you have been,” he said. “You’ve been a rock star, Miles. I know all about the crazy coordination you’ve been doing while I was working with Hand, Price and Coulson...none of the teams would have survived without you.”

Miles grinned. “Thanks, _Dad_ ,” he teased, standing up and stretching. “I know what you can do for me in turn. Convince Lincoln to let me be his best man.”

That made all of them laugh. Why Miles was constantly gunning for that position was beyond Daisy, but at least his jokes were something they could almost always count on. Lincoln threw a torch at him; Miles caught it easily. 

“Go to bed, Miles,” he said. “You’re high on adrenaline and sleeplessness.”

“Food first,” Miles corrected. “Can I steal the rest of the pizza from your room?”

“No!” Daisy and Lincoln protested in unison, making everyone look at them in surprise.

“Um, we finished it,” Daisy said. “Thanks to you and Jemma and Ward and Mack earlier.”

Miles smirked at her. “Liar.”

Miles was not wrong. In actuality, the pizza was still on the dresser. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln wanted him to see what their room looked like post-sex. 

“Shut up,” Lincoln said. “And maybe that will convince me to make you my best man.”

Miles raised his eyebrows at him. “Maybe?”

“Oh, I’ll just go and get the pizza,” Daisy said, standing up, giving up on her pretense that the pizza was gone. “And Jemma, please stay so that the guys don’t murder each other while I’m gone.”

Jemma looked at her. “You think I can stop them?” she asked.

“You’re Deke’s grandmother,” Daisy said. “You’re the only one who can.” 

Daisy was not wrong. If Jemma left, the room would consist of Lincoln, Sousa, Deke, Miles, a comatose Ward in the Framework and a sleeping Trip. There was no worse combination of guys that could exist in the same room at the same time, even if two of them _were_ asleep. 

“Go,” Jemma said, suppressing a smile. “We clearly didn’t think things through before setting up the assignments.”

Daisy squeezed Lincoln’s shoulder lightly with one hand before disappearing out the door. Miles grinned slyly at Jemma once she was gone.

“Jemma, if you go and get Mack _and_ delay Daisy for the next half-an-hour or so, we can have a very impromptu bachelor party right now,” he said.

All of them turned to stare incredulously at Miles, who held up both hands in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. 

“It was just a suggestion,” he said.




Ward strode into Jemma’s holding cell. She was tied up to a pole, several nasty scratches on her face from blows that Hydra agents had inflicted on her. 

“You’re going to tell me everything you need to know, right now,” Ward barked, crouching down in front of her in a threatening manner. Jemma looked up at him wearily, but expectantly, like she hadn’t been expecting anything else from him; he did his best to look like the intimidating man he could be.

“Hello, Ward,” she said.

“Jemma Simmons,” Ward said. “Tell me about Deke Shaw.”

Both of them knew about their biological relationship, so Ward leading her down this line of interrogation was him subtly telling her that he wasn’t going to give Hydra any more information than either of them could help. In addition, she knew that he was himself from the real world and that this was the Framework; she knew that he was just fishing for the truth. Still, she played her part well; she averted her gaze from him without the appearance of hiding anything. 

“You know Deke Shaw,” she said. “He was your former director.” 

“Why did he resign?” Ward asked. “And if you lie to me, I can do much more damage to this pretty face of yours. Faster than you can even try to scream.”

Jemma looked up to meet his gaze evenly. “Why would I tell you?” she asked. “You’re working for _them_.”

Hmm. Jemma was surprisingly good at this. It saddened him to realize that this meant that she’d had more practice dodging interrogation questions than she should have. 

“Because I know how much Shaw, Quake and Sparks mean to you,” Ward said. “Quake and Sparks are Inhuman, but Shaw...perhaps I could negotiate something on his behalf if you cooperate.”

Something that looked closely like fear flashed in Jemma’s eyes, but she didn’t say anything. Then, after a brief staring contest, she spoke again.

“I have had nothing whatsoever to do with their disappearance or capture,” she said. “I heard that you captured all three of them today, but I had nothing to do with it.” 

Ward highly suspected that she was telling him the truth. He would have to push another field of inquiry.

“What about Agent Sousa?” Ward asked. “Did you do anything that contributed to his disappearance?”

“No,” Jemma said. “He had a seizure of some sort, which was why I was treating him, prior to his disappearance.”

The meaning was clear. Whatever had happened to Ward, had also happened to Sousa. Disappearing possibly meant that he had been yanked out of the Framework, but how that hadn’t happened to him was beyond Ward’s knowledge.

“What kind of seizure was it?” Ward asked; Jemma eyed him suspiciously.

“I don’t know,” Jemma said. “We hadn’t had time to test the results. But...it’s possible that it had something to do with blocked lungs and the inability to function without oxygen.”

Jemma’s diagnosis sounded similar to what Ward had gone through. He suspected that it was something to do with their real-life forms on the other side. If dying in the Framework killed someone, then sustaining injuries or maladies in the Framework without a causation within the Framework world was probably also related to their real-life bodies on the other side. 

“Tell me about Quake and Sparks,” Ward said. “Does their capture have anything to do with Sousa’s disappearance?” 

Jemma didn’t say anything. 

“Jemma Simmons, answer the question,” Ward said, clenching his hands into fists. “Or other Hydra agents will come and they’ll make you tell me. Right now, I’m the only thing standing between you and torture, and trust me, you are not going to like what the other agents could do to you.”

Ward gritted his teeth when she still didn’t respond. He circled her pole, hoping to appear intimidating with his predatory stance, but as he did so, he caught sight of something gleaming against her neck. Something blinking under her skin. Something red.

“What...what is that?” Ward asked, genuinely curious. 

He reached out to touch it, but as he did so, the door to the holding cell flew open.

“Time’s up, Agent Ward,” May said. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on her.”




When Daisy got back downstairs with the pizza, she was reminded that they had been incredibly stupid when setting up watch-duty assignments. For now, Jemma and Miles were still around, but when they left, it would be her, Lincoln, Sousa and Deke. With a comatose Ward and a sleeping Trip. That was the worst combination of awkward that any of them could cook up.

“Do you want me to stay?” Jemma asked, once Miles had gone, chewing on a mouthful of pizza. “I can sleep here if you want.”

She was looking at Daisy as she spoke, but her gaze drifted to Deke and then to Sousa as well. Daisy might be the one caught in the middle, but it affected more than just her.

“You need to rest, Nana,” Deke said. “We’ll be fine. What’s the worst that can happen?”

There were a lot of bad things that could happen, but Jemma decided not to press the issue. 

“Lincoln, you can page me if there’s a problem,” she said. “Or if you become the electricity generator for the Framework and need someone else to be the doctor. Okay?”

“Thanks, Jemma,” Daisy said. “See you later.”

Once Jemma had gone, an awkward silence fell over the room. None of them knew quite what to say to each other. At long last, Lincoln addressed Deke and Sousa.

“How was D.C.?” he asked. “Did...was it….”

“Lots of politics,” Deke said. “The worst part of the job. Appeasing the high-ranking non-S.H.I.E.L.D. politicians.”

“Who’s coming with the Zephyr power-source replacement?” Sousa asked. “Unnamed agents? Or -”

“Sharon’s flown to London to make funeral arrangements,” Deke said. “So it won’t be her, sorry, Sousa.”

Daisy and Lincoln exchanged glances, but the message that passed between them was more along the lines of something like: ‘Was that really what he meant?’. They got their answer soon enough though, because Sousa frowned at Deke.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” he said. “I just meant that not many agents know about the Lighthouse, so I was wondering what other unnamed agents you have who know about its existence. Not all of us move on that quickly, Deke.”

Whoa. Bad.

“Excuse me?” Deke asked, standing up. “Just what did you say?” 

“Let’s all just calm down,” Lincoln said, stepping in between them as Sousa also rose to his feet. “Deke -”

“Because let me tell you, before you even realized that you had feelings for Daisy, I was in love with her for over two years,” Deke snapped. “Even though I’m not anymore. So don’t tell me that I move on quickly, Sousa.”

Oh hell.

Neither Daisy nor Lincoln begrudged Deke his formerly romantic feelings for Daisy; in fact, it was something that they could all laugh about now. However, Sousa’s feelings were still extremely present and it was a massive elephant in the room. 

“Sousa, you’re not mad at Deke,” Daisy said, also standing and joining the fray. “You’re mad at me.”

The second she finished speaking, silence reigned. 

Sousa stared at her. “That’s not true,” he said at long last. 

“It is,” Daisy said. “You’re mad that I got back together with Lincoln very shortly after you broke up with me. You’re mad that I told him I love him. You’re mad that we’re engaged. You’re mad that Peggy died and I’m so sorry about that, Sousa, I really am. But you’re not mad at Deke for whatever part he played in sending Lincoln to us and Kora. Not really. You’re actually mad at me.”

“No.” Sousa’s voice held no conviction.

Daisy shook her head. “You know it’s true,” she said. “If you’re looking for the real person to blame, Sousa, it’s not Deke. It’s me. I’m the person who never told you about Lincoln. I’m the person who lied to you - lies of omission, yes, but lies all the same. Even Kora lied to you and that’s because of me. The relationships you built in the last year exploded and I get that; you need time to process, to heal from it. But the real person you’re mad at isn’t Deke. It’s me. Even if Deke hadn’t sent Lincoln to us, it wouldn’t change the fact that I hadn’t told you about Lincoln in the entire year that we’d been together. You might have said that you understand because you did the same thing to Violet and you understand that I would choose Lincoln because he is my first love, but as much as you understand, that doesn’t stop you from being angry. You have every right to be angry. But you’re also angry at me, Sousa, not just Deke. So stop blaming Deke for the choices that I made. You’re staring at the real culprit and that person is me.”

There was a long silence after Daisy had finished talking. Neither Sousa nor Deke made any attempt to fight anymore; Daisy’s speech had taken the wind out of their sails. Not even Lincoln spoke and that was saying something, considering that he could probably get away with saying the most at the moment. Daisy sat down and pulled the computer onto her lap. She turned to Lincoln. 

“Help me think of other places that were important during the battle against Hive,” she said. “Where did Hive steal the nuclear warhead from?”

“An ATCU facility in Indiana,” Lincoln said, trying to sound as normal as possible. “You’re right; seeing as Kora already tried and failed to liberate Trip, that might be one of his next stops. We should check that location.”

“I’ll find it,” Daisy said, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear. As she did so, she accidentally exposed a hickey on her neck from her and Lincoln’s session earlier, but neither Sousa nor Deke brought it up. “Keep going.” She paused. “Unless you want to try and figure out our immunity and test it with Lash and Lexi’s post-Terrigenesis blood?”

Lincoln shook his head. “Not enough power to do all of that. Who knows; even though we programmed Ward to be in the Framework for 24 hours, it might take longer than that. The computer is pushing the electricity limits enough.”

“Okay,” Daisy said. “Where else? What about the apartment complex safe house that Alisha was staying in? Do you know that address?”

Lincoln nodded. “It was….”

As Lincoln and Daisy were talking and working, Sousa and Deke looked at each other warily. There was a lot of animosity between them, but Daisy’s admonition that she was the true person whom Sousa was mad at was already starting to dissolve the tension between them. It would take time, but maybe, when this was all over, they might become friends. If both of them survived. 




“Raina.”

Raina looked up. Kora was standing in the doorway of the Afterlife transition room, her expression unreadable.

“What have you seen about Daisy and Lincoln?” she asked. “Have you seen….”

“What?” Raina asked. “Her pregnancy? Their wedding? Their happily-ever-after?” 

“All of the above,” Kora admitted. 

Raina turned back to examine the flowers that she was tending to. Even though they were in the middle of a war, Raina was still enjoying her hobby. She had gathered the flowers from the gardens of Afterlife and even as Kora watched, she realized that the flowers that Raina was tending to were daisies and lilies. Interesting choice of blossoms.

“What have you seen?” Raina countered.

“You know I’ve seen all of it,” Kora said. “The timestream allows me to see every possibility; it’s not specific like your powers.”

Raina lifted one daisy out of the vase and toyed with it, before sliding it back into the vase.

“What are you going to give me if I tell you?” she asked. 

“I know you care for Lincoln’s safety,” Kora said. “I’ll tell you how you can save him.”

Raina ignored her comment. “I’ve already seen how Daisy can save him,” she said. “And Sousa already knows somewhat how to save them both. He needs to let her go...and Daisy is more than capable of saving Lincoln. You’ve seen it too.”

Kora tilted her head to one side. “Fascinating,” she said. “That means that they’ll survive. No matter what.”

Raina fingered the petals on the daisy that she was holding, but didn’t say anything. Kora took the opportunity to speak again.

“Just tell me if you’ve seen their future together,” Kora said. “Please. If you’ve already seen them survive….”

Raina turned to look at her with serious dark eyes. “I’ve seen as much of Daisy’s pregnancy as Robin has,” she said. “I don’t know if she’s already pregnant. Do you?”

“No,” Kora said. “But it can take up to six days for an egg to be fertilized by a sperm and it hasn’t been that long since they reunited. For all we know, implantation has already happened, but for all we know, it hasn’t happened yet but will in the next few days. Even though they’re Inhuman, she can’t become...I don’t know, four months pregnant in 12 hours.”

Raina eyed her suspiciously, but didn’t say anything. Kora resorted to begging. 

“Please,” she said. “She’s my sister. They’re my niece and nephew that we’re talking about. I’d like to know.”

Raina turned to give Kora her full attention. “If I tell you about Daisy and Lincoln, tell me about me,” she said. “Tell me what you’ve seen about my future.”

“Deal,” Kora said immediately. She knew more about Raina’s future than Raina might ever guess. 

“Their wedding is in Afterlife,” Raina said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen her pregnant. I don’t know when exactly it happens, what kind of life they live...but the children are definitely born.”

“What else?” Kora asked. “Have you seen who dies in the Quinjet with Hive?” 

“What does that have to do with Lincoln and Daisy?” Raina asked, tilting her head to one side. 

“I just want to know if they get their happily-ever-after,” Kora said, sighing. “And they would never forgive themselves if Jemma or Deke died instead of them. Or if Sousa or I die. Or if -”

Raina turned back to study the flowers in the vase. “Even if I wanted to tell you what I’ve seen, what good would that do?” Raina asked. “You’re fighting, but to some extent, it’s futile. Doctor Radcliffe and I tried to find out what is different about you, but with Hive around, there is only so much we can do to find out what makes you so different from the other Inhumans. You can’t even contact your human boyfriend if you wanted; I’ve seen what you’ve been telling Agent Triplett. You can’t protect him from everything -”

“Thank you, Raina,” Kora said. “You’ve been most useful.”

Raina turned sharply and gasped. Because instead of Kora, Kara was now standing in front of her, an alien and evil smile on her face.

“Thank you for proving that I cannot trust you,” Hive said.

“How - but -” Raina gasped, thoroughly taken aback for one of the first times in her life.

“Nanomasks,” Hive said. “You picked an excellent host when you sent Kara through to me, you know? Nanomasks can do wonders for fooling people. My disguises aren’t limited to Kora, of course. I wondered if Daisy was the only one who could detect who I am at close range and it seems so. You couldn’t tell, but if Lincoln can...well, that wouldn’t work out too well. But Kora isn’t the only person whose face I can steal. Maybe I’ll take someone else’s face next time...maybe someone in S.H.I.E.L.D..”

Raina stared at Hive in horror, not so much horror that Hive was going to impersonate a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but horror at the predicament she was now facing. She took a step back and almost knocked over the table.

“You aren’t going to kill me,” Raina said, but her voice was shaking.

“You’re right,” Hive said. “You would have foreseen your own death. If that was going to happen. But you’re right. I’m not going to kill you.”

“Why not?” Raina asked, trying to take another step back and backing into the dresser. 

Hive stepped closer and jabbed something into Raina’s arm. She gasped, but the needle had already injected something into her arm. 

“You’re the bait,” Hive whispered.


	72. Episode 19: After, After - Chapter 72

**Episode 19: After, After**

**Chapter 72**

“I don’t know where to search anymore,” Daisy said, shifting uncomfortably on her seat. They had been sitting there for almost two hours straight, Daisy using every trick in her hacktivist book to try to find Kora, Hive and everyone else they were missing. Since her outburst, Deke and Sousa hadn’t said anything, except to ask professional and official questions about the locations that Daisy and Lincoln were looking up. The conversation had been stilted and even Daisy and Lincoln couldn’t find it in themselves to make jokes and have fun the way they usually did, not with the shadow of the argument over their heads. 

However, now that Trip had woken up, Sousa had gone to uncuff him. Deke was crouched over the Framework machines, meaning that Daisy was at last free to relax without the pressure of the most recent fight. 

“You okay?” Lincoln asked. “You look...tense.” He paused. “And I don’t mean because of the...fight earlier.”

Daisy gave him a wry smile. “Just sore. Sitting at the computer for two hours, you know...it’s been a while since I’ve been a hacktivist for eternity and not a butt-kicking specialist with superpowers.”

Lincoln laughed. “Put that down for a sec,” he said, easing the computer out of her lap. “I’ve got you.”

He spun her gently so that her back was facing him and placed his hands on her shoulders, hands massaging the tense muscles. He wasn’t deliberately being sensual in his touch, but regardless, Daisy’s breath caught at the sensation and she tilted her head back, inhaling sharply at the motion of his hands. Thank God the three observant spies in the room weren’t paying any attention to them. If they were, well, they would never live it down. 

“God, you’re good at that,” Daisy said, her breathing shallow and uneven from the pressure of his hands. “I thought...you’re a doctor, not a….ah...a masseuse.” 

Lincoln smiled at her reaction and when he spoke, his lips were at her ear. “I’m not a masseuse,” he said, his breath hot against her ear. “If we get those massages after the battle with Hive like Miles suggested, I would be unqualified to give said massages.”

He pushed lightly against Daisy’s back, applying more pressure at her sensitive spots. Daisy gasped, biting her tongue to suppress an involuntary moan. 

“I don’t want...any masseuse but you,” she whispered, but her voice was strained from the effort of sounding normal.

“I love you too,” Lincoln murmured, pressing a light kiss to her ear, barely brushing her skin.

Daisy twisted around to face him, their faces inches apart, much closer than appropriate for a public setting. She was inches away from kissing him senseless when the loud clunk of Trip’s handcuffs being put down against the railing brought them back to their senses. It took all of her willpower to pull away, but she immediately shifted back, lying down with her head in Lincoln’s lap and picking the computer back up again, resting it on her stomach. 

“So, um, maybe we should check, um, the hospital where you worked in Cincinnati,” Daisy said, as Sousa and Trip came back into the area. 

“Cincinnati Memorial Hospital,” Lincoln said, slightly startled by her choice at showing affection, but not displeased. Since being faced with the prospect of losing him again, Daisy had become much more open about her feelings because she didn’t want it to be too little, too late again. Even if that meant public displays of affection. Lying down with her head in his lap was much more appropriate for a public setting than making out and even though it might be considered PDA, when Daisy wanted to do something, she did. 

“Still no luck?” Trip asked, sitting opposite them.

“Nope,” Lincoln said. “We’ve been trying for ages now and we’re running out of ideas.”

“Maybe you should try places that are significant after Hive as well,” Trip suggested. “Or before.”

Daisy tilted her head up to look at Lincoln. “We could try the Hydra Castle in England,” she suggested. “Where he first returned.”

“It got destroyed,” Trip said. “It exploded.”

“Try some S.H.I.E.L.D. ships like the Iliad,” Lincoln suggested, running his fingers through her hair. “That’s where Raina saw the Monolith first. It’s possible that they hijacked a ship in addition to the Zephyr and the Quinjet.”

Daisy nodded, typing into the computer, with it on her stomach from where she was lying down. When she had added those to her list, she turned her head slightly to look at Trip.

“Trip...I know that this might be a little personal...but what did you and Kora talk about?” she asked.

Trip sighed. “It’s actually not that personal,” he said. “Most of what we talked about was how I wanted to try and save her, but she wanted me to stay away. We also talked a lot about how she really hates time because of parallels.”

Daisy blew out a long breath. “Don’t worry, time is a screwed up mess.”

“It has its perks though,” Lincoln said with a grin. “Right?”

Daisy smirked up at him. “Definite perks,” she said, lifting one hand to brush against his cheek, letting her fingers linger against his bare skin. 

Trip smiled at the obvious affection between them. He looked away, giving them space to show what affection they wanted to, and when Daisy dropped his hand, he spoke again.

“So, um, I hate to ask, but what happened after...well, the whole containment escape?” he asked.

Daisy’s smile faded when Trip brought up the sensitive subject. She sat up, put the computer down and hugged her knees to her chest, not wanting to think about the last day or so before Lincoln had died. She didn’t say anything, twisting her engagement ring around her finger.

“Daisy?” Lincoln asked softly, brushing her hair out of her face so that she would look at him. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Trip said, staring at her guiltily; he hadn’t realized just how raw and sensitive the topic was, although it made perfect sense that she hated thinking about those moments. “I don’t...I didn’t want to bring up bad memories.”

Daisy shook her head. “I miss Kora,” she said quietly. “Kora almost always knew what I was going to say before I said it. I hate that she’s going through what I went through. I hate that she’ll also go through what I went through afterwards. The withdrawal….”

Trip glanced between her and Lincoln. “Can I ask...what happened?”

Daisy swung around, draping her legs over Lincoln’s lap and tilting her head onto his shoulder. He circled his arm around her shoulder, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. Even though Sousa was there, Daisy couldn’t find it in her to accommodate his feelings at the moment. Not when they still didn’t know who might die in the Quinjet with Hive. She couldn’t bring herself to deprive herself of Lincoln’s comfort. 

“I was dope-sick,” Daisy muttered. “I...I craved Hive’s sway like a drug. And I hate that Kora’s going to go through the same thing. She’ll probably have it worse because not only will she be going through it, but from the moment she knew that there was a possibility of her being swayed, she knew what it was going to be like when Hive relinquishes his control, either through death or if we find an antitoxin or a way to make her immune. I hate it.”

All four of them sat in silence for a moment while Deke tinkered with the machines. 

“I wish she could be at our wedding,” Daisy said suddenly, leaning her head against the crook between Lincoln’s neck and shoulder, speaking primarily to him. “I wish she could be there.”

Lincoln pulled back to look at her.

“We can wait,” he offered. “Get married after the final battle with Hive.”

Daisy shook her head. “I don’t want to,” she said quietly. “Not when….” Her voice trailed off, but all of them knew what she meant. Not when there was a chance that one of them might die in the Quinjet with the warhead.

Lincoln pulled her closer to comfort her - she was almost sitting in his lap - but before he could speak, Deke interrupted, startling all of them since he had been double-checking the functionality of the machines. 

“When Ward wakes up, we can go to Nepal,” Deke said. “If you guys want. I know you guys want to get married in Afterlife.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln and then voiced what both of them were thinking.

“Nepal is out of the way,” Daisy said reluctantly. “Are you sure we can all go there? It’ll take half a day to just go there, much less back.”

“Deke will be able to make it happen,” Sousa said, drawing all of their attention. “If you two want it to.”

It was the first time he had spoken properly to them since the earlier confrontation about something other than the significance of a specific location that they had been looking up. It hadn’t been that he had been openly ignoring them; he had been the ultimate professional. Now, however, it seemed as though he had come to a conclusion about how to act around them and was extending an olive branch. 

Lincoln looked at Daisy. “What do you want to do?” he asked. “It’s your choice.” 

“Linc, I love that you’re giving me the choice,” Daisy said, placing her hands on either side of his neck. “But this is your wedding too. We only get one. And I want you to be happy about it too.”

“As long as you’re there, that’s all that matters to me,” Lincoln told her, eyes locked on her face. “Well, and I’d _like_ both teams, really, but as long as you’re happy, I’m happy. If you want a Vegas wedding, then I’m happy with a Vegas wedding.” 

Daisy laughed out loud at that, tilting her head back. 

“I think _Miles_ wants to give you a Vegas wedding,” she said. “I want….” She paused. “I want to marry you in Afterlife, but if we can’t go to Afterlife, then I’ll marry you anywhere. I do wish my team could be there though. In hologram form, if necessary.”

“Then you’ll get that,” a voice said and all of them looked up.

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered, swinging her legs off Lincoln’s lap and turning. “Jemma, you didn’t.”

Jemma smiled. “I did.”

Jemma had turned on the communication machine again and she hadn’t just brought Fitz back this time. Staring at them were Coulson, Mack, Yo-Yo and Fitz. 




May plowed into Ward with such force that they went stumbling through a door and smashing into another room. She hit him with such force that Ward thought she might have fractured his arm, but _why_ she was attacking him was a bigger concern of his. She landed on top of him and aimed a fist at his head. In order to defend himself, Ward flipped her over his head, slamming her back into the ground. 

As Ward scrambled to his feet, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a group of Hydra guards enter the room that they had just exited and start pulling Jemma to her feet. 

May saw where his eyes were going and she aimed a kick at the place that it would hurt him the most. Then she scrambled up off him and ran for the first weapon she could find: an electric saw.

As she picked up the saw, Ward grabbed a long plank of wood to defend himself. He didn’t want to kill her even though she was just data programming in the Framework; incapacitating her was preferable. He slammed the wood into her back; she grunted in pain and kicked him hard in the kneecap even as he tried to swing the plank at her again. As she aimed the saw at his head, he brought the plank of wood up and she cleaved it in two. He dropped the wood and grabbed hold of her arms, trying to get her to drop the lethal weapon. She slammed an elbow into his face and he staggered backwards.

“God dammit, May!” Ward yelped. “What the hell!”

“Backstabbing traitor!” May yelled, swinging the saw at him again. 

Ward ducked when she swung the saw at him; it jabbed into the wall and got stuck. Ward kicked her away from it and she went staggering backwards.

“Nazi bastard!” May shouted; Ward braced himself for another punch or verbal blow, but then he realized what she had called him.

“Wait, you think I’m Hydra?” he demanded.

“Why else were you interrogating Simmons?” May snapped, lunging at him; he allowed her to grab him so that he could use his strength to his advantage. While she was faster than he was, he was stronger and if he got up close, he would be able to defeat her.

“I had no choice!” Ward snapped. “I’m undercover, May, and if you’re undercover too, then you just blew that cover!”

The guards were gone and their fighting had taken them into an empty room that was full of torture devices; the saw and the plank of wood had only been part of them. There was no way that that room contained any hidden cameras or recording equipment, seeing as it didn’t appear to be part of the main Hydra building and also sort of appeared to be weirdly part of construction. 

May let go of Ward, but her expression was wary. “Okay, Ward, I’ll give you two minutes to talk,” she said, fists clenched. “Explain why you were interrogating Simmons when you, of all people, should know how important it is that she doesn’t talk.”

Ward took a step closer. “Does this...does this have anything to do with the red thing on her neck?”

May frowned. “What red thing?” she asked.

“I...I saw a red light under Jemma’s skin,” Ward said. “It looked like...oh, I don’t know, an implant of sorts. Does that mean anything to you?”

“No…,” May began, but then her expression grew tight. “If this is a trick, Ward -”

“It isn’t!” Ward protested. “I swear to God it isn’t. I swear on...I swear on Thomas’ life. And you know how much Thomas means to me.”

May looked at him for a second and then grabbed his arm, hauling him into another corridor. 

“Move fast,” she said. “They’re going to have guards after us; we need to find Simmons before they catch up to us. Talk to me, Ward. What’s going on?”

They ran down a corridor and ducked into a windowless side room that had two exits, the door that they had entered from and one more escape route if necessary. Ward didn’t know what was so important about this room, but clearly, it was a place that May knew was safe. Once they were inside the room, Ward spilled his guts.

“May, you need to tell me what’s going on,” Ward said. “Why is it so important that Jemma doesn’t talk? What does she know? You have to explain it to me. Please!”

“I don’t know!” May said. “But Jemma knows more secrets than the rest of us combined. And the only reason she’s in the heart of the Hydra empire is because of the Doctor...and Deke.”

“The Doctor?” Ward asked. “ _Fitz_?”

This world was shaping into a disaster. Ward had no idea how Fitz, of all people, could turn out to be an evil Hydra doctor. The world would make more sense if May told him that Miles was going to stop cracking jokes. 

“Shh!” May reprimanded him. “I don’t know what Deke told you, or how much he told you -”

“Nothing much at all,” Ward said, hoping that his lack of knowledge would prove useful. “May, you have to tell me what’s going on! If I get put back on interrogating Jemma, I need to know what not to ask to keep everyone’s secrets safe!”

May shook her head. “It’s complicated,” she said, caving. “Things started getting crazy after Bobbi was brainwashed by Hydra. You and Hunter left to try and track her down, to bring her back into the fold. Daisy and Lincoln were already on the run; Inhumans were being tracked, traced and killed. Kora and Flint were dead and they didn’t want to endanger the rest of us by sticking around; Trip lost it when Kora died. Sousa went undercover in Hydra the minute they started tracking Inhumans; every time they came close to locating Daisy and Lincoln, he warned them so that they could leave before Hydra showed up. Then one night, Jemma came those of us remaining: Mack, Miles and me. She said there was a problem, a serious problem that she needed our help with. Two serious problems and there was only one way to solve it. She was worried, very worried, but we all trusted her when she said she needed our help. Deke spoke to us on the coms next and gave us instructions. He said that Jemma was going to go undercover in Hydra and that I had to go with her to protect her. I was already on the outskirts, keeping an eye on Hunter and Sousa, but I had to go in deep when Jemma did. Mack was already the acting director when Deke was absent, but Deke said that Mack’s position would have to be more permanent because there was a mission that he had to do that no one else could. I didn’t understand it, none of us did, but they were so worried that we decided to follow along with their plan. We trusted them. I went deep undercover. For months, nothing. After a while undercover in Hydra, I devised that Deke was with Lincoln and Daisy; Sousa confirmed it. He was almost always the one figuring out where they were and warning them before Hydra got there, which is part of how they were able to evade Hydra for so long. I don’t know anything else until they got captured today.”

“And today?” Ward asked. “They couldn’t evade Hydra today? Didn’t Sousa warn them?” Even as he spoke, he wondered if them showing in the Framework when they did had caused them to get caught because Sousa had been unable to warn them that Hydra had been coming.

“Today was different,” May said. “I don’t know the details; I wasn’t privy to them, but I know the last few days have been tense. Usually the second Sousa finds out where they are, the three of them vanish. This time...I don’t think it was possible.”

Ward frowned. “How did you know that?”

May shook her head. “Like I said, we don’t know all the details. Hunter’s in it for Bobbi, but the two of you have been working your way through the military ranks. We also knew if you found them, you would go easy on them. We were hoping that if you ended up on a targeted raid for them, you might be able to help them escape. But regardless, I’m sure there are a lot of details only Deke or Jemma would be able to tell you. Maybe Lincoln and Daisy know some stuff as well. But I don’t.”

Ward was momentarily silent. “So..no one died,” he said, realizing that she had mentioned everyone on the team. “No one died in the war against Hive.”

May looked at him strangely. “Ward...are you feeling alright?” she asked. “Amnesia? Is that it?”

Ward had forgotten that she didn’t know that he was from the real world. All she knew was that he was asking for details about a mission which he knew nothing about, a mission to which they had gotten minimal details about from Deke. 

“It’s...it’s complicated,” Ward said. “But I promise, I’m me. I’m not an LMD, I’m not another timeline version of me -”

May glared at him. “One minute to explain how you suddenly have amnesia.”

Ward grimaced in response. “You’re going to think that I’m crazy,” he said. “But...but this is the Framework. You’re part of the Framework. I’m from the real world.” 

There was silence for a moment. 

“Yes, you’re crazy,” May decided. “But does crazy mean that you’re going to be able to hold your tongue around Hydra enforcers?” 

Ward held up both hands in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. “I would never tell Hydra anything, _anything_ that you just told me. Or anything, ever.” 

At that moment, there was a loud sound of footsteps on the other side of the door. Both Ward and May glanced out the glass at the top of the doorframe and then ducked down out of sight. Bobbi was coming down the corridor, two other Hydra guards on either side of her.

May and Ward looked at each other. 

“Go,” May said. “My cover is blown already. Whether or not you’re crazy or not, your cover isn’t. Save Jemma, Deke, Lincoln and Daisy. Get them out of Hydra. And if you’ve completely lost it and you’re a traitor, well, me telling you to save them isn’t going to jeopardize their safety anymore. So go!” 

Ward took one glance at May’s face and then booked it out the second door, just before Bobbi and her other guards came storming into the room, May bracing herself to fight them. 




“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered. “Coulson? Mack? Yo-Yo? What are you guys...doing here?”

“Jemma, there’s only so much power in Zephyr power source,” Deke said anxiously. “How long can we sustain the connection between the timelines?” 

“Not that long,” Jemma admitted. “But enough for everyone to say hi and see if they could help us find Kora and work on the antitoxin and re-meet Lincoln and Deke. I was texting Fitz and he said that everyone was present. There wasn’t enough power for these four, and Bobbi and Hunter, but we all knew you’d want to see...well, you know. The kids are asleep, but still...everyone else wanted to say hi.”

“You talk to them,” Lincoln said, pressing his lips lightly to the side of Daisy’s head. “I’ll power the machine. Jemma, where’s the source?”

Daisy turned to him, placing a hand on his knee in a reassuring manner. “They aren’t going to bite your head off, Linc. Jemma will tell you if you need to power the machine.”

She knew that Lincoln was afraid of making a bad impression on her team. Jemma had told them that the team was down for their relationship, but it was one thing for Jemma to say it and another to actually experience it. She smiled at him reassuringly and he gave her a slightly nervous smile in response. 

“I’m trying to sustain your connection by boosting it more on my side,” Fitz reported. “So you don’t need to power the machine yet, Lincoln. Jemma and I will tell you if there’s not enough energy left to keep it alive.”

Trip stood up, reminding all of them that he and Sousa were in the room as well. “I’ll give you guys space, if you like,” he said. 

“I’ll go with you,” Sousa said. “You shouldn’t be alone...just in case.”

“Sousa, you can stay if you want,” Mack began, but Sousa shook his head.

“Trip was in containment, got contacted by Kora and was subsequently broken out by her,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to be alone right now.”

Only Daisy’s old team knew exactly what Sousa meant when he said that. 

“Ah,” Coulson said. “Kora got into the system?”

“And Trip attacked me?” Mack asked. “Or rather the other timeline version of me?”

“And a Quinjet ‘flew’ him out of there?” Yo-Yo asked.

“This is creepy,” Trip decided. “Daisy and Lincoln and Jemma are bad enough, now we’ve got four more Daisies and Lincolns and Jemmas.”

“Sorry, Trip,” Daisy said. “You can see why Kora hates time now.”

“Yeah, I definitely do,” Trip decided. “But don’t waste time talking about how weird the timelines are. Catch-up. Sousa and I will go and train in the gym.”

Sousa was not a specialist, so it was a good idea to train. Even though his motivation for leaving might be because the reunion was going to be weird enough as it was and he didn’t want to make things worse, Daisy _did_ feel grateful for him leaving. It was hard enough when they were trying to be accommodating of his feelings without attempting to negotiate a happy, semi-awkward reunion whilst being mindful of how he might be feeling. 

The two men left and then Daisy turned back to the rest of her team.

“Hi,” she said, trying for a smile. 

“Oh my God, Daisy, that’s what you’re starting with?” Yo-Yo asked, making all of them laugh. “Hi?”

The laughter died away after a moment or two. 

“I miss you all,” Daisy offered, hugging her arms to herself, wishing that she could hug the other members of her team. 

“We miss you too, Tremors,” Mack said. “But it’s really good to see you, Sparks and Deke again. We missed all three of you. A lot.”

Daisy exhaled a sigh of relief that Mack was extending an olive branch. Of course Yo-Yo would break the ice first, but it was all working up through the people who had known her longer. When she had first spoken with Jemma about Lincoln, that had been diving straight into the fire, but now...they were easing into it slowly.

“Hey, Mack,” Lincoln said. “You look good. How are you and Yo-Yo?”

“Ah, Kora and her memories,” Yo-Yo said, shaking her head. “You know everything, don’t you, Lincoln?”

“Too much, sometimes,” Lincoln admitted. “But like Kora once said...at least it wasn’t a Cerebral Fusion Machine.” He grinned at Jemma and Fitz as he spoke and Fitz shook his head in exasperation. 

“Yes, you definitely get too much information sometimes,” he said. “I can’t believe she showed you _that_!”

Daisy was intensely grateful that Fitz was treating Lincoln much in the same way that Jemma was. Granted, it was easier because he had already re-met Lincoln, but still, he was doing his best to make Lincoln feel normal, in a completely un-normal situation and she was grateful for that. 

“Trust me, Bobo, it can’t be anything worse than what I’ve seen,” Deke said. “I actually walked in on them in Bucharest -”

“Deke!” Daisy protested at the same time as Lincoln said, “Dad!”

“Bloody hell, that’s something I’m still not used to,” Fitz said. 

“Trust me, they’re going to call you Great-Bobo at some point and then you’ll really be confused,” Jemma said. “I got called ‘Great-Nana’ again today by Lincoln.”

“Sorry,” Lincoln said, looking chagrined. “I can stop if you want, Jemma -”

“No, I like it, actually,” Jemma said, making Daisy, Lincoln and Deke smile. “It means Deke has family here. And he didn’t lose everything when we left.”

Daisy had never felt more grateful to Jemma in her life. Jemma was trying incredibly hard to accept Lincoln and her banter with Lincoln was almost as natural as that between Daisy and Fitz at this point. It meant so much to her that they, and Mack and Yo-Yo, were trying. It was as if they knew how much this meant to her...although maybe they did. 

“Coulson?” Daisy asked tentatively; he hadn’t said a single word the entire time they had been talking. “Are you okay?”

Coulson nodded. “Just...taking everything in,” he said.

“Sir, I would never hurt Daisy,” Lincoln said immediately, knowing that Coulson had had reserves about him, his temper and his allegiance to S.H.I.E.L.D. from the other timeline and wanting to make good with his soon-to-be wife’s father figure. “I know you and I didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but -”

Coulson shook his head. “You proved me wrong, Lincoln,” he said. “You even proved yourself wrong. You told me that you weren’t a hero, that there were people on the team who were real heroes and that you weren’t one of them. But you did the most heroic thing that anyone could ask for. You died saving the world, saving Daisy...and that’s all that anyone can ask for. That you do everything in your power to protect the person you love. You told me and Mack once that you had nothing to offer Daisy that the rest of us couldn’t. Well, you’ve certainly proven that you can.”

The very fact that _Coulson_ of all people was giving his approval meant the world. He was even admitting that he had been wrong in front of all of them; it was the biggest sign of acceptance and approval that he could give. After his previous dislike and resentment towards Lincoln, Daisy had never felt more grateful that he had finally accepted Lincoln as her only true love. A myriad of conflicting emotions covered Lincoln’s face, but at last, he said, “Thank you, sir.”

“Look after her, Lincoln,” Coulson warned. “I know you will and I know that she’s more than capable of looking after herself, but don’t you dare die on her again.” 

Although Daisy wanted to protest and say that she was still in the room and no one’s object to be protected, she didn’t want to break the moment between Lincoln and Coulson. She stepped to the side, towards Jemma and hugged her. 

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jemma whispered back. “Coulson decided that for himself.” 

“I won’t,” Lincoln said. “If I can help it.”

“You’d better not!” Daisy objected, speaking louder so that everyone could hear her. “I swear, Linc, if you die on me again -”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Lincoln promised, but Daisy wasn’t completely reassured. She knew perfectly well that if it came down to it, he would die for her again and she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to live without him. 

Daisy abandoned Jemma, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around him, not caring that her entire team was watching her. It wasn’t a gesture for them; it was what she wanted to do. She wasn’t embarrassed about her relationship with Lincoln and her team already knew that they were engaged. And she hoped that what Coulson had told Lincoln was enough of an indicator that she wouldn’t have to choose between Lincoln and the rest of her family. Lincoln pressed his lips lightly to the top of her head in response, his touch comforting and reassuring at the same time. 

Deke turned to the others, taking the attention off Daisy and Lincoln. “So...did I miss anything cool?” he asked. “I know my mum and dad have been born, which is...another weird family thing, but still….”

“It’s classified,” Mack said, making all of them: Coulson, Daisy and Lincoln, Jemma and Fitz, and Yo-Yo laugh. 

“Did I say something?” Deke asked.

“No, don’t worry, Deke, that’s exactly what he said when he was asked during the last reunion - or at least the last reunion that I was at,” Daisy said. “Some things don’t change.”

“That is very clear,” Jemma said, gesturing towards Daisy and Lincoln, but she was smiling as she spoke. Before any of them could make another joke, however, Miles came rushing into the room.

“Hey, guys, you have no idea what I just saw -” He cut himself off. “Oh, okay. Um, hi. These must be...your old team?” He addressed this last question to Daisy and Jemma, both of whom nodded. 

“Miles, you’ve already met Fitz,” Jemma said. “And you’ve seen your timeline versions of Coulson, Mack and Yo-Yo.”

“Yeah…,” Miles said warily. “Hi.” 

“He’s a good guy in this timeline, Coulson,” Daisy said, even as Coulson’s expression shifted minutely. “Very high on the teasing, but he’s still a good guy.”

“Thanks, Daisy,” Miles said. “I hope you still think that in a minute or two.”

“What did you do?” Deke asked, turning to stare at him. “Did you sneak into their room after they explicitly told you not to? Miles!”

“Nothing like that,” Miles said. “Although you do know that pranking is not beyond me. It’s complicated...but we’re going to Afterlife. And not just for Lincoln and Daisy’s wedding. Hive’s there.” 




Ward took off at top speed. He had no idea where in the world any of the others were, but he had to find them. There had to be some sort of holding or containment that was keeping the Inhumans in lockup and it was highly likely that a different kind of prison was keeping Deke and Jemma captive. This might be the Framework and it might not be the real world, but Ward still needed to find out answers about this insane future. It sounded like Jemma knew a lot about how this world had come to happen and while May’s admission had told him that no one died in the battle against Hive, he needed to find out what the consequences of the world were post-Hive. Because if a dystopian hellhole where Inhumans were hunted like animals was the aftermath of no one dying in the war against Hive, then they seriously needed to rethink their strategy.

Ward was in luck. He sprinted down the corridor and saw Bakshi and two other Hydra guards emerging from another corridor. He managed to duck out of sight before any of them saw him, but he was close enough to hear Bakshi tell someone over the communications system that he had just put Simmons in the same cell as Shaw. Once they were gone, Ward raced towards the corridor that they had just vacated.

There was just one cell at the far end of the hall. Ward sincerely hoped that this cell held them. If it didn’t, he had no idea where they might be. Quickly, he tried the door handle, to no avail. Grimacing, Ward tried the door again and again, rattling the door handle, with no luck. Finally, in exasperation and a serious lack of time, Ward fished out a stiletto from the inner layer of the sleeve of his jacket. He slipped the metal into the lock and popped it, swinging the double doors open.

Inside, staring at him, was Deke, ready for a fight; Jemma scrambling off a seat to defend herself as well.

Ward had never been more elated to see them in his life. He hadn’t been sure that they were the ones on the other side of the door, but it was one good thing that had happened that day. One thing. In an ocean of disasters. 

“Let’s go,” Ward said.

“Ward!” Deke looked stunned to see him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were undercover on the field teams?”

Deke hadn’t seen him or Hunter at the raid. As far as Deke knew, he had been knocked out by just another Hydra agent before waking up in this Hydra hellhole. 

“We need to get out of here, now,” Ward said. “Because we’re all in very serious danger.”

“Wait,” Deke said. “Lincoln and Daisy. We can’t leave without them.”

“The security here is top-notch,” Jemma said. “Once an Inhuman has been captured, they haven’t escaped.” 

“We can get them out of here,” Ward said. “Where are they?”

Ward needed to get answers and usually when he had questions, these four were the ones with the answers. He honestly had no idea if he could get them all out of there, but he wanted to try. Also, if he promised that they could get out of there, chances were higher that he would be able to get both Deke and Jemma moving more quickly. 

“We need to hurry,” he added, before either of them could speak. “May’s distracting Bobbi and the guards.”

All three of them scrambled out into the corridor. 

“This way,” Jemma said, grabbing them and hurrying down the corridor. “I know the way to the Inhuman floors.” 

“Jemma, you need to tell me what’s going on,” Ward said as they ran. “May told me about Deke’s resignation and you ending up working for Hydra, but what is going on?”

“You can’t tell him,” Deke said. “Not now -”

“Yes, I can,” Jemma interrupted as they ducked into the stairwell. “Deke, this is the Framework. I saw Sousa disappear; we’re not real. This world isn’t real. Ward’s awake. He’s from the real world. And we have to tell him what’s going on in this world in order to prevent this from ever happening in the real world.”

“Wait...this is the Framework?” Deke demanded. “That’s insane!”

“It’s true,” Ward said. “Jemma, please tell me. And what does this have to do with the -” He cut himself off, staring. There was a similar blinking red dot at Deke’s neck. “You have one too. An...implant?”

Deke spun around to stare at him, clapping one hand to his neck.

“You think this is the Framework?” Deke asked. “Prove it.”

“He can’t,” Jemma said. “But Deke, I saw Sousa disappear. This _is_ the Framework. And even if you don’t trust Ward, I do. He just broke us out of jail! And he might not have an implant that can suppress memories, but at this point, if he knows what’s happening, he can go back to the real world and tell us how to stop this world from taking place.”

“Wait, that implant suppresses memories?” Ward asked, highly confused. “Why would you do that?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Jemma said as they reached the top of the staircase. “We need to remove someone’s implant in order to remember.”


	73. Chapter 73

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, I am so sorry for the delay in this update!!! I would have updated it earlier, but there were a whole ton of things that I had to do for uni and I rewrote some of the scenes in this chapter literally five times because I wanted to give you guys good quality writing. I'll do my best to update it at the expected time this Sunday and barring any complications, that's when I'll update!!! 😍😍😍
> 
> Thank you so much for your patience and for sticking with me and for all your comments!!! I love reading them!!! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this latest chapter and as always, happy reading!!!
> 
> P.S. New video is coming soon!!! Ekkkk so excited!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 73**

After dropping that bombshell on everyone, Miles disappeared to round up everyone in the Lighthouse: Trip and Sousa in the gym and May, Lexi and Mack from the sleeping quarters. Once he was gone, all of them turned to look at each other.

“We have to go,” Daisy said, twisting her engagement ring around her finger in her stress. “Lincoln and I are immune -”

“Are you crazy?” Deke demanded. “Daisy, that’s giving Hive exactly what he wants! You know he wants both of you!”

“What choice do we have?” Lincoln asked. “We’re immune and he can kill you, Jemma and the rest of the team with a wave of his hands. If this is our shot at killing Hive, and saving Kora, Flint, Yo-Yo, Bobbi and Hunter, then we’re taking it.” 

“You two already tried fighting him in Bucharest,” Deke objected. “That didn’t work out so good! You shorted out the electricity in half the city, destroyed a building and didn’t hurt him in the slightest!” Deke paused. “Besides, both of you going is just asking for trouble. Hive wants you both, maybe because of your super-powered alien babies, maybe for some other reason -”

“Not pregnant, Deke,” Daisy reminded him. 

“You don’t know that, Daisy,” Jemma said, drawing their attention to her. “It can take up till six days for the sperm to fertilize the egg. And another three to four days for implantation to take place. You’re not pregnant yet, but it could still happen. Not to mention, I don’t know how the pregnancy process works for Inhumans. When was your last menstrual cycle?”

Daisy was too overwhelmed to be embarrassed that her entire team now, in addition to Lincoln’s entire team, knew about their sex life. 

“Oh my God, seriously, if we’re all this worried, can I just pee on a stick or something?” Daisy demanded.

“Too early,” Lincoln and Jemma said simultaneously.

Trust the doctors to give the same results. 

“Plus pregnancy tests can give false positives too,” Fitz interjected. “Taking a blood sample would be more conclusive.” He paused. “When you’re further along. If you are pregnant. But, like Jemma said, I also don’t know enough about Inhuman biology to be able to give a definitive answer on that. Lincoln?” 

All eyes turned to him. Lincoln rubbed his forehead like he had a headache. 

“Fertilization and implantation might be faster if our powers affected the process,” he said. “But our powers aren’t like Yo-Yo’s. If anyone’s pregnancy might end up being extremely quick, it would be hers.” He paused, addressing Daisy this time. “I think you’d be able to feel changes in your body earlier because of the vibrations, maybe be able to detect a fetal heartbeat, the same way that I can detect pacemakers in bodies or figure out if a person is actually an LMD just by sensing the electrical impulses. But in general, the Inhuman pregnancy process would be similar to that of humans. So the answer is, no, even if the condoms didn’t work and your morning after pill….” His voice trailed off.

“Lincoln?” Deke asked when he stopped talking. “Is everything okay?” 

Daisy had reached the same conclusion that Lincoln had. “Dammit,” she said. “Linc -”

“I know,” he said. “The other lab. Come with me.”

They made for the door, Deke and Jemma backing away as they left. Once they were gone, an awkward silence reigned, none of them wanting to think about Daisy and Lincoln’s sex life and why they had to leave when Lincoln was talking about protection. 

“So...this is the weirdest topic of conversation I think we’ve ever had,” Yo-Yo decided, changing the subject so that they didn’t have to dwell on the uncomfortable topic. “Even weirder than finding out Deke is Fitzsimmons’ grandson.”

That broke some of the tension in the room. 

“It’s good to see you, D,” Mack said. “You look good.”

“Stuff that, Mack, I look old,” Deke said, making everyone laugh. “It’s been decades.”

When the laughter died away, Mack spoke again. 

“How’re you doing?” he asked. “Good? You’ve really built a S.H.I.E.L.D. empire here; Turbo has been telling us all about it.”

“Really?” Deke asked, looking at Fitz; he nodded.

“Jemma’s been updating me,” he said. “You’ve done good, Deke. Real good.” 

A grin spread across Deke’s face, but he worked to control how much happiness and excitement he was feeling. Earlier, he had been holding back on his eagerness for the reunion with the others because he didn’t want to take the limelight away from Daisy and Lincoln. This was her team more than his and he knew perfectly well that Lincoln had been worried about meeting her family. It was no more different than someone meeting his fiance's family for the first time; just because Lincoln remembered everything and they remembered him didn’t mean that he hadn’t been nervous. Now that Daisy and Lincoln had gone, however, Deke could have his reunion with the team without ruining his son figure’s chance at a good first impression. Deke was just glad that the reunion had gone smoothly.

“Mack, you’ll see the you in this timeline in a few minutes,” Deke said. “I don’t know if that’ll be weird or something, but you grew up great.” He paused. “Uh, well, I don’t know how much Nana and Bobo told you, but, um, Hope’s alive and he and Nicole….”

“I heard,” Mack said, a myriad of emotions crossing his face. “Is Hope….”

“She’s not here,” Deke said, correctly guessing what he was going to ask. “I’m sorry...but I’ve seen her; she’s a great kid. She and Lexi get along great - Lexi is May’s daughter, with Andrew. Maybe if the kids don’t find it confusing, you could see her - Hope, I mean - at Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding. Unless you don’t want to see her. I know it’s confusing.”

Confusing was the understatement of the year. 

“So...now there’s Alya, and Bobbi and Hunter have Owen, and May and Andrew have Lexi, and Mack has Hope…. Is it so bad if Daisy is pregnant?” Yo-Yo asked, rotating the conversation around to what they had been talking about before Daisy and Lincoln had left.. 

Deke and Jemma were spared from elaborating just how bad it would be if Hive got his hands on Daisy and Lincoln’s potentially super-powered Inhuman babies when Daisy and Lincoln came back into the room.

“Sorry,” Daisy muttered. “Just needed, um, medicine.”

“Daisy, if you’re already ovulating, the morning after pill won’t work,” Jemma said, cutting straight to the chase. “Lincoln, you know that, even if she doesn’t.”

“I do,” Lincoln said matter-of-factly. “But if Daisy at least takes the pill, then at least we tried.” He paused. “And it’s just a precaution because we used a condom. I don’t have morning after pills in our room.” 

Daisy bumped him with her shoulder. “Nice to know that I’m the only girl in your life,” she teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Lincoln laughed, toying with a strand of her hair. “You know there hasn’t been anyone for years,” he said. “I told you that on day one.”

“Then you’d better put the pills in our bathroom,” Daisy flirted back. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

“Wait...Tremors, you’re not leaving?” Mack asked and silence fell. 

“I…,” Daisy stammered, her smile completely gone. “I...I didn’t mean it that way. I mean...I just meant...I meant that Lincoln and I are getting married, so I’m always going to be in his life and he’s always going to be in mine, but I didn’t mean that as I’m not leaving this timeline, but I don’t know….”

Her voice trailed off as she tried and failed to come up with a good response. She couldn’t look at Mack’s sad expression; he was trying to look normal, but he looked rather like he had during Bobbi and Hunter’s spy’s goodbye in Teddy’s Bar. Jemma and Fitz looked more resigned than anything; Yo-Yo looked uneasy. Coulson, on the other hand, looked like he was struggling not to let his face influence her; Deke looked just as torn. Even though Jemma had warned them that Daisy might not want to leave, it was one thing hearing it from Jemma and another thing altogether to hear it from Daisy. 

Lincoln came to her rescue. 

“Whatever you decide, you know I’ll be there,” Lincoln said, turning her shoulders so that she was facing him. “If you want to go home -”

Daisy closed her eyes, before opening them again to look at him. “Linc, you _are_ my home. You know that.”

“And they’re your family,” Lincoln said. “As much as I am, I know how much they mean to you. They have been there for you when I couldn’t be -”

“And Deke and the team here is _your_ family,” Daisy said. “I can’t make you give that up, Lincoln.”

“And I can’t make you give up yours,” Lincoln countered, but Daisy interrupted him. 

“It’s different,” she said, resting her forehead against his. “And you know that. Enoch’s prophecy...the last time I saw the whole team was when we were all holograms. We see each other all together once a year. What’s the difference between them being holograms here and being holograms there? I’m still not with them in-person. But you...your team is with you here in-person. I know they all care about you. Ward warned me not to hurt you; do you know how happy I was that he cared enough about you to warn me not to do that? And Miles, I honestly think Miles is going to throw you the craziest bachelor party that ever existed. He protected your secrets when I wasn’t around to do so and he didn’t even tell Deke or Ward or Mack about it. He might tease a lot, but his heart’s in the right place. Hunter shot Katya so that I wouldn’t have to do it because he knew it would hurt me, plus, he kind of wanted revenge, but anyway, still, he protected me even though he barely knows me. Bobbi tried to take point against Yo-Yo because she knew that losing me would hurt not only you and me, but Deke as well. And Lexi, what about her? We promised we’d be there for her if something happened to May and as for Deke….” Her voice trailed off, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat.

No one said anything. There was nothing that needed to be said. It was very clear that there were many ties holding Lincoln to his team and for once, lesser ones holding Daisy to her old team. She was not wrong; there was not much difference between holograms from different timelines and holograms from space.

“You don’t have to choose now,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to take anything away from you, Daisy. I want to _give_ you everything you want, not deprive you of the people you love.”

The corner of Daisy’s mouth ticked up slightly, but she didn’t say anything. After a moment, she said, “Then promise me you won’t die on me. Not again.” 

“I love you,” Lincoln said softly. “And I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“I love you too,” Daisy said, staring at him. “But that’s not a promise that you won’t die, Linc. Promise me. Please.”

The charged moment was interrupted by Miles appearing with Trip and Sousa, and May, Lexi and Mack in tow. 

“So…,” Miles said. “Who’s going to Afterlife?”

Everyone turned to look at him. Aside from the first two minutes of Daisy and Lincoln insisting that they go to Afterlife regardless of Hive possibly wanting their super-powered Inhuman babies, that mission had been the last thought on anyone’s minds. 




Ward, Deke and Jemma sprinted up the staircase, taking them two at a time. When they had climbed three flights of stairs, Jemma tried to swipe her card against the lock on the door. 

“Oh no,” she said. “I’m locked out of the system.”

“Get out of the way,” Ward said. He kicked the door hard. Once, twice, on the third try, the door flew open and they burst onto the floor. 

“Where are we going?” Deke asked. “Jemma?”

“We need to remove my implant,” Jemma said. “Or yours. This is the Framework; our lives don’t matter. Well, Ward’s does, but we need to find the answers he needs.”

Deke turned to look at Ward. “Ward, what do you need?” he asked. “What did you come in here for?”

They ran down the corridor and Jemma yanked the door open to one of the rooms. The room that they ran into was for storage; Deke kicked the door shut behind him and shoved a cupboard in front of the door to prevent anyone else from entering.

“I needed to find out who died in the Quinjet with Hive,” Ward said. “We programmed the Framework to the closest approximation of what the world would be if we continued down the path we were headed. We wanted to find out who died in the Quinjet and how to prevent it. But then...May said everyone survived?”

Deke nodded. “We called in General Talbot for help. His idea of help was telling the U.S. government of how dangerous Hive is. We managed to kill Hive without losing one of our own, but the price was that word got out of how dangerous Inhumans are. After Hive was killed, another Symposium of Alien Contagion was called. They started tracking and tagging Inhumans. Even public, previously heroic, figures like Daisy and Lincoln.”

“What about Price?” Ward asked. “Surely she wouldn’t have let Lincoln and Daisy get hunted; he’s her son!”

“Price is dead,” Deke said bluntly. “Coulson blames me and Hand for letting her know about Lincoln being her son; she never would have gotten involved or died if she hadn’t gotten personally invested in his safety. So Coulson blames Lincoln for her demise.”

“Oh God,” Ward muttered under his breath. “But how did Hydra come to take over the world and why is everyone undercover? And what does that have to do with the implants?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” Jemma said. “Last time I had an implant in, I programmed Enoch to defend me to prevent it being taken out. This time, Lincoln put my implant in. It’s defended with a poison that will be injected into my system if anyone tries to remove it. I’ll be dead in minutes.”

“Take out mine,” Deke suggested. “Lincoln put it in a day or two ago. You’re the doctor. I can’t operate on you and neither can Ward. But you can operate on me.” 

“Wait, so Lincoln knows about these implants?” Ward demanded. “Why would he -”

“He and Daisy also have implants,” Deke said. “He put them in at the same time that he put in mine. But instead of wiring them with poison, theirs are connected to their powers. Their powers automatically defend them if someone tries to remove the implants.”

“Wait, so Lincoln and Daisy both have implants as well?” Ward demanded. “What memories are you four trying to suppress? And what is so important that you would risk your lives to keep this secret?” 

“If we knew, would we still be standing here?” Deke asked. 

Ward sighed heavily. “Probably not, but -”

“But nothing,” Deke said. “This is the Framework, you need answers and Jemma’s a doctor. She’ll cut into my neck and take out the implant so I can remember.”

“Oh God,” Jemma muttered. “Deke, I can’t even run an CT or an MRI on you to see where Lincoln connected the triggers for the poison. We’re in a storage room! Lincoln’s a much more skilled doctor than I am. At least in the medical field. He’s a surgeon! He worked in hospitals and E.R.s and has the skills to implant poisons in people’s heads and he could probably, oh, I don’t know, do brain surgery on Inhumans to remove bullets from their heads and do open-heart surgery in rooms with no electricity and deliver babies without being in an actual hospital! You’re asking me to try and reverse what he’s done with barely any medical equipment! This is crazy!”

“And by your admission, we’re not real,” Deke said. “We’re code in a program, Nana. Even if you make a mistake, it won’t matter. I’m alive in the real world. Ward’s life is the one that matters here. You operate on me, get the answers he needs, he gets out. Simple.” He paused. “Besides, what was your plan for getting your implant out? The last time someone tried to forcibly get answers out of you while D.I.A.N.A. was still in your head, you lost your memory! You didn’t even remember who Fitz -”

He cut himself off. “Oh God.”

He sprinted for the door and Ward raced after him; his reflexes were a lot faster than Deke’s, thanks to Deke’s age and Ward’s specialist skills. 

“Deke, Deke!” Jemma called, trying to keep her voice low without alerting Hydra to their position; Ward managed to grab him before he booked it out of the door. 

“What’s going on?” Ward demanded.

“They’re going to forget,” Deke said. “Lincoln and Daisy. If someone finds out about their implants and tries to take them out or inject them with the same thing that Nathaniel used on you, they aren’t even going to remember each other, much less cuttlefish and chromatophores.” 

“What?” Ward asked, confused as to what cuttlefish and chromatophores had to do with anything.

“It’s a long story,” Jemma said. “I’ve had an implant in my head before. And I got injected with something and lost my memories for a while. It was a mess. But Deke, you have to stay. You can’t go charging in to rescue them! We need answers. And I’m going to figure out some way to get that implant out without triggering the poison or making you forget everyone.” 

“Jemma, this is Lincoln and Daisy we’re talking about,” Deke said. “Nana….”

“I’ll go,” Ward said. “You two stay here, try to get the implant out. I’ll find out what’s happening to them and report back. But whatever happens, remember, it’s not real. It might be an approximation of the future, but it’s _not real_. Got it?”

Deke and Jemma looked at each other. 

“Deal,” Jemma said. “But Ward? Don’t get caught. If you get killed in the Framework -”

“I know,” Ward said. “I’ll die in the real world too.”




“Wait, so Daisy and Lincoln want to dive headfirst into a fight against Hive in Afterlife when Hive wants them? Alone?” Sousa asked incredulously. “And you’re letting them? Deke!”

“I never said I was letting them -” Deke began, but Daisy cut him off.

“Sousa, this is Kora, we’re talking about,” she said. “You know what she means to me. Not only did she save my life, but -”

“Yes, I know,” Sousa interrupted. “She’s lied for you, time and again. She’s the reason Lincoln remembers you. She’s the reason -”

“I’ll go.” Trip jumped into the conversation. “I should go! I’m a specialist; you two can trust me to keep you guys safe -”

“Oh, that’s a bad idea,” Coulson said. “Chances of Trip going too far are very high. Very very high.”

“Coulson, we’re past murder vests and Alisha hostages,” Lincoln said. “Long past. We’re even past containment escapes -”

“And you know it doesn’t exactly work that way,” Jemma countered. “It’s not as simple as different people having different roles in this timeline. Even though you and Daisy went to Bucharest and you guys found out about your kids before they’re even born and are getting married doesn’t mean that you two are Fitz and me in this timeline because there have been the fights with Alisha, James, Giyera; the fact that you got the vision from Charles and not someone else; the fact that Deke is your father figure; the fact that not only did Trip get broken out of containment by Kora, but also the fact that Ward, Sousa and Koenig disobeyed Deke’s order of not to mess around with the Framework, but did it anyway, resulting in half the computers in the lab being fried and getting electrocuted; the fact that Miles, Mack and I had a conversation almost identical to the one that Fitz, Mack and I had when you were breaking out of containment - need I continue?”

“That is…,” Yo-Yo began, “a mess.”

She was definitely right on that one.

“So, what then, they just go alone?” Sousa asked. “That’s crazy.”

“Hive can kill any human in seconds,” Lincoln said. “Jemma shot him several times and he just healed himself. Easily!”

“So we don’t target Hive,” May spoke up. “There are what, ten Inhumans under his control? We can take on the rest. You two focus on Hive; the rest of us can deal with everyone else.”

“May and I went on a raid with Piper and a few other agents,” the original timeline version of Mack said slowly. “And we got out of there….”

“The Kree were there,” Coulson pointed out. “So it was a three-way war. Besides, you didn’t get out of there unscathed, Mack. Do you really want to send your other timeline counterpart and May into the crossfire? Are the Kree even here in this timeline?”

“No,” Deke said. “No Kree. Thank God for that. The last thing I want is another Kasius or Sinara.” 

“Small blessing,” Yo-Yo said. “Regardless, Daisy and Lincoln can’t go alone. That would be just asking for trouble.”

“They don’t have to go alone.” Miles spoke up suddenly. “Sousa and I can go with them. We can pretend to still be under Katya’s influence.”

“Wait, what?” Daisy asked in confusion. “I thought Katya’s dead! I saw Hunter put a bullet in her skull -” 

“And Kora rescued her,” Trip said. “This happened after you guys had left D.C.; Sousa saw it too. I’m not lying.”

All eyes turned to Sousa, who nodded reluctantly. “Trip’s telling the truth,” he said. “Katya’s alive. We can go with you. Five versus ten are better odds than two versus ten.”

“ _Ten_?” Coulson asked incredulously. “Who -?”

“Hive, Raina, James, Yo-Yo, Giyera, Alisha, Katya, Joey, Kora and Flint,” Deke said. “Ten Inhumans.” He paused. “Not counting the human hostages they have: Bobbi, Hunter, Doctor Johnson, Doctor Radcliffe and Robin Hinton. And...technically that makes it eleven Inhumans, but one is a child.”

“That’s bad,” Fitz said. “Very bad.” 

Daisy grimaced. “Out of the above, I’ve beaten Raina, Yo-Yo, Giyera and Joey before,” she offered.

“I’ve taken out James - twice, and Alisha, also twice,” Lincoln said. “Technically Hive as well -” 

“Not all at the same time, you haven’t!” Jemma said. “And when you beat Raina, Daisy, Lincoln was there; the same goes with when Lincoln took out James in the Badlands, and when he took out Alisha the first time. And when you knocked out Giyera. How in the world are you two - or five of you - supposed to just take out ten Inhumans?” 

“Strategies,” May said, causing all of them to look at her. “Lincoln and Daisy can usually get away with simply diving in headfirst and blasting everyone who stands in their way. But if they’re strategic about it; take out one at a time, they could do it.”

“Thank you!” Daisy said. “Someone who doesn’t think we’re crazy.”

“You’re fighting against three Inhumans who can predict the future,” Deke said. “They can probably predict your every move. Please tell me that this happened in your timeline as well.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded glances. 

“No,” they, Fitz and Jemma, Mack and Yo-Yo, and Coulson said simultaneously.

Deke threw his hands up in exasperation. “Then how -” 

“Bait them,” Lexi interrupted, causing everyone to look at her. “It’s not just you they want. They want me too. Momma can fly better than anyone in the world. She can take me in a Quinjet in a sort of podrace all around the skies near Afterlife. They’ll have to try to chase us.”

“No way,” May said immediately. “Lex -”

“Momma, there’s no way they’d get near us,” Lexi said. “Plus, I can help as an Inhuman, but you and everyone else is preventing me from going near Terrigen crystals because you’re trying to protect me. This way, we can take the heat off Lincoln and Daisy while they go in.”

“No,” May insisted. “I’m not risking your life that way!”

“May,” Daisy began tentatively, “do not, for a second think that I want Lexi to be in any sort of danger, but let me just say this. None of Hive’s Inhumans is a pilot. Except for Kora. And Kora wouldn’t hurt Lexi. There’s no way she would.” 

“No,” May repeated. “Not on the off-chance that she _might_ not hurt her.” 

“May, you are a better pilot than anyone -” Deke began, but May cut him off.

“Not my daughter,” she insisted. “She’s eight years old, Deke Shaw! I lost my husband to that thorn-covered Inhuman; these wretched Inhumans are not getting my daughter too!” 

Deke sighed heavily. “Alright,” he said. “I know what to do. I’ll call Hand and Price. They’ll send reinforcements. Whatever they can spare. And if they can’t...I’ll reach out to General Talbot. Maybe he could spare some soldiers.”

“The U.S. military?” Lincoln asked. “Deke, that’s who Talbot would bring in, you know that.”

“I’d rather get S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements than the U.S. military,” Deke said. “Or even ATCU reinforcements if we don’t have a choice. Price would do it. For you.” 

Lincoln grimaced, but didn’t say anything. Daisy slipped her hand into his and squeezed; he gave her weary smile in response. Meanwhile, Coulson stared at him.

“Wait, Rose is - was - no, that’s right, is your _mother_?” he asked.

Lincoln grimaced. “Yeah.”

“When did you find that one out?” Coulson demanded. “In my timeline as well?”

“I kept it from you, Coulson,” Daisy said, jumping in. “We found out and well, Price already didn’t like me because I was Inhuman, so there was no point in introducing her to the fact that she had an Inhuman son. And after she died...Lincoln didn’t want the world to know. And after he died...I hid it.” 

“My God,” Yo-Yo said. “Sending money to Amanda, hiding Lincoln’s parentage...you never stopped -” She cut herself off, remembering that Sousa was in the room, but the meaning was clear. Daisy had never once stopped loving Lincoln. She had done everything in her power to protect him again and again, even when he had been gone. 

Deke intervened before things could get any worse. “I’ll contact those in D.C.. Even though the soldiers are human, well...the more numbers we have, the higher a chance they can take down the Inhumans who are not Hive. Lincoln and Daisy will have to deal with Hive.” He spoke reluctantly; all of them knew that if there was another option, he would take it. 

“And we need to go,” Fitz said. “Before you run out of power for the Framework. Jemma, I’ll text you updates from our end, but we’ll be back for the wedding at the very least.” 

That made Daisy smile. “Thank you,” she said. 

“We’ll be there, Daisy,” Coulson promised. 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Tremors,” the original timeline version of Mack said.

And with that, the four holograms blinked out of existence, leaving behind a bunch of seriously stressed agents. 




“It’s time to make yourself useful,” Hive said, striding into the room; Kora looked up from where she was staring at drawings that Robin had made. “You and Doctor Radcliffe are going to set up the power transference process for Morse.”

“They’re back?” Kora asked, even though she already knew the answer to that question. She had seen them in her mind’s eye, even if she hadn't physically seen them return to Afterlife. She glanced at Robin in her lap, a tiny child who was drawing crayon images on pieces of paper. “You want to do it now? She’s on a roll.”

Kora was not lying. Robin had drawn at least a dozen new pictures since Hive had last looked at them. It was difficult to tell what they were, seeing as they were crayon drawings by a toddler, but they were still progress and Kora recognized the pictures, thanks to her timestream knowledge of the future. 

“Do you honestly think Bobbi will be cooperative and tell you what she’s drawing?” Kora asked. 

“You were the one who told me she’s the best host!” Hive countered. “If you lied….”

“I did not lie!” Kora interjected. “Aside from Jemma Simmons, she really is the best host. She would understand more than most what she’s drawing. It’s just...she’s stubborn.”

Hive’s face smoothed out. “And that is why I brought along a Hydra agent who is experienced with dealing with...difficult subjects.”

Kora’s head snapped upright. “You brought in...Bakshi?” she asked, horrified. She could already see the events in motion that were bringing about the future where no one died in the Quinjet with the warhead, the future that Ward was seeing inside the Framework. “He’s going to use mind control on Bobbi.”

“Your timestream knowledge has its limits, my child,” Hive said. “It is fascinating. Your knowledge of what happens is limited by triggers. Until you know something specific has happened, you don’t know which timeline we’re headed down. Which is...limiting, naturally, but don’t worry. Bakshi’s not just here for Bobbi. He’s also here for you.”




Ward had a good stomach for pain, but seeing them cut into Daisy and Lincoln was something that made him sick to his stomach. It wasn’t just Daisy begging and pleading with Fitz not to cut the implant out of her or Lincoln’s screams when they injected him with something that could only be described as terrifying. It was nauseating and horrifying and just made Ward incredibly glad that neither of them was in the Framework. He wouldn’t wish that kind of torture on anyone.

After each had been dragged back to their individual cell, Lincoln unconscious and Daisy bleeding profusely, Ward hurried back to the room where Jemma and Deke were. Deke was lying on the floor, covered in blood; Jemma was standing over him with a scalpel. Her face was a tortured mess and she was crying. 

“Is he -?” Ward asked.

“He’s gone,” Jemma said. “There was no way I could figure out where the poison would go so I just cut the implant out as quickly as possible; it’s at the same place that mine is. But it’s okay, it’s the Framework, it’s not real….” She exhaled raggedly. “And he wanted me to do it. Lincoln and Daisy are the closest thing to children he’s ever had and he wanted to do it, to protect them….”

Ward could not bring himself to look at Deke; he focused on Jemma’s face instead, ignoring the salty tang of blood in the air that he could almost taste in his mouth. “Did you...at least find out the answers?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jemma said, her voice cracking. “And it’s much worse than you think.”

Ward exhaled slowly. “It can’t be worse than what I’ve just seen.” The sounds of Daisy and Lincoln screaming and begging with their torturers would forever be ingrained in his memory. 

Jemma took a deep breath, laying a cloth over Deke’s face so that neither of them had to look at him. “This is the Framework,” she whispered. “It’s the Framework, it’s not real.” She took another deep breath and then started talking. “Ward, maybe a month or so after the wedding, Daisy found out that she was pregnant. Inhumans were already being hunted and she and Lincoln were on the run; there was no way that they could stay safe and keep their children safe. She told him about their pregnancy and they came to the only conclusion that they could; they had to protect their children by removing their memories of them, the same way that I protected my daughter, Alya, by forgetting about her existence during the war against the Chronicoms. After they reached that decision, Lincoln came to me to get the implants. They had to rope me in; neither Daisy nor Lincoln are scientists or biologists. I designed the implants, one for each of them and another for me. We did a scan on Deke’s brain; we had to find out if he had inherited my brain that can withstand the implant, or Fitz’s, which can’t. We were lucky. His mind can - could - well, can, seeing as he’s still alive in the real world - stand up to the suppression of the memories, so once we knew that, we roped him into the plan as well. While Lincoln was away, Deke had already been looking after Daisy - or at least, he was keeping her company and making sure that she was alright while Lincoln couldn’t be there for her, even though he didn’t know about her condition. After Lincoln returned, they stayed on the run.”

Jemma couldn’t look at Deke as she spoke; she kept her eyes locked on Ward’s face. Telling him what had happened was no less painful, but at least she didn’t have to look at the dead body of her grandson. At least, like the time that Enoch had killed the team again and again in the time loops, his death wasn’t permanent.

“The night Daisy went into labour...it was a bad time,” Jemma continued. “Hydra was almost on them already and even though Sousa had warned them that Hydra was coming, they couldn’t run. That was when Deke reached back out to S.H.I.E.L.D.. He, Miles and Mack tried to be bait. They lured Hydra away from Daisy and Lincoln; Lincoln delivered their children in Afterlife. Twins. Lily and Jayden. Then he brought them to a hospital. Put them in the foster care system, the same way Daisy was protected by S.H.I.E.L.D.. They’re scheduled to be moved around every few months. It was the only way they could protect their children...and it broke their hearts to do that to them. All they’ve ever wanted is family and they had to give them up to protect them...they didn’t even get five minutes to raise their children. Deke returned that night after Lincoln returned from the hospital and...they were shattered. Both of them. Lincoln was trying to hold it together for Daisy, but after she went to sleep...he completely fell apart too. There was nothing Deke could do to help them. The amount of pain they were in...there is nothing worse than giving up a child. At least with Alya and I...I got her back when the war with the Chronicoms was over. For Daisy and Lincoln…there was no way that they would ever see their children again. It completely broke their spirits. And Daisy hated herself for putting her children through the exact same thing that her mother had inadvertently put her through; she knew that they would grow up thinking that they were unwanted, unloved…. It shattered them completely. The only thing they could do was continue with the plan, to put in the implants and forget that their children had ever existed. And then...Hydra caught them, as you well know, today. It’s partly because they couldn’t run earlier, but...this future can’t happen, Ward. It just can’t.”

Ward was listening, in horrified silence. While he didn’t know Daisy’s family history all that well, he did know that both of them wanted a family. He had seen them interact with Lexi; he knew that they would make great parents. To hear how much pain they had already gone through...in a way, he thought that it was a blessing that they couldn’t remember their children. He could only try to imagine the amount of pain that they’d been in. 

“If...if she gave birth a few days ago, is she pregnant now?” Ward asked, connecting the dots in his head. “Or...will she very soon be?”

Jemma looked at him. “If fertilization hasn’t already occurred, yes, she very soon will be pregnant,” she said. “I don’t know the exact dates. But Ward...even if you go back to the real world and she’s not yet pregnant, I don’t think you should stop it from happening. All Daisy and Lincoln have ever wanted is family. And they dealt with enough knowing that their children could become the world’s most dangerous Inhumans after Hive; the last thing they’d want to do is give up their children because of a future we don’t know is going to happen.”

“But this is the future that’s _going_ to happen,” Ward said. “Based on our current lives in the real world, based on our approximations of the future. It’s a nightmare hellhole of a future: Inhumans being hunted, Kora and Flint dead, Bobbi brainwashed by Hydra, Daisy and Lincoln giving up their children and being tortured and losing their memories -”

Jemma had gone deathly pale. “They don’t remember each other anymore?” she asked.

“They were being tortured while I was there,” Ward said, feeling nauseous even as he spoke. “I left before they dragged them back to their cells, but after Daisy’s implant was taken out, she started mumbling about space and the stars and stuff, before going off on a complete tangent about computer code. If you didn’t remember Fitz after your implant was messed with, I have a pretty good feeling they have no idea who or where or when they are anymore.”

“Oh God,” Jemma said, bile rising in her throat. “We can’t let this future happen, Ward. We just can’t. And not just because of Daisy and Lincoln; an entire race of Inhumans being hunted? It’s not just those who’ve already gone through Terrigenesis, but also those who haven’t. Even those humans who have the Inhuman carrier gene, like Lincoln’s sister, Amanda, are being tracked down and killed. This world _cannot_ happen.”

“But what’s the solution?” Ward asked. “How can we prevent this -”

“This world came about because we were trying to defeat Hive without losing one of our own,” Jemma said. “As much as I hate to say it...someone on the team _has_ to die.”


	74. Chapter 74

**Chapter 74**

“So you’re telling me that this _Hive_ can control Inhumans,” General Talbot said, staring at Deke from the computer screen.

“I am aware that it sounds a little...fantastical,” Deke admitted. “But it’s the truth.”

“And Agents Campbell and Johnson are immune,” Coulson repeated, staring at Deke like he had grown two heads.

“Yes,” Deke said.

“And your doctors are, what, trying to come up with a cure of sorts?” Price asked, shifting her gaze between Deke and Hand on the hologram screens.

“I have some of my best doctors working on it,” Deke said, although as he spoke, he wasn’t sure as to whether or not they _were_ working on it at the moment. Lincoln and Jemma were extremely busy, working on everything from antitoxins to vaccines to Lexi’s blood to blood samples from Daisy and Lincoln. It could be that _no one_ was working on the antitoxin at the moment. 

“And there are ten swayed Inhumans,” Talbot repeated. “Including three who can predict the future.”

“Not ten,” Deke said. “Well...technically ten. And Hive. But one of the swayed Inhumans is a teenager and one is a child. A...three year old.”

“Jesus Christ,” Talbot said. 

“A child?” Price repeated. “A three year old has undergone Terrigenesis? This is insane. How in the world did she get her hands on Terrigen crystals? Those are supposed to be in lockup!”

“The ATCU facility was breached when my agents were there,” Deke countered. “Agents Morse and Hunter are still missing because of your lack of security.”

Price glared at him. “Right, and the fact that the Playground was attacked and your Science Academy exploded has nothing to do with _your_ lack of security!”

“Price,” Hand said warningly. “None of us predicted this turn of events. Everyone trusted Raina -”

“Yeah, and that was clearly a mistake,” Coulson said darkly.

“Who’s side are you on, Coulson?” Hand demanded. “You’re supposed to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but you’re acting more like an ATCU one every single day!”

“Oh, don’t lecture me about getting too close,” Coulson snapped back. “Of course Director Shaw is going to reach out to the ATCU for help on this one because Agent Campbell is involved.” He shot an angry look at both Deke and Price as he spoke, making Deke wince inwardly; there was clearly some animosity between Coulson and Price regarding her long-lost son. It was pretty clear that Price hadn’t told him about Lincoln or Amanda.

“Agent Campbell?” Talbot repeated. “The Sparkle guy?”

“He can control electricity, yes,” Deke said, doing his best not to sound irritated. “He and Daisy - Agent Johnson - are immune. They’ll be going on the mission to Afterlife, but as powerful as they are, they can’t take on ten Inhumans and Hive.”

“Agent Johnson,” Talbot repeated. “And her father is one of the hostages?”

And her sister was as well, but now was clearly not the time to be bringing that up. The last thing Deke wanted was for everyone to think that all his agents were compromised. 

“He’s not Inhuman, but he has been kidnapped, yes,” Deke said. “It’ll just make her fight all the harder to save him.” He paused. “Plus, Agent Campbell is her fiance, so there’s no way that she would let him get hurt.”

“Wonderful!” Talbot said. “Even more emotional disasters! You really know how to make everything personal, Director Shaw.”

Hand intervened before either of them could speak. “It doesn’t matter how personally involved they are,” Hand said. “We’re letting you know because the world is at stake. Hive has to be destroyed. Before he can release his Primitive Absolution virus on the world. I don’t think you want the world full of raging Inhumans and billions of Primitives.”

At that moment, the door opened and Jemma poked her head in. “Deke, I -” She cut herself off as she caught sight of the holograms in the room. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I just wanted to let you know that the Zephyr replacement power source has arrived and Miles and Mack are about to do the transference.” She was deliberately cryptic in her word choice, not wanting to inform the government officials about the Framework. “Do you want Mack to do it or do you want to?”

Deke sighed. “Miles and Mack should start,” he said. “Is Lincoln helping?”

“He will,” Jemma said. “He’s training with Daisy, May, Sousa and Trip right now in the Gauntlet, but once you give us the go ahead, he’ll help. Do you want us to start first?”

“Who the hell are you?” Talbot asked, staring at Jemma. 

“She’s -” Hand began and Deke cut her off.

“This is one of my agents,” Deke said quickly, not wanting to inform Talbot, Price and Coulson about another timeline. Hand remained expressionless and Jemma herself did not protest, letting Deke come up with the cover story. 

Talbot sighed. “Regardless of who she is. This sheer number of swayed Inhumans is ridiculous. If they have powers anything like Agents Campbell and Johnson, they could rip the planet apart!” 

Deke and Jemma looked at each other, both doing their best to conceal their emotions. At the rate things were going, two years from now, they were going to end up with Talbot absorbing Gravitonium and Daisy either quaking him to space or being absorbed by him and destroying the Earth…. Neither Deke nor Jemma wanted to think about the apocalyptic hellscape that Deke had come from.

Talbot continued talking, not noticing their concern. “This isn’t a job for S.H.I.E.L.D.,” he barked. “This is a job for the United States military. Tell them the truth.”

“The truth?” Deke demanded. “About Hive? You’ll make them terrified of all Inhumans, not just Hive! There is no way that anyone would trust any Inhuman again! There are good Inhumans: Lincoln and Daisy are proof of that. And all the swayed Inhumans; they’re being controlled against their will! They can’t help the sway!”

“If you want help from the U.S. military, we have to tell them the truth,” Talbot said. “How else are you going to explain the fact that we’re suddenly attacking Inhumans? After the Symposium of Alien Contagion and the whole disaster in Russia…. Your Inhumans will need to sign the Sokovia Accords, just as the Avengers have, Director Shaw.”

“Fine,” Deke said. “No U.S. military. Just S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents. Hand, Price?” 

“There aren’t very many we can spare,” Price admitted as Jemma left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. “There are some in Indiana whom I can spare; they can meet you in Nepal. I’ll meet you there as well.”

“Rose!” Coulson sounded simultaneously concerned and frustrated.

“This is not up for discussion,” Price said firmly. “I’ll be there, Director Shaw.”

Deke groaned inwardly. He could not imagine Lincoln’s reaction to finding out that Price was going to meet them in Afterlife, especially since Lincoln had made it adamantly clear that he was still frustrated with his biological mother for her abandonment of him and his sister. And to hear that she might be present as his and Daisy’s wedding…. Deke did not like the idea of breaking that news to him. 

“Fine,” Coulson said. “I’ll be there too, Director Shaw.”

“Any agents we can spare from D.C., Hand?” Deke asked. “Or closer to Nepal as well works; it’ll be a long flight there anyway.”

“Agents Piper and Davis can meet you in Nepal,” Hand said. “They can meet you en route.”

Deke nodded. “Fine.” 

Of all agents, Piper and Davis were two whom he knew his regular team, including Daisy and Jemma, would trust implicitly. 

Talbot frowned. “Your Inhumans still need to sign the Accords when they return, Shaw. Just because you’re not enlisting the help of the U.S. military now doesn’t mean that they can get away without signing that damn thing. And I still don’t think it’s responsible to send in those human S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents into harm’s way if those Inhumans are so dangerous. You’re saying that some of these swayed Inhumans are innocents? And that there are children there?”

“Two underage, two Inhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, in addition to the human S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and doctors who are being held captive,” Deke confirmed. “We can’t just blow up Afterlife in the hopes that it’ll kill Hive. Bullets don’t kill Hive, ICERs are ineffective against the swayed Inhumans and even flare guns don’t make a difference. Destroy his current body and he’ll just reanimate another dead host.” 

“What’s his end goal?” Price asked, frustrated. “Do you know that, Director Shaw?” 

At that moment, the holograms flickered and Deke cursed under his breath. 

“Power is failing,” he said. “There was a complication with the power which is why we needed another Zephyr power source, but I’ll text Hand updates and she can update the rest of you. Apologies about this, but seeing as the power source is here, I need to get going to Nepal.” 

Talbot huffed in exasperation. “I have a feeling there is a lot more going on that all four of you know about.”

“And we will update you on a need to know basis,” Deke said smoothly. “Talk later.”

Deke ended the call and then exhaled in frustration and stress. There was not a whole lot that he could do without alerting Talbot, Price and Coulson to the existence of the other timeline or about the one sure way of destroying Hive that would definitely result in the loss of one of their own. He was still hanging onto the hope that they could change the future. The whole reason why the original timeline hadn’t ended up in a dystopian hellscape was _because_ they had changed the future and even though Daisy, Lincoln, Kora and Jemma were adamant that Charles Hinton’s track record was 100% for predicting death, he was still hopeful that no one on the team was going to die.




After speaking to Deke, Jemma hurried down to the bunker where Daisy, Lincoln, May, Sousa and Trip were training. When she opened the door, she gasped. The Gauntlet had been seriously updated in her absence. There were machines shooting fire, other machines firing rubber balls, balloons representing explosives being dropped, even robots attacking. These robots weren’t LMDs - they were obviously made of metal - but they were packing some serious punches. Even as Jemma watched, she saw Trip dive out of the way of a series of rubber balls and Sousa swing a metal crowbar at a robot, knocking its head off with the force of his blow. At the same time, Daisy blasted a quake pulse into the ground to somersault over a blast of fire and Lincoln fried three robots at the same time, causing them to short-circuit. 

Unfortunately, Jemma’s gasp caused everyone to look up, distracted by the sound. 

“Ouch!” Trip got hit by one of the rubber balls and he stumbled backwards into Sousa, causing them both to go crashing down to the ground. As the robots neared them, ready to deliver killing blows, Lincoln blasted the robots out of the way, leaving himself exposed to the fire machine.

“Lincoln!” 

Daisy dove at him, knocking him backwards; her quake pulse trailing behind them. They thankfully landed on the crash mat, Daisy on top. That last crisis averted, May managed to switch off all the machines. The last of the rubber balls bounced around the now-silent bunker that had walls made of the same material as the containment modules; Daisy and Lincoln’s powers were safely contained within the bunker.

“I’m so sorry,” Jemma said, staring at the crisis. “I never meant -”

Daisy grinned up at her, looking surprisingly cheerful for someone who had almost gotten set on fire. “Don’t apologize,” she said. “We should have guessed this was coming.” She smirked down at Lincoln beneath her and then back up at Jemma. “What do you need Lincoln for this time?”

Lincoln cracked up, dropping his head back on the crash mat. “The doctor who has knowledge of Inhuman biology?” he asked, turning his head to look at Jemma. “Or is it something else this time?” 

Jemma shook her head at them. “You two are impossible.”

“Not our fault, Jemma,” Daisy said, although she still made no move to get off Lincoln. “Just tell me what you need him for and I’ll tell you that I have him right here.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “I actually need both of you idiots. Lincoln, Miles and Mack are about to transfer Ward and the Framework machinery to the Zephyr. Daisy, I need your help for something else.”

“Oh.” Daisy looked surprised. “Didn’t see that one coming.”

“Well,” Lincoln said teasingly. “I have Daisy right here.”

Daisy laughed, looking back down at him and then, she used his chest to push herself off and sit down on the floor. Lincoln rolled to his feet and then held out his hand to her to pull her upright. She took it even though she didn’t need to, smiling up at him. 

“We’ll see you guys later,” Lincoln said. “Thanks for the training, May.”

May nodded at them. “I’ll set up the Gauntlet for a more...human friendly version. Let us know when everything’s ready for us to leave.”

Trip looked at May and Sousa once the other three had gone.

“That’s definitely happened before,” Trip said.

Sousa looked at him. “As you millennials say… ‘No crap, Sherlock’,” he said. He paused. “And I think that was the filtered version.”




Once Lincoln was in the lab with Miles and Mack, Jemma dragged Daisy out of there and into the Zephyr. Daisy followed her, although she was more than a little confused about why Jemma was bringing her there. While Deke had been talking with the government officials, Miles had been teaching Jemma and Mack the code that would keep Ward alive in the Framework; the others had been training in the bunker in an attempt to get used to fighting multiple Inhuman opponents at the same time. May had been insistent and Daisy had to admit that the training had been helpful. At least until Jemma had distracted all of them. But at any rate, Jemma didn’t need her help with the code, because even though Miles was a rubbish teacher, all Jemma and Mack had had to do was watch and remember what Miles was doing. 

“Wait, so Jemma, what am I doing here?” Daisy asked. “Because it would be easier for the guys if I could move Ward using my powers instead of making them put all the machinery on a gurney and push him.”

“I know, I know,” Jemma said. “But you’re going to love this.”

Jemma was normally not cryptic or mysterious and she was very rarely as excited as she currently seemed. But she dragged Daisy into one of the bunker rooms on the Zephyr and then gestured wildly towards something hanging from the cabinet. 

“Do you like it?” she asked.

Daisy gasped out loud. Hanging from the cabinet was a long white wedding dress with delicate spaghetti straps. It was literally perfect for her - no lace or fancy decorations - just a mini glittering decoration below the bust area, but it was exactly the kind of dress that Daisy would want for her wedding day.

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered. “You bought this? For me? How? When?”

Jemma practically beamed at her. “I didn’t buy it -”

“I did,” another voice said behind them in the doorway and Daisy turned. 

Deke was standing there, smiling at her.




“ _You_ bought my wedding dress?” Daisy asked, completely taken aback. 

“I know guys don’t usually buy the wedding dresses,” Deke said. “But you _did_ think that I did a good job picking your clothes in 1931. And I did pay for it. And Jemma and I chose it together; I got it while I was in D.C.. I also picked out a suit for Lincoln, so don’t worry. Your groom is going to be as well-dressed as you.” He took in her stunned face and his own smile dropped. “Do you not like it? I can always change it if you don’t -”

“No, I love it!” Daisy exclaimed, rushing towards both of them and crushing them both in a desperately tight hug. “It’s perfect! I can’t believe you would do this for me, oh my God….” 

Daisy’s next words were incoherent as happy tears came to her eyes. Both Jemma and Deke hugged her back just as tightly. They might have stayed there for who knew how long, but at that moment, all of them heard Lincoln, Mack and Miles’ voices as they pushed the gurney with Ward and all the Framework machinery into the Zephyr.

“I’m going to distract him,” Deke said quickly. “He shouldn’t see the dress before the wedding. You two can stay here; you should try the dress on, Daisy. I’ll see you both later.” 

Deke pulled away, but as he did so, Daisy called after him. 

“Deke?” 

Deke turned.

“Thank you,” Daisy whispered, happy tears still making tracks down her face. 

Deke nodded at her, a faint smile on his own face before he hurried away. 




Trip and Sousa were in the lab, picking up splinter bombs and other equipment when Kora finally spoke to Trip again. He had filched an earpiece from Miles’ communications set-up, unbeknownst to Sousa, in the hopes that Kora might reach out to him again and she finally did.

“Trip? I know you can hear me,” Kora said. “Are you there?”

 _Yes. Are you okay? What happened? Are you still with Hive?_

“Yes.” Kora’s response was anxious and tense at the same time. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

 _Kora? What are you apologizing for?_ Trip had a pretty good feeling that his mental voice was as stressed as his physical one would be at the moment. Kora apologizing was in no way good.

“For not being able to be at Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding,” Kora said. “Please tell her that. For me. If I give you a message for her...will you give it to her? After they get married.” 

_But you’re in Afterlife. We’re going there. You’ll be there…._ Trip’s mental voice trailed off as he realized what she meant. _You’re leaving Afterlife?_

“You know I can’t tell you,” Kora said softly. Her voice was full of regret. “Trip, please. Don’t let us fight when this is quite possibly the last time we’ll speak to each other before the final battle with Hive.” 

Trip was silent for a moment, deep in thought. At long last, he transmitted his thoughts to her again. _Okay. I know you love Daisy. I know there is no way that you would allow their wedding to be destroyed or for them to get hurt. Tell me what you want me to tell her._

“Wait,” Kora said. “Before that…I need you to do me another favour. After the wedding, you need to go to Daisy’s old transition room. I’ll tell you where it is. But all you have to do is light the candles. It’s for their honeymoon. You know Deke will give them one in Afterlife. An hour, maybe two tops. When you get there, that’s all you need to do. I’m setting it up for them. I can’t be at their wedding, but this is the second best thing. I’ve seen the wedding in my head, this is my wedding gift to them; it’s the closest thing I can do to being present at the wedding. This is the best that I can give Daisy. A honeymoon in the place where they met. Please. Help me do this.”

_Kora…. You’re not going to die. You can tell her your message yourself._

Trip was struggling to make coherent thoughts. Kora sounded very much like she was saying goodbye and it scared him. 

“She’ll need this,” Kora said softly. “It’s her wedding day, Trip. I can’t be there in person, but this is the next best thing. Promise me you’ll do it. For me. For my sister.” 

_I...I promise._

“Okay,” Kora said. “Tell Daisy….”




Kora stood up, smoothing out the bed sheets carefully. Ever since Hive had dropped the bombshell that Bakshi was there, she had known what she had to do. It wasn’t something for Hive; it was her gift to her sister on her wedding day. Hive had left her to oversee Bobbi getting brainwashed by Bakshi and he had known that Kora could not leave. Kora had spent the last half-an-hour doing her best to prepare Daisy’s old transition room for her and Lincoln’s honeymoon, unbeknownst to any of Hive’s Inhumans, prisoners, Primitives or Hive himself.

It hadn’t been all that hard. Thanks to her knowledge of the future and her memories of growing up in Afterlife, Kora had known where to find clean sheets, where the prettiest flowers were, where the candles for post-Terrigenesis healing were kept. She had cleaned the room, made the bed, even scattered rose petals on the bed and placed candles around the room for Trip to light. Knowing their significance, she filled a vase with daisies and lilies and put it on the bedside table; next to it, she placed a letter in an envelope. A letter full of the things that she wanted to tell Daisy, but hadn’t wanted Trip to tell her. Trip had enough information to make Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding night special, but this letter was for Daisy’s eyes and Daisy’s eyes only. It was the best that Kora could do for her. 

When that was done, Kora left the transition room, closing the door behind her. As she hurried down the path away from the room, just far away enough that no one would notice where she had come from, she ran directly into James.

“Darling Kora,” James said scoffingly. “I was looking for you.”

Kora inhaled sharply. “What do you want?” she asked. 

“It’s more like what I need,” James said. “I need you.”

Kora took a step backwards. For a split second, she hadn’t been sure what his intentions were, but in the end, she didn’t need to know, for Alisha appeared behind him. 

“Kora, Hive wants you,” Alisha said. “Something to do with Agents Morse and Hunter.” 

Kora nodded, smoothing her long black hair back from her face. 

“I’ll be right there,” she said. “Katya?”

“She’s gone,” Alisha said stiffly. “We did our best, but she’s gone. Morse destroyed our only chance at reviving her with the GH.325. Did you predict this outcome? When you predicted the future the way only you can?”

The hostility on Alisha and James’ faces was obvious. Neither of them wanted to be the subject of Hive’s wrath and they knew Hive’s methods of torture. If Hive chose to blame them for Katya’s demise, then there would be nothing they could do to prevent him from thinking that they were at fault. Regardless of how responsible Bobbi and Kora were.

“Why would I deliberately let Katya die?” Kora asked. “I’m on your side. You know I am. We share a connection.”

Kora lifted one hand and tapped the side of her head. Alisha and James glowered at her, but they could not deny that they were all connected. As weird as Kora’s sway was, that was something she still shared with the other Inhumans.

“I’ll take you to Hive,” Alisha said bluntly, her eyes glowing white as three more copies of her rippled out of her body. “Let’s go.”

Kora didn’t fight. There was no point. She could already hear Hive calling to her through their shared mental connection and once he gave her a deliberate order, she had to obey. It was different when he was asking questions and she could work her way around them; in situations like this, she had no choice but to obey. Sighing inwardly, she headed up the path, surrounded by multiple Alishas. 




“You look beautiful,” Jemma said as she and Daisy stared at Daisy’s reflection in the mirror. 

“You really think so?” Daisy asked nervously, smoothing the front of her dress. “You really think so?”

“Of course,” Jemma said. “Would I lie to you?” 

“Maybe,” Daisy said nervously. “You’re my sister. You’d want me to be happy, so you would tell me I look pretty, even if I look anything but.”

Jemma laughed. “I’m not lying,” she said. “You look more than pretty. You look beautiful.”

Daisy smiled as Jemma hugged her from behind.

“Thank you,” Daisy said, staring at their reflections in the mirror. “Your support means everything to me. I know it was a shock when you first came back, but since I told you how I feel about Lincoln...well, you’ve been amazing.”

“And I’m sorry I never realized it before,” Jemma replied. “You two are perfect together. You know that, right?”

Daisy laughed. “I wouldn’t be marrying him if I didn’t think that.”

Jemma smiled. “Well, I’m glad I’m here. Even if the rest of the team can’t be here in person.”

Daisy’s smile faded a little as she glanced at Jemma, who had stepped to the side, hunting through a bag for shoes. She swallowed hard.

“May can’t be here,” Daisy said. “Not even in hologram form, can she?”

Jemma looked up. “No,” she said softly. “I’m sorry. She’s still the tether in the timeline. But she would understand, better than anyone, why you want Lincoln. She lost Andrew at the same time that you lost Lincoln; she knows how much pain you went through. She would be so happy for you that you have him back.” Jemma paused. “And she went through the whole Sarge disaster after Coulson’s death...she of all people knows what it’s like to want your love back when they’re dead. She would be the most supportive of us all.”

Daisy smiled faintly at her. “As much as I care for our LMD Coulson and as much as he has our Coulson’s memories….”

“He’s still a machine,” Jemma said, correctly interpreting what Daisy was going to say. “It’s not the same as Fitz or Lincoln because they’re flesh and blood humans. But Coulson’s a robot. Nothing like Aida, of course, but still...he’s not alive.”

Daisy nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Jemma sat down next to her and put her arm around her.

“He’d be happy for you,” she said. “LMD Coulson told Lincoln exactly what our Coulson would have said. He has his memories and everything...even though our Coulson isn’t alive anymore, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t have told you the exact same thing.”

Daisy was silent for a moment and then she looked at Jemma. 

“Jemma...you’re my sister,” she said. “You’re as much my sister as Kora, regardless of blood. I know I said I want you to be my matron of honour, but now that I’m thinking of it...if you’re down for it, I want you to give me away. You’re part of our old team, part of the family that we were all together. And it means so much to me that all of you get to be here and you’ve all given your blessing. LMD Coulson isn’t the same as our Coulson and you and I both know that he would walk me down the metaphorical aisle if he was here, but he isn’t. I want you to instead. And don’t think of it as you being second choice, please don’t -”

“Of course I will,” Jemma said, before Daisy could go off on a complete tangent in concern about Jemma’s feelings. “I’d _love_ to give you away. I’d like nothing more.”

She squeezed Daisy in the tightest hug imaginable; neither said anything for a moment, just relishing in all the moments and memories that they shared. Then Jemma spoke up.

“What about Deke?” she asked. “I know you’re starting to care for him like another father, Daisy -”

Daisy shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, Deke is family too, Jemma. But he’s Lincoln’s father figure and as much as I love that, he’s closer to Lincoln than me in that regard. Just like you’re closer to me than you are to Lincoln. I want it to be you. Deke would understand.”

Jemma smiled. “I think you’re right. He’s grown up a lot, hasn’t he?”

“He has been so kind,” Daisy said. Her lips twitched. “And like you once said...he got that from you.”

Jemma laughed. “Fitz would kill you if he heard you say that.” 

“Nah, he got it from all four of you,” Daisy said, standing so that Jemma could unzip her dress; she wanted to change back into her regular clothes. “He has four of the best S.H.I.E.L.D agents for grandparents.” 

“You’ll be a great mum too,” Jemma said, unzipping the back of her dress; Daisy shrugged her shirt back on, stepping out of the reams of long white fabric. “I know you will.”

Daisy smiled nervously at her in the mirror. “You really think so?” she asked. “I don’t know anything about being a mum. Not really.”

Jemma picked the dress up off the floor and put it on a hanger. “No one does,” she said. “Plus, we’re S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Alya’s first four years were in space, Daisy. That’s definitely not a normal upbringing. You and Lincoln will be great parents.”

Daisy smiled. “It’s almost over,” she said, stepping into her pants this time. “The war with Hive.”

“I know,” Jemma said. “And then you won’t have to worry about either team knowing everything about your sex life.”

“Hey!” Daisy protested, grabbing a pillow off the bed and walloping Jemma with it.

Jemma burst out laughing, dropping down onto the bed. “Coulson’s face when we were talking about you two this morning….”

Daisy joined in her laughter. “Did you see _Mack’s_ face? He looked like he did the time I thanked him for not telling Coulson that I kissed Lincoln that first time!”

“Please, he looked like that when he asked me if Fitz and I were sleeping together!” Jemma protested. “I think Mack really gets too much information sometimes.”

Daisy grinned appreciatively. “If this is my metaphorical bachelorette, I like it,” she said. 

“No alien puffs, but reminiscing is still good,” Jemma decided. “Besides, I don’t think anyone would like it if you got drunk right now.”

Daisy laughed out loud at that. “My husband-to-be doesn’t drink at all and if/when I get pregnant, there goes the alcohol,” she said. “So the answer to that is definitely no repetition of Kitson. At least not right now.” 

“You got your Fitz,” Jemma said, sobering up. “I’m so happy for you, really.” 

Daisy crushed her in a hug. “Thanks.”




Daisy and Jemma joined the others when the plane had just taken off. The prep time hadn’t been long; they were now all gathered in the communications centre, including May since the plane was on autopilot. Everyone looked up when they came in and literally everyone did a double-take when they saw Daisy.

“You’re...glowing,” Miles said. “She looks like she’s glowing, right?”

“It’s called happy,” Daisy said, going over to where Lincoln was standing. “You should try it, Miles.”

“Happy,” Mack repeated. “Nope, you look more than happy.” 

“We’re going to Afterlife,” Jemma said, coming to the rescue. “Which is where she and Lincoln met. And she has a chance at saving Kora. And Bobbi and Hunter. And Flint. And Doctor Johnson. Plus if this goes well, she and Lincoln are going to get married. So yeah, she’s happy.”

Lincoln tilted his head at her, trying to interpret her expression and she smiled at him, kissing him on the cheek. 

“I’m good,” she said. 

Lincoln smiled back at her, sliding an arm around her waist, deciding not to push for answers; she would tell him if she wanted to. Besides, both of them valued what little privacy they had left and if she didn't want to tell him in front of the team, he definitely wouldn't make her give him answers in front of the team. He pressed his lips to the side of her head and she leaned into his embrace. 

“Okay,” Deke said, changing the subject before anyone could inquire more about why Daisy looked so happy, even though he knew about the wedding dress. “Let’s talk about the mission. We’re going to Nepal. It’s a 15 hour plane flight at the shortest. Ward is going to be under for at least that long. We need to monitor him in the Framework. We have a spare power source for the Zephyr, just in case, but he isn’t likely to wake before we reach Nepal. Someone will have to stay in the plane and monitor his safety. Preferably a doctor, an engineer and a hacktivist, but that’s too many agents. Miles has already taught his code to Jemma and Mack, so Jemma and Mack, you two should stay in the Zephyr, with Lexi.”

May frowned at him. “You’re sending me into the field?” she asked. “While Lexi remains on board and in danger?” 

“The Zephyr will be cloaked,” Deke said. “We know they can predict the future and that Kora can pilot a plane. So we’ll keep the plane as far away from Afterlife as possible. Daisy and Miles are going to each do half the programming of where the Zephyr will go via autopilot _and_ Jemma and Mack will give some small input. Even if Kora, Raina or Robin can predict the Zephyr’s path, Hive won’t be able to get the answers of where the Zephyr will go out of either Daisy or Miles; he’ll need both _and_ Jemma and Mack.” 

All four of them looked at each other and then nodded. May didn’t look all too happy, but she didn’t protest

“For those of you who haven’t been to Afterlife, I want all of you to memorize this map,” Deke continued. “It’s the architectural design of how I rebuilt it after Nathaniel Malick, but Lincoln, Daisy, I want you two to flag any and all important places. Like...I don’t know, where Kora tried to commit suicide. Or where Jiaying kept her prisoners. Or -”

“The bridge where Raina died,” Daisy interjected.

“The place where Daisy caused an avalanche,” Lincoln suggested. 

They traded a smile, but Jemma was already speaking. 

“The building where Jiaying killed Gonzales,” she suggested. 

“Daisy’s old transition room,” Trip offered. 

“All of those,” Deke agreed and Trip inwardly relaxed when neither Daisy nor Lincoln recognized the significance in his suggestion. He knew perfectly well that Kora would never hurt Daisy or Lincoln willingly. If they could just point out her old transition room on a map, it would be even easier for him to figure out where to go; directions like ‘the room with a tree outside’ weren’t exactly helpful. 

“What’s going to happen when we attack Afterlife?” Mack asked.

“We’re going to have several teams,” Deke said. “One as bait, one as a more frontal attack, one as a sneak-in to try and break out the hostages. When we get closer to Afterlife, we’ll be able to use heat sensors to detect where everyone is.”

“Assignments?” May asked.

“There are seven of us,” Deke said. “We’re going to get reinforcements in Hong Kong, but either way, there aren’t a lot of us. Lincoln, I want you and May to be bait. May’s faster than most and Hive wants you, Lincoln. More than Daisy, even. He’ll send more Inhumans after you than anyone else.”

“We don’t know if that’s changed, Deke,” Daisy said. “We still don’t even have confirmation that he wants our super-powered Inhuman babies; it’s a theory. Besides, for all we know, I could be pregnant right now. Or soon-to-be pregnant. We don’t know, but Hive might, because he’s got three Inhumans who can predict the future on his team.”

“And we have to chance it,” Deke said. “Because you’re going to be the frontal distraction.” 

“She shouldn’t go alone,” Lincoln said, but Deke was still speaking.

“She won’t be alone,” he said. “I’ll be with her.”

“That means three agents are sneaking in?” Miles asked. “Me, Sousa and Trip are the rescue team?”

“Yes,” Deke said. “Hopefully the three of you will be able to fool everyone that Katya still has you under her control. And if you see Kora, well, hopefully she won’t hurt Trip.”

“So, we duck behind Trip and hope for the best,” Miles surmised. “That sounds...like we need luck.”

“Kora won’t hurt Sousa either,” Lincoln said. “She knows that doing so would hurt Daisy and she wouldn’t want to do that.”

Sousa looked at him. “Kora wouldn’t hurt _you_ ,” he said. “I’m expendable.”

“That’s not true,” Jemma said. “Kora’s known you for a long time now -”

“She still chose to protect Lincoln’s secrets,” Sousa pointed out. “She could kill me easily -”

“No, Kora didn’t choose Lincoln,” Trip said. “Kora chose _Daisy_. And Daisy chose Lincoln. Kora chose to protect Daisy’s secrets, not for the sake of Lincoln, but for Daisy. Kora would try to protect you because she knows that Daisy wouldn’t want you to get hurt. Just because Daisy loves Lincoln doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care for you platonically.” 

“I’m in the room, you know,” Daisy said to Trip. “I can speak for myself.”

Trip looked a little chagrined. “Sorry -”

“We don’t know the limits of Hive’s sway on Kora,” Deke said. “As much as I hope she won’t hurt Sousa, I don’t think we can count on that. Daisy attacked both Fitz and Mack while under Hive’s sway; I don’t think we can rely on Kora’s affection for either Daisy or Sousa that might prevent her from hurting him.”

“But we still want to try to count on the fact that she won’t hurt me?” Trip asked.

“That’s different,” Deke told him. “And you know it. She tried to send you to Tahiti, Trip, by your own admission. She won’t hurt you.” 

Deke was not wrong. 

“What about the Absolution virus?” Jemma asked. “Hive’s had the GH. for days now and Doctor Johnson since D.C.. He’s had Raina for a while. Chances are high we could be facing Primitives. He might even try to turn Sousa, Miles and Trip into Inhumans while they try to sneak in. Is there a solution for that?”

“My only idea right now, aside from dodging and running, is Hazmat suits,” Deke said. “Bad idea?”

Everyone looked at him.

“Very bad,” Jemma said. “I think dodging and running might be better. Alisha has beaten both Daisy and May before; James can throw explosives, which would cause the oxygen on the Hazmat suits to cause explosions the size of Texas; Kora’s energy blasts can literally be seen from space...need I continue? Hazmat suits would be more of a hindrance than a help.”

Deke sighed. “At least we have 15 hours to figure out a better solution.”

15 hours was not a whole lot of time.


	75. Chapter 75

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for not updating it yesterday as planned!!! I had a quiz for uni and needed to study for it. I'll do my best to update the next chapter in two days and if all goes as planned, there'll be a new video with that chapter!!! 😊😊😊 Eeekkk so excited for it!!! Looking forward to hearing what you guys think about this chapter, apologies again for not updating it yesterday, and as always, happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 75**

“So how are you writing this code for the Zephyr?” Jemma asked as she, Daisy, Miles, Lincoln, Sousa and Mack sat in the lab downstairs, Ward plugged into the Framework next to them. May was piloting the plane and Lexi was with her in the cockpit; Deke was upstairs communicating with Hand.

“I write half, Miles writes half,” Daisy said. “And you write one key code and Mack writes the other. You insert your code into mine, he inserts his into Miles’ and no one knows how the whole program works.”

“Okay,” Jemma said slowly. “So it works like the hunt for the Clairvoyant?”

“Kinda, yeah,” Daisy said. “Except no one will know the final result of the code; I was the organizer of the Clairvoyant hunt and I knew everything. But this time, no one will. When you put the final code in, you won’t see how it connects to Miles’, just Mack’s. Make sense?”

“In a very roundabout way, yes,” Jemma said. “But you do know that Mack and I aren’t hacktivists, right, Daisy?”

“You could remember Professor Vaughn’s third year compiler theory while Fitz’s life was in danger,” Lincoln said. “You’ll be able to figure out the code.”

“What the hell is Professor Vaughn’s third year compiler theory?” Mack asked.

“It’s complicated,” Jemma said and Lincoln suppressed a laugh. 

“That’s what you said last time, Jemma,” he said.

“You’re not the only one repeating time,” Jemma told him. “This is like one giant time loop.”

Daisy groaned. “At least I don’t have to keep reminding people that I _actually_ know the future,” she said. “And at least we’re not stuck in a time storm.”

Lincoln grinned. “Honestly? When Kora and I did the memory transfer, it worked so well that I could probably quote exactly what I said at times, like when you knew exactly what everyone was going to say before they did in the time loops. For you and Jemma, memories fade because that’s what they do, but it’s like I’ve got a photographic memory of all the memories right now.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow at him, a coy smile on her face from where she stood next to him at the computer. She took a slight half-step towards him.

“So...no longer a war inside your head,” she said teasingly. “The memories are all...settled?” 

Lincoln leaned into her personal space. “Like I told you,” he said. “You help.”

They were inches away from kissing when Sousa intervened. 

“Maybe Lincoln should write the key code,” he suggested. “You know how to hack, right? From Daisy’s memories? And LMD Coulson’s?”

Everyone looked at him. 

“What?” he asked. “It’s a legitimate question. I don’t know anything about computer code, but it sounds like Lincoln knows how to hack now.”

“It’s true,” Lincoln admitted. “I do have some of Daisy’s knowledge of hacking. But only what she did within the few years that I wasn’t around. Kora would be able to predict the future to figure stuff like that out, but I can’t predict the future. I don’t know computer coding all that well.” 

“It should be Jemma and Mack,” Miles said. “Lincoln’s going into the field, which is more dangerous than being in the Zephyr. Besides, Jemma has two PhDs in fields I still don’t know, so she can figure it out. She and Mack will be safer up here with Lexi than any of us will be down there.”

It wasn’t like Miles to sound so serious. Everyone’s eyes switched to him, but he merely shrugged. 

“Just because I like humour doesn’t mean I can’t be serious,” Miles said. He glanced at Lincoln. “Speaking of, you and Sousa shouldn’t be here right now. The fewer people who know how this code works, the better.”

“So, you’re going to go and write code in solitude?” Sousa asked.

“Dibs on the van,” Daisy said, gesturing to the van that was parked on the ramp of the Zephyr. “Also, I’m betting I beat you in writing my half, Miles.”

“You’re on,” Miles said immediately. “And if I win, you and Lincoln have to name your first kid after me.”

“Miles!” Daisy and Lincoln protested in unison.

Miles shrugged. “Only if you and Lincoln doubt your coding skills, then you should worry about having to name a child after me,” he said teasingly. “But if not...then you have nothing to worry about.”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other and then Daisy snatched the computer off the table; she bolted into the van, slamming the door behind her.

“Game on!” Miles said triumphantly, grabbing another computer from the table. “Everyone out! Now!”

“We have to stay,” Jemma reminded him. “Ward.”

“Argh, okay.” 

Miles snatched the computer and ran for the big black SUV. He climbed in and slammed the door. 

Lincoln, Jemma, Mack and Sousa looked at one another. None of them had seen that coming, although, considering the alternative was worrying for the next 15-ish hours about the mission awaiting them in Afterlife, Daisy and Miles competing about who was the better hacktivist was honestly preferable. 




“You have an amazing amount of faith in Daisy’s hacking skills,” Mack said, eyeing Lincoln as he and Jemma started setting up microscopes and blood samples to scrutinize. “You really want a son named after Miles?”

“She can beat him,” Lincoln said confidently. “And I would say that even if I didn’t know each of their skills like I know the back of my hand. I have every ounce of faith in her.”

“Has she beaten him before?” Sousa asked curiously.

“Kinda,” Jemma said. “She figured out it was his coding way back when we first found out about the Centipede serum. And he taught her how to hack. Often, apprentices become better than their masters. But Miles _does_ know this timeline’s hacking equipment better than Daisy does. So he has that advantage.”

“Jemma!” Lincoln protested. “You’re betting against Daisy?” 

“No,” Jemma said. “I’m stating facts as they are.” She frowned at the antitoxin samples on the table. “What I’m trying to figure out is how Raina made you immune. If we could replicate that somehow for the swayed Inhumans….”

Lincoln accepted the change in subject. “There would be different reactions for Inhumans who’ve already been swayed,” he said. “My immunity looks similar to Daisy’s, but it’s not, really. Mine came before the sway, hers came after. We should look into her immunity in order to help Kora and Flint.”

“Maybe the antitoxin would work on Kora,” Jemma said suddenly. “When you injected yourself with the antitoxin, it destroyed your immune system and Hive’s parasites beat the antitoxin in the end, but Kora can heal herself. Maybe there’s something there that we could use.”

“I don’t know,” Lincoln said slowly. “It’s true that Kora can restore life energy, but it doesn’t work the way Jiaying’s powers did. Maybe if we were able to imbue the antitoxin with some of Lash’s blood or the immunity from Daisy….” He paused. “Also, the GH.325 has no effect on Hive’s parasites. Daisy had GH. in her blood and she was still swayed by Hive. I don’t think healing has anything to do with getting rid of Hive’s parasites, though. Because there’s technically nothing to heal.”

“Kora would recover from the antitoxin faster,” Jemma agreed. “But the antitoxin itself might not work on her.”

“On the bright side,” Lincoln said grimly. “If we stuck her with the needle, she wouldn’t need to be quarantined like I was.” He paused. “She might give off an explosion of energy though. I wish we could see what Yo-Yo’s blood looks like now. After Doctor Johnson gave her the antitoxin and we gave her the Naloxone to counteract the antitoxin, her body might have had different reactions to Hive’s sway.”

“She was still under his control in D.C.,” Sousa said. “She took orders from him even after the rest of you were gone; Trip and I were on the roof after the Zephyr exploded and she was still obeying his command. She’s the reason Flint got taken.”

“It’s not her fault,” Jemma said, sighing. “Hive’s sway is one of the most awful things we’ve ever encountered. It turns Inhumans on each other; we don’t know who we can trust.”

“What about the ATCU suspension gel?” Mack asked. “The one that can be used to freeze Inhumans in a medically induced coma. Could we use that on Hive? Would that cause the parasites in Inhumans under his control to...I don’t know, also be in a coma?”

“No,” Lincoln and Jemma said simultaneously.

“It doesn’t work that way,” Jemma said. “And the gel matrix wouldn’t last. Hive would get Primitives to bust him out in a heartbeat.”

“Screwing with his memories also doesn’t work,” Lincoln added. “I fried them once with the help of the memory machine. It didn’t work permanently. He got a semblance of control again anyway. Although he did go a bit cuckoo for a while.”

“What did you do with the Inhumans after Hive died?” Sousa asked. “Were there any who had gotten swayed and then survived without becoming immune first?”

“Yes, James,” Jemma said. “His withdrawal was worse than Daisy’s and he ended up hating himself for what he’d done, including turning on his own. I don’t wish that on Kora or Flint or Yo-Yo. I don’t wish that on any of the Inhumans.”

“Could you surgically remove them?” Mack asked. “I don’t know anything about parasites, but in hospitals, surgeons remove parasites from humans all the time. Could you do that?”

“These go into the brain,” Lincoln said. “We’d need an expert neurosurgeon. For someone like Yo-Yo, whose blood already flows faster than a normal humans, it would be incredibly dangerous to cut into her head. For someone like Kora, whose body likely heals faster than most other Inhumans, there would be danger of faster clotting and therefore blood clots that could cause strokes or heart attacks.”

“I thought you know Inhuman biology,” Sousa said and Lincoln frowned at him.

“I _do_ know Inhuman biology,” he said. “I specifically studied it. In _two_ timelines. What I’m saying is, every Inhuman’s body is different. There is no standard case for Inhumans because our biology is so drastically different from one another.”

Jemma frowned as well. “Maybe if we made a Centipede serum with an additional component from Lash’s DNA, we might be able to replicate the immunity process,” she said, changing the subject before Sousa could retaliate, not that she thought he would. “The same way that Garrett was able to heal from the serum.”

“Even if that were an option, the Centipede serum is gone,” Lincoln reminded her. “And if we had any, we could just give it to Daisy and have her quake Hive to space. Or give it to me and I’d fry him and send him to space.” He paused. “Either way, he’d end up blown to bits in space.”

Jemma sighed. “I wish there was something we could do. We have all the data, we have records, we have brain scans and blood samples and antitoxin research, but we can’t figure out a solution. We’ve run simulation after simulation to no avail. This is impossible.”

“There is.” 

All of them looked up at the sound of Lexi’s voice. 

“You could give me the Terrigen,” she said. “And then strip my powers from me the same way Nathaniel did to Daisy and Kora. Put it in someone else and have them kill Hive. It’s a solution that even Momma might get behind. Because I wouldn’t have powers in the end.”




“Lex, it doesn’t work that way,” Lincoln said, rubbing his forehead with one hand. “Daisy and Kora still have their powers even though Nathaniel stole them. So did Gordon. Just because we put your powers in another human doesn’t mean that you’d become human again. You’d just be weak. For quite a while afterwards. You might not even survive the process. Gordon tried teleporting too soon after Nathaniel hijacked his powers and the effort killed him.”

“If you figured out the Inhuman vaccine, you could give it to me,” Lexi reminded him. “It could take away my powers….”

“Creel’s blood works pre-Terrigenesis,” Jemma said. “There’s no way that we could turn you, then take your powers away and then give you a vaccine to prevent you from turning. The suspension gel puts you in a coma; you might as well be dead for all the living it gives you. Jiaying spent ages searching for an alternative when Kora couldn’t control her powers. There’s no reversing Terrigenesis, Lexi.”

“Unless an Inhuman underwent Terrigenesis and gained no powers as a result,” Lincoln said suddenly. “Became human.”

“Did Jiaying’s ledger mention anything about that power?” Jemma asked. “Not that I studied it to any extreme detail, of course….”

“There were myths,” Lincoln admitted. “Of other Inhumans out there, not just us here on Earth. Rumours of Inhumans on other planets who fled Earth.”

“But even if there was an Inhuman like that, that doesn’t mean that we could replicate it for Lexi,” Jemma said. “Having blood samples even doesn't mean anything unless there is a means of suspending the power and creating an actual cure or vaccine.” She turned to Lexi. “How did you know about Nathaniel, anyway?”

Lexi shrugged. “I’m observant,” she said. “Momma and Daddy trained me since I was a kid to protect myself. There’s a reason I know how the machine that healed Daisy works. And how I was able to distract her and Lincoln. I know how to fight. I’m not an ordinary eight-year old, even for an Inhuman.”

Lincoln sighed, crouching down beside her. “Lex, I know that,” he said softly. “But just because you know how to fight and doesn’t mean that you should put yourself in harm’s way. It’s the same way that having a power doesn’t mean that you can take care of yourself. Just because you know how to fight and you’re Inhuman with the potential for powers post-Terrigenesis doesn’t mean that you should put yourself in danger. May wouldn’t want that. None of us want that.”

Lexi sighed as well, looking much more serious than any eight-year old should ever look. “Lincoln, I know you died in the original timeline for Daisy,” she said. “I know you did it because you believed it was your purpose. And because you love her. What if it’s my purpose to kill Hive? What if that was what I was born to do?”

“That’s _not_ your purpose,” Lincoln insisted. “You’re a child, Lex, and children aren’t soldiers. I’m an adult. A grownup. There’s a difference.”

“Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean that people don’t love and care for you too,” Lexi said. “Daisy, Deke, they love you as much as I love Momma and Momma loves me. Age doesn’t make a difference.”

“Age _does_ make a difference,” Jemma said. “You’re eight years old, Lexi. No one is expected to save the world at eight years old.”

“There’s a three year old with Hive right now,” Lexi said. “Fight fire with fire.” She paused. “Well, maybe not fire, but Hive with...anti-Hive?”

“How did you know that?” Lincoln asked. “There’s no way May….” His voice trailed off. “You’ve been eavesdropping, haven’t you? On everyone’s conversations, every time you weren’t around, you were listening in? When you could?”

Lexi sat down on a chair opposite Lincoln, looking extraordinarily serious for a girl her age. 

“Momma lost her arm,” she said. “And it’s my fault. Because Hive wanted me. Daddy’s dead. I have to protect my Momma. I _have_ to. We always said we would look out for each other. And now that Daddy’s gone...I have to protect Momma. For both him and for me.”

“Lexi, there are other ways you can help May without going through Terrigenesis,” Lincoln said. “Doing that would just hurt her.”

“It would be hurting her to help her,” Lexi said, her face very serious. “You did that for Daisy. You died for her to live because you love her. You hurt her to save her life. I won’t be dying. I’d just...change. To help protect my Momma.”

None of them knew what to say to Lexi. Every argument they posed to her, she came up with a rebuttal. Even Lincoln, who was closer to her than any other agent in the room, could not come up with an alternative aside from flat-out refusing her suggestions. Jemma, who was a mother, was failing to impress upon her the importance of her safety. Then Daisy spoke, Daisy, who they hadn’t realized had been pulling a Lexi and listening to their conversation. She hopped out of the van that she had been in.

“Lexi, come here,” she said softly. 

“Are you going to scold me?” Lexi asked, looking her own age for a moment.

“No,” Daisy said, going over to her instead. She sat down next to Lexi, put the computer down on the table and wrapped her arm around Lexi, drawing her close. “You know that Lincoln died in my timeline, but what you don’t know is how much pain I was in afterwards. I couldn’t stay with my team; I left them for more than six months. I threw myself into every fight, especially the ones I thought I would lose because I wanted to atone for his sacrifice and part of me wanted to die too. So that I could join him. I couldn’t just commit suicide because that would be dishonouring his sacrifice, but part of me felt that if I died doing something right, like he had, it wouldn’t be dishonourable and then I could join him in whatever afterlife existed. It was so ironic to me that we met in Afterlife, the Inhuman settlement in Nepal, but we didn’t get our happily-ever-after. I thought maybe if we couldn’t live together, then I could die and join him. Your Momma loves you as much as I love Lincoln, as much as he loves me. You don’t want your Momma to go through the pain that I did when I lost him, do you?” 

Lexi was silent for a moment. “I don’t want her to die, Daisy.”

“I know,” Daisy said. “May isn’t going to die, Lex. We’ll protect her. Because that’s what family does. We protect each other.”

Lexi looked up at her. “You promise?”

That wasn’t a promise that Daisy could make. As much as she wanted to, it wasn’t one she could. It was the same reason why Lincoln hadn’t been able to promise her that he wouldn’t die on her. It was because none of them knew who was going to die in the Quinjet with Hive. As far as they knew, someone was still going to die. 

“I am not going to die.”

All of them looked up; May was standing in the doorway. 

“Lex, you said you were going to talk to Daisy and Lincoln about being their flower girl, not Terrigenesis,” May said, her expression stern, but eyes full of worry.

Lexi hopped off the stool and went over to her mother.

“I’m sorry, Momma,” she said. “I’m just worried about you. You lost your arm because of me. I don’t want you to get hurt again.” 

May’s expression softened and she knelt to hug her daughter. 

“I lost my arm because of Hive,” May said. “Not because of you.” 

“But Daddy -” Lexi began.

“Daddy wouldn’t want you getting hurt because of what happened,” May said quietly.

There was silence for a moment and then Lexi sighed and nodded. 

May turned to the others. “Lincoln, Daisy, Deke’s looking for both of you,” she said. “Not sure what it's for, but I don’t think it’s good. He was on the phone earlier with Hand and Price.”

Lincoln’s expression tightened, but before any of them could say or do anything, May added, “And where’s Trip? Deke thought he was with you guys.”

“He’s not here,” Jemma realized, looking around the room at Daisy and Lincoln, Mack and Sousa, and May and Lexi. “It’s just been us five and Miles is in the SUV before you and Lexi came….”

Miles hopped out of the car as she spoke. “Did we just lose Trip?” he asked. “How did that happen?”

“Uncharted territory,” Lincoln said grimly. “This hasn’t happened before.”

“Reassuring,” May said sarcastically. “Go up to Deke. The rest of us will hunt for Trip.”




“Now what?” Ward asked Jemma. They had snuck out of the storage cupboard that held Deke’s body and into another one, hoping that the other Hydra agents wouldn’t realize that they were hiding nearby, trying to be unpredictable in their movements; most people would run immediately following many Hydra agents being after them. “Now...now that we know what’s going to happen, how do I get out of here?”

Jemma looked at him. “Did you not program an exit out of here?” she asked. “A back door? A safety net?”

Ward grimaced. “Uh...no?”

Jemma cursed under her breath. “Right, you and Sousa broke the rules to plug yourselves in.” She sighed. “You two are absolute idiots.”

“We did give ourselves a time limit,” Ward said, trying to stay on Jemma’s good side. “24 hours to remain inside the Framework and then get out.” He paused. “Plus, they already got Sousa out, so it’s not like they don’t know I’m still in here.”

Jemma grimaced. “Well, I don’t know how long you’ve been inside the Framework, a few hours tops, but regardless, if you need to wait 17-odd hours to get out of here, you’re going to help me find Daisy and Lincoln.”

“What?” Ward stared at her. “This world isn’t real. It’s a dream! It’s a virtual reality!”

“I know,” Jemma said. “Deke’s death isn’t real, it isn’t permanent and whatever happens to me in this world doesn’t affect what happens to me in the real world. But you’re stuck in here, I’m wanted by Hydra, and the more concrete answers about this world we can give our real-life counterparts, the better. So, Ward, yes, we are going to find Daisy and Lincoln and see what other answers they can give us when we remind them of each other.”

“You can do that?” Ward asked, confused. “They’ve lost their memories! Because of those implants!”

“I got mine back,” Jemma replied. “My memories, I mean. Fitz helped me remember. I can help _them_ remember.”

Ward grimaced. “Isn’t it better that they don’t remember?” he asked. “They’re going through physical torture as it is; they don’t need to remember what they gave up.”

Jemma looked at him. “It’s not real,” she said. “I’d rather hurt codes of data in a computer program and be able to give the team in the real world concrete answers on what happened that made the world this disastrous than not be able to give them all the information they need to prevent this world from ever happening. Are you in? Or are you out?”

Ward hated the idea of hurting anyone in his team even if they were computer programming, but Jemma was right. They _were_ bits of code in the Framework. And Deke was dead; being reminded of everything they had given up was terrible, but it still wasn’t death. The answer was a no-brainer. Ward sighed. 

“I’m in,” he said. “As long as….”

Jemma looked at him. “I’ll get you back to the real world,” she promised. “In one piece. With all the answers about this world and then some.”




It would have been preferable for Daisy and Lincoln to hunt for Trip, as opposed to facing whatever family drama awaited them in the communications centre, but they did the responsible thing and went upstairs to where Deke was waiting with a hologram version of Price. Just before they entered the room, however, Daisy stopped Lincoln.

“I know you’re not happy with her because she abandoned you and Amanda,” Daisy said. “But she is still your biological mother. Maybe it would help you to get some...I don’t know, closure if you just spoke to her.”

Lincoln sighed heavily. “I know she didn’t try to kill me or anything, so she can’t hold a candle to your messed up parentage,” he said. “So I guess I can’t really complain.”

“You can complain all you want,” Daisy said, putting a hand on his arm. “S.H.I.E.L.D. might as well have kidnapped me from my parents. But you...you were abandoned. There’s a difference.”

“My parents still aren’t killers,” Lincoln said. 

“No, but your mum does hold a grudge against Inhumans,” Daisy said. “You don’t have to feel like you can’t have familial issues because my biological parents are also a mess.” 

Lincoln smiled at her faintly. “You’re amazing,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Only Daisy, with her supremely messed up parents, one of whom had killed dozens of people and the other of whom had actually tried to kill her, would be thinking about him and his parental issues at a time like this. 

Daisy smiled at him. “You’ll never have to find out.”

She leaned into him and pressed her lips lightly against his, just the briefest touch of her mouth against his. When they pulled apart, as if they had come to an unspoken agreement that it was time, they headed into the communications centre, each bracing themselves for a metaphorical fight. 

Aside from Deke, Price was the only one in the communications centre; neither Coulson nor Hand were anywhere in sight, which was a first. It was clearly a personal visit, not a professional one, but that didn’t make Lincoln feel any better. If anything, it made him tense up even more. 

“Dad, you wanted us?” Lincoln asked; both Daisy and Deke knew that he was deliberately calling Deke ‘Dad’ at that moment to remind Price that he did not recognize her as his mother.

“Yes,” Deke said, his face betraying no emotion behind Lincoln’s deliberate use of the word. “Price wanted to thank Daisy for saving her life.”

Maybe that wasn’t the best note to start off on. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln said anything; Lincoln’s stance, in particular, was hostile. 

“Hi,” Price said; there was an uncertain and slightly nervous expression on her face. 

Daisy glanced at Lincoln, but he didn’t say anything. Quickly, in an attempt to rectify the situation, Daisy spoke up.

“Hi,” she said, but her voice was neutral, not overly welcoming or rejecting either.

Price glanced at Lincoln, but he wasn’t meeting her gaze. Instead, he was looking at the computer screen. 

Deke cleared his throat. “Lincoln, Daisy, this is Rosalind Price.” 

The introduction was unnecessary, since both of them knew her. Rosalind had never seen Daisy before, aside from Daisy saving her in D.C., and her interactions with Lincoln had been minimal, almost nonexistent, so the introduction was more for her benefit than theirs. Neither Lincoln nor Daisy said anything, waiting for her to speak.

“It’s...good to see you,” Price said, her eyes on Lincoln’s face; he stared back stoically.

“Linc.” Daisy put her hand on his arm and he took a deep breath, inhaling sharply. 

“Price,” he said. 

That definitely wasn’t the best greeting that he could have given, but it was still something. 

“You look good,” Price said quietly. “You’ve...grown up.”

“Babies do that,” Lincoln said matter-of-factly. “We grow. In almost 30 years of parental absence.”

Price swallowed. “Lincoln….”

“It’s Agent Campbell,” Lincoln said harshly. “You shouldn’t know me as Lincoln. Only the members of my team, my sister and a few friends get to call me that. You’re none of the above.” 

Daisy winced. She didn’t blame Lincoln for being angry, far from it. She rested her hand on his arm and he took a deep, calming breath.

“Fine,” Price said. “Agent Campbell...how are you? How’s your sister?”

“She’s fine,” Lincoln said, trying to sound normal and not as angry as he was really feeling. “I talk to her at the weekends. Try to visit every few months.”

Daisy swallowed hard. Here was yet another thing tying Lincoln to this timeline. She had already told him that she was willing to stay for him...she couldn’t imagine making Amanda, even a different timeline version of Amanda, lose Lincoln again. It would be cruel and unfair, especially as the Amanda in her timeline knew that Lincoln was gone. It wouldn’t be the same...and how in the world would Lincoln be able to visit the Amanda in her timeline if they were in space the entire time? It would be cruel to them both if he left. 

“Does she….” Price’s voice trailed off.

“Does she what?” Lincoln asked. He knew what she meant, but he wanted to make her own up to being his biological mother. If she could admit the truth, then maybe it would be an indicator that she had wanted him and Amanda and hadn’t tossed them aside like garbage. 

Price swallowed. “Is she aware of who I am,” she said finally.

“No,” Lincoln said flatly. “There was no need to burden her with that. She’s not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; she thinks that I’m a surgical doctor and that’s all she needs to know. Obviously some things will have to change if we do the public conference.” 

“You didn’t tell her?” Price asked. “When did you find out?”

“After the ATCU became involved and the first few Lash sightings happened,” Lincoln said. “Miles found out your aliases. I didn’t see the point in telling Amanda. She has a steady job, she has a boyfriend, she’s happy. The last thing she needs is finding out that the mother who abandoned her is a high-ranking government official and was more than capable of helping us, but you know, didn’t. Said mother abandoned us with a drunk father, who got her brother addicted to alcohol as well. Do you know that she was the one who found our father dead? In the living room. His liver was destroyed from the excessive alcohol that he had drunk. And she was terrified that she was going to lose me. After Deke rescued me, Amanda was all alone. She thought that I was in a rehab centre, one that she couldn’t even visit because the combination of the alcohol and my injuries from the crash were so extensive. I only returned when I was sober _and_ had control of my powers. Which took almost a year, by the way, not that you would care about that. Now she’s happy. She believes that her brother is completely sober, is helping people as a doctor, the way his doctors helped him and she does not need you coming into her life and screwing it all up!” 

There was silence for a moment, following Lincoln’s outburst. In this timeline, Daisy hadn’t seen him get angry before, not really. He might get upset with himself sometimes, like when he’d lost control after Koenig’s death, but she hadn’t seen him lose his temper before. Even in the original timeline when they had fought, she hadn’t seen him this angry. In the original timeline, he’d never had to confront Price about abandoning him and Amanda, but now she knew the truth. No matter what he said, there was a serious elephant on the plane now that Price was around.

“Why did you leave?” Lincoln asked. “What did my father have on you that made you come back? It was one thing for you to have a one-night stand or something and have me, but two of us? That’s more than just a one-night stand.”

Price swallowed hard. “Linc - Agent Campbell...I don’t think you want to know,” she said. “The truth would only hurt you.”

“Doesn’t seem to have bothered you in the past,” Lincoln retorted.

Price nodded slightly, her face grim. “You’re right,” she said. “The first time...well...I met your father undercover. It was an operation that I went under as Margaret Campbell. This was after I had been married to my husband; he knew nothing about my job as a spy. He was a cardiologist. Both of us were extremely busy; as a doctor and a spy yourself, I’m sure you understand how busy both jobs can be -”

“Don’t compare me to either of you,” Lincoln snapped. 

Price took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “I went undercover and your father and I...we fell in love. After the case was over, I discovered I was pregnant. With you. Your father was thrilled and he wanted me to run away with him. To leave my job, my husband, to raise you with him. But then...I decided I didn’t want to give up my life as a spy. I didn’t want to give up my husband. I chose my work over love. I left you with him because he was a good, kind man, Lincoln, not an alcoholic. He wasn’t an alcoholic then. He was...he was a good person.”

Lincoln didn’t say anything. Price continued speaking.

“For a few years, nothing,” Price said. “Then...I found out that my husband had cancer. I was upset, I felt guilty for the cheating, for everything. I went to see you and your father that night because I wanted to see you, to see the one thing I hadn’t managed to screw up yet...and after we got drunk that night, I ended up sleeping with him again. It was foolish, I was stupid...but Amanda was the result. I...I couldn’t have yet another reminder of my infidelity while I was trying to look after my sick husband. I left her with him...and that must have been the turning point. For both him and me. You two were reminders of...mistakes that I’d made, but you two weren’t the mistakes. I was the mistake. But I couldn’t look at you both, knowing that my husband, whom I was genuinely fond of, was dying and I had been unfaithful, in addition to not spending enough time with him. Your father...the drinking must have started after he realized I’d left him again...with two children this time.”

Lincoln nodded very slowly. 

“Then how did you not know?” he asked. “How did you not know who I was all this time that you’ve been working with S.H.I.E.L.D.? Surely if you’d seen me the night you got pregnant with Amanda, you would have known who I really was.” 

Price shook her head. “I never expected your father to give you and Amanda the surname that was my alias,” she said. “I knew your first name, but I never associated the toddler I knew with Director Shaw’s favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.”

Lincoln looked at her in the eye for the first time. “So you knew my first name and that was it,” he surmised. “Did you even know Amanda’s name? Or did you just abandon her with my father without even _naming_ her?” He didn’t wait for an answer; he turned to Daisy. “Let’s go.”

“Wait, Lincoln!” Price called, the desperation obvious in her voice. “You must believe me; I had no idea that your father was going to turn to alcohol or that he was Inhuman or -”

“Yeah, well, Inhumans have this emptiness inside pre-Terrigenesis,” Lincoln snapped. “Did you know just how deeply my father loved you? I know because he told me all the time. When he was drunk and wasted and I was trying to look after him and Amanda at the same time. Until it became too much; the same emptiness that was inside my father was eating me from the inside out as well. My father was an Inhuman, Price! And Inhuman! That void inside him; his love for you filled that. And you left! You abandoned not just me and Amanda, but him too! You know how I know that? Because Inhumanity isn’t the only thing I inherited from my father; I know that because when I fell in love with Daisy, that’s what filled the void. You’re the reason my father turned into an alcoholic. So congratulations, Price, that’s what happened to your lover and your two children.”

Lincoln stormed out and Daisy scrambled after him. Price called out after him, but he was already gone. Apparently, he had been shouting so loudly that everyone had heard; Jemma, Miles, Mack, Sousa and Trip tried to look like they were occupied with something else, but it was obvious that they had all been eavesdropping. 

Lincoln halted when he caught sight of them.

“Great,” he snapped sarcastically. 

Then he stormed off; Daisy raced after him, catching the door before he could slam the door that led to his bunk. 

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s going to be okay,” Daisy said, shutting the door behind her. “Linc -”

Lincoln grabbed the side of the bunk, electricity crackling all over the bed frame. 

“She makes me so mad,” he whispered, his fingers digging into the metal frame. “I’m mad at her for abandoning us, but I’m no better. I couldn’t face Amanda after I started drinking; I couldn’t face her for failing her like our father had. I’m the perfect combination of my parents, Daisy. I turned to alcoholism like my dad and I abandoned Amanda like my mum abandoned us. I’m a disaster, Daisy.”

“You’re not a disaster!” Daisy moved behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. The electricity immediately died; he was trying not to hurt her with his powers. “You’re an amazing person. You saved my life; you saved so many lives when you killed Hive; you saved so many lives as a doctor and as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in both timelines…. You’re a hero, Lincoln.”

Lincoln shook his head. “I’m not a hero, Daisy. I might have died for you in another timeline, but here...I’m a mess. I’m….”

“No, you are not cursed,” Daisy said softly. “We’ve had this discussion before and I will tell you this again and again and again because it’s what I believe and what I know and you are not a horrible thing, Lincoln. You stayed away from Amanda because you were trying to protect her. You might have turned to alcoholism, but you got sober. You help people because you’re meant. You found your footing again. Dying does not make you a hero. It’s the reason behind the sacrifice that makes you the hero. And I know you. You would die for me in a heartbeat and I know that. It scares the hell out of me because I know you would do it and not to atone for the sins in your past, but because you love me. Lincoln, believe me, you are the furthest thing from a disaster there is.”

Lincoln turned to look at her, his eyes dark and haunted. Daisy took a step closer to him.

“Last time, I took your worries away with a kiss,” she said softly. “And I told you that I can’t help caring about you. So this time, let me tell you that I love you and I’m not going anywhere.” 

Lincoln gave her the faintest smile, despite his eyes still looking tortured. 

“Kiss me,” he said. “Please.”

Daisy leaned in and did just that. 




“Are they okay?” Deke asked, entering the lab. Jemma was working on one of the computers, finishing the last of the code for the autopilot of the Zephyr, Mack was monitoring the Framework set-up and Miles was attempting to teach Trip and Sousa some sort of code.

“They’re upstairs in Lincoln’s bunk,” Jemma said. “We all heard the yelling...I guess Lincoln’s pretty mad at Price.” She paused. “Why did you let her speak to them anyway?’

Deke sighed. “Price is going to be in Nepal. I figured it would make things easier if they met first. I guess not.”

Jemma grimaced. “Reunions with long-lost grandparents who are the same age or younger than you are easier, Deke. Price is Lincoln’s biological mother who had every means of looking after him and Amanda, but didn’t. It’s a classic abandonment story and I don’t blame Lincoln for being angry at her.” She paused. “He never got a chance to speak to her about this in the original timeline and as mad as he likely was about it, once she was dead, he probably didn’t want to tarnish her memory in Coulson’s eyes or dredge up an uncomfortable topic.” She sighed. “It’s complicated for sure.”

Miles looked up from the computer that he was working at. “Sometimes it’s easier not knowing about your parents,” he said. “I still don’t know who my parents are, Kora has no idea who her father is, but if they turn out to be the worst people in the world, sometimes we’re better off not knowing.”

Sousa looked at Miles. “You don’t know who your parents are either?” he asked.

Miles shook his head. “No clue. But that’s part of the reason why I was willing to keep Lincoln’s parentage a secret for him. It wasn’t just that we’re teammates. I know what it’s like to not know who your parents are and to create an imaginary family in your head. Him finding out who his mother is was a lot worse for him than not knowing.” 

Deke sighed. “He’s going to be mad at me for introducing them.”

“I don’t think so,” Jemma said. “It’s better this way. Now he has 14-odd hours to work it out of his system before we go into battle with Hive.”

“Do you think he’d want to go to containment and fry absolutely everything that he can in there?” Trip asked dubiously. “Or I can offer to be his punching bag like Bobbi was for Ward. As long as he doesn’t use his powers. That would be...painful.”

“If he shows up in want of a sparring partner, by all means, volunteer,” Deke said, sighing. “He wouldn’t want to fight or hurt Daisy, that’s for sure.” He paused. “Trip, where were you earlier?” 

Trip glanced at him. “Just not in the lab,” Trip said. “I was on the plane. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything stupid.”

All of them looked at him. 

“Honest,” Trip said. “You can check me for earpieces and everything.”

Deke eyed him, before turning to Mack.

“Mack, get him an earpiece,” he said. “If Kora talks to him, we’ll have an advantage.”

All of them stared at Deke in absolute shock. That sounded like more trouble, instead of less. 

“It doesn’t work that way,” Sousa said slowly. “The last time he was speaking with her, he didn’t say anything out loud. She was talking in his ear and he was...projecting his thoughts to her or something. If he wants secret conversations with her, he can have them.”

Deke looked thoughtful, before turning to Trip.

“Has Kora ever talked to anyone aside from you before?” he asked.

“Briefly,” Trip admitted. “When Daisy got Miles to hijack the channel we were on. Kora spoke to both Daisy and Lincoln then.”

“But she wouldn’t tell them anything personal,” Deke surmised.

“That’s right,” Trip said. “She won’t open up to them. Probably because she’s trying to protect them.” 

_Or has a surprise for them_ , he thought, but didn’t say.

“Okay,” Deke said. “Get an earpiece.”

“You trust me?” Trip asked, confused. “After everything? After I broke out and made everyone panic and -”

“We’re going into war with Hive’s Inhumans in Afterlife,” Deke said. “You aren’t going to jeopardize our lives when there’s a chance that we could save Kora. At this point, anything she tells you will only benefit us.”


	76. Chapter 76

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, so I know that I said that the video would come with this chapter, but I ultimately decided it would be better to release it with the next one. Especially because the next one starts the next episode. So sorry!!! But I promise it'll come out then and will be updated on time as usual. Thank you all for being so understanding about the delays in the updates and I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!! 
> 
> Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say about this chapter and as always, happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 76**

Despite knowing that Lincoln might be mad at him for bringing Price back, Deke went and knocked on the door to his bunk. Both Jemma and Mack went with him and none of them were surprised when they heard Daisy’s voice call, “It’s not locked. You can come in.”

“Hey, Dad,” Lincoln said, sitting up as they came in; he had been lying on his bunk with his head in Daisy’s lap. “I’m sorry about earlier; I shouldn’t have thrown calling you ‘Dad’ in Price’s face. It wasn’t cool. I’m sorry.”

Deke was amazed. Here he was, expecting Lincoln to be angry at him for contacting Price, but instead, he was apologizing for calling Deke ‘Dad’ because he had known that doing so would hurt Price. Lincoln called him ‘Dad’ usually when he was stressed or anxious, sometimes he did it teasingly, so Deke knew that him doing so wasn’t Lincoln using him. Well, it had been a little, but Deke knew that Lincoln cared a lot about him beyond that. 

“There’s no need to apologize to me,” Deke said. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I wasn’t around enough...when you fell into alcoholism -”

“You were saving the world,” Lincoln corrected. “It’s not your fault that you were dealing with Loki and all the Avengers when I fell into that trap. You’ve been nothing short of amazing. It’s not your fault that Price abandoned me, Amanda and our biological father and did all that she could to hide the fact that she had cheated on her husband and had two children, so much so that she never even associated me with the child she met twice.” 

There was a bitter note in Lincoln’s voice when he spoke about Price, but when he was done speaking, he shook his head slightly, trying to get the frustration out.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s over...I shouldn’t keep thinking about it.” He lay back down, resting his head in Daisy’s lap; she ran her fingers lightly through his dark blonde hair, massaging his temples with a gentle touch. 

Jemma glanced between Lincoln and Deke. “When did you guys meet?” she asked, genuinely curious and wanting to bring up better memories for Lincoln’s benefit.

“When I was nine,” Lincoln said, without bothering to sit up. “Deke tried to keep me out of S.H.I.E.L.D. when I was a kid, even though it wasn’t a normal upbringing either.” He paused. “Met Mack a couple of years before I joined S.H.I.E.L.D.. Definitely was a bit of a shock to find out that he was more than just a mechanic.”

Jemma glanced at Daisy, but she didn’t look surprised. 

“He told me this,” she explained, catching Jemma’s gaze. “Way back when in the containment module. When Kora was listening to Deke’s Walkman.” She paused. “Although I’m betting Kora already knew that.”

“I told you once I didn’t want any more secrets,” Lincoln said softly, lifting one arm to squeeze her hand that was still caressing his hair. “I meant that.”

Daisy smiled. “I know.”

Lincoln propped himself up on his elbows to kiss her, just the lightest touch of their lips so the others in the room didn’t have to feel awkward or uncomfortable with the PDA. When they had separated, Deke spoke again, although he looked anxious, like he was afraid that Lincoln might blow another gasket.

“Lincoln, I’m sorry,” he said tentatively. “But Price is going to meet us in Nepal. We needed reinforcements and she, Coulson, Piper, Davis and possibly some other S.H.I.E.L.D. and ATCU agents are going to join us in the attack against Hive.” 

Lincoln sighed heavily. “I’m not surprised,” he admitted, lying back down and staring at the ceiling. “I know you wouldn’t have brokered that introduction without a good reason. And on a plane flight before we go into a war against Hive definitely isn’t the ideal situation, unless I was going to have to meet her in-person soon.”

“I’m sorry,” Deke said. “I know you’d rather not see her.”

“It’ll save lives,” Lincoln said wearily. “If she’s there. I can deal.”

He sat up as he spoke, propping his back against the wall. Then he paused as a thought struck him.

“As long as she’s not at the wedding, I can deal,” he said. “I don’t want her there. Not when Coulson, May, Amanda and maybe even Kora can’t be there. She’s the last person I want at the wedding.”

That was going to be hard to manufacture, unless Price left Afterlife before the wedding. Or maybe she would understand. She had seen Lincoln’s furious reaction to her; if she wanted him to be happy, she might understand the importance of staying away if she didn’t want to make him even more upset at her.

“I’ll make sure she isn’t there,” Deke said, wondering how he was going to broker that argument with Price. Maybe she would agree to not be around if he sent her pictures. A compromise...although he hoped she would just understand and volunteer to stay away. 

“Do you want me to contact Amanda?” Mack asked tentatively. “I know you don’t want her involved in S.H.I.E.L.D., but if you want her to be there, Lincoln….”

“No,” Lincoln said, sighing. “I love her, but she knows nothing about S.H.I.E.L.D.. She would be beyond confused why we are getting married in a seemingly random location in Nepal. If Daisy’s willing, we can visit her after the final battle with Hive.”

“Of course,” Daisy said, squeezing his hand. “I’d love to get to know her.” 

Truth be told, in Daisy’s timeline, she did know Amanda. Amanda had never seen her in-person, but Daisy had cyber-stalked her, looking out for her in addition to sending her grief money. She knew parts of Amanda, but was more than happy to get to know her for real. 

Mack nodded, accepting Lincoln’s wish to keep Amanda out of the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. shebang. “You need to be careful, Lincoln. If you and Daisy do the public conference, she might end up knowing about your involvement in S.H.I.E.L.D. and your powers after all.”

Lincoln sighed again.

“She’s grown up, Lincoln,” Mack said. “She’s not the little sister you had to protect from your drunk father anymore. She’d want to know the truth.” 

“You didn’t tell Ruben the truth until it was forced out,” Lincoln reminded him. “Even though he knew you were working with Deke.”

“True,” Mack said. “But the truth might be forced out if you and Daisy do that conference. And Amanda would take it better from you than on live television.”

For the first time in a while, Lincoln smiled. “Honestly? I think Amanda would just be happy that I have Daisy. The last few times I called her, she’s been bugging me about girls.” He paused. “Sisters. Always think they know best, even if they’re younger than you.”

That made all of them smile. 

Jemma was struck with the reminder that Daisy was right and that Lincoln had very meaningful relationships and ties to other people in this timeline. She hadn’t seen it before because Mack hadn’t been around, but Lincoln and Mack were friends, Lincoln had Deke as his father figure, he had his actual biological sister…. It would be selfish for Jemma to want Daisy to return to their timeline when she was right; they could always reach one another via text or hologram communications. It would hurt if Daisy wanted to stay, but it would be worse for both Daisy and Lincoln if they had to go back to a timeline where they went on missions in space and were constantly reminded that that was where both of them had died. It would be better for them if they stayed in Deke’s timeline.

“Wait, Deke claimed that you were a public figure for Inhumans,” Jemma said, frowning. “How is it possible that Amanda doesn’t know about you being Inhuman then?”

Lincoln shrugged. “Not really _that_ big a public figure,” he said. “I’ve used my powers in public before, but nothing like Daisy’s conference with Mace or the signing of the Sokovia Accords or anything.” He glanced at Deke. “When did you say that, Deke?”

Deke grimaced. “I was exaggerating a little to Price to prevent her from putting APBs on you and Daisy,” he admitted. “Plus, that was before Price and I knew that you are her biological son. I had to try something to get you guys out of trouble.” 

Lincoln nodded, leaning back against the wall. He didn’t say anything; Daisy rubbed soothing circles on his hand with her thumb. Deke, Jemma and Mack also remained silent, watching Lincoln with a mixture of concern and sympathy on their faces. 

“Take as much time as you need,” Deke said finally. “If you want to talk, we’re all here for you. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

Lincoln blew out a breath. “Better not thinking about it,” he said. “But thanks, Dad.” 

Deke nodded and he, Mack and Jemma left the bunk room, shutting the door behind them. 




Once Deke, Jemma and Mack went to talk to Daisy and Lincoln, Miles returned to the lab, leaving Sousa and Trip to talk. Trip was fitting an earpiece into his ear and Sousa was studying a map of Afterlife that Daisy and Lincoln had marked with giant X’s on important locations.

“Have you ever been there?” Sousa asked and Trip looked up.

“Where?” he asked.

“Afterlife,” Sousa said.

“Oh,” Trip said. “No, I’ve never been there. For the most part, only Inhumans stay there. Some humans have been there, like Deke and Doctor Johnson, but I’ve never been.” He glanced at the map. “Both Lincoln and Kora have told me about it though. Before Kora got swayed, I mean.” He paused. “Have you?”

“Nope,” Sousa said. “I was just wondering. It was a bit of a...touchy topic with both Daisy and Kora. I always assumed it was because Kora felt guilty about betraying Jiaying and Daisy still had mixed feelings about Jiaying trying to kill her.” 

Trip didn’t say anything, although it was pretty clear that both of them were thinking about Daisy keeping the truth about Lincoln a secret from him. Even though it had been a few days, Kora had already told Trip about her disastrous history with Nathaniel and her betraying her mum and Daisy. Granted, Kora had never been truly in love with Nathaniel and it probably spoke more about Kora and her desire to open up than Daisy, but still…. Sousa was now aware that what Daisy had told him about him being angry at her was true. He hadn’t wanted to think about it, but a part of him _was_ mad at her, mad at her for not telling him about Lincoln. But still...the worst part was that Sousa also blamed himself. He _had_ noticed that Daisy had seemed off sometimes, on the anniversary of Lincoln’s death, on her birthday, on Lincoln’s birthday...but he had always let her have her space, allowed Kora to give him some plausible reason why Daisy was out of spirits and he had never pushed for answers. It was a terrible what if question he had...what if he had pushed her for those answers? He hoped that she would have given them because she wouldn’t want to lose him...but in the end she had still chosen Lincoln. His head was a confused mess of emotions, only exacerbated by how fast time seemed to be passing.

“Well, you’ll see it soon enough,” Trip said, staring at the map. “Apparently it’s beautiful.” He paused. “I hope it still is, after we fight Hive there.” 

“It seems pretty...long-lasting,” Sousa said. “Apparently it’s been burned down more than once.”

“Thanks to Lincoln, Kora, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Nathaniel Malick,” Trip agreed. “But it won’t burn down today.”

Sousa frowned at him all of a sudden. “Trip...what did Kora tell you?” he asked.

“What?” Trip asked, even though he had heard him perfectly well. “Nothing. I haven’t been in contact with her for ages.” 

“Then how are you so confident that Afterlife won’t be destroyed today?” Sousa asked, a wary expression on his face as he spoke.

Trip shrugged. “Kora predicted Lincoln and Daisy would get married in Afterlife,” he said. “I don’t think that could happen if Lincoln or Kora or James set Afterlife on fire or blew it up.” He paused. “And going by their track record, they might actually burn it down again. Just not today.”

Sousa eyed him suspiciously. 

“What?” Trip asked. “We’re going to Afterlife, Sousa. If anything, I want this mission to be a success. I want Kora to be liberated from Hive, not kept under his control!”

Sousa sighed. “Just...just don’t hurt Kora, Trip,” he said. “She might have been brainwashed by Nathaniel Malick and now really been brainwashed by Hive, but she’s a good person.”

Trip looked at him curiously. “Are you giving me ‘the talk’?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sousa said bluntly. “I might not be together with Daisy and I might be annoyed at Kora for keeping secrets from me, but I understand why she did it; her loyalty is to Daisy, just like everyone on this team is loyal to Lincoln because he’s your teammate. She’s still family, Trip.”

“I know,” Trip admitted. “She told me once that you’re like the big brother she’s never had. She never wanted to hurt you, Sousa.” 

Sousa didn’t say anything for a moment and then when he spoke, his voice was curious. “Sometimes I wonder just how much Kora’s seen of the future,” he said. “I know she’s said that she sees things in possibilities and probabilities, but it’s at times like this that I wonder if she’d known that Lincoln was going to return before he actually did.” He paused. “Do you...do you ever wonder if she’s manipulating the future to get the result that she wants?” 

Trip looked at him sharply. “If you’re talking about our relationship, I just trust that she wouldn’t do that,” he said. “It’s not something she can help. Knowing the future, I mean. Besides, we’re not together together. We just...like each other.”

Sousa gave him a look like he was an idiot. “Right,” he said sceptically. “Because everyone on the team has been concerned that you and Kora are the new Lincoln and Daisy in this timeline. If you two are not together, then I’m the Queen of England.”

Trip raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not even British.”

“Exactly my point,” Sousa said.

Trip sighed. “Fair enough,” he said. “But as for the whole Lincoln thing...I don’t think Kora knew. Kora likes to give the impression that she knows everything, but she doesn’t really. She didn’t know that Lincoln was immune; when we were on the way to the Badlands, she told me that when Daisy chose to go to Bucharest, it eliminated all the possibilities that he might be swayed by Hive there. If she didn’t know that, she probably didn’t know that Lincoln was going to return to the three of you.” He paused. “Or maybe she’d seen the possibility, but it was so miniscule that she didn’t want to think about it. She really only wants Daisy to be happy.”

Sousa nodded. “Kora’s a lot of things...but she loves Daisy. A lot.” 

Trip paused. “I don’t know if anyone told you this or if you remember, but she chose you,” he said. “In the Badlands. Kora had a choice of one agent to save: you, Hunter or Miles. And she chose you. Even though Hunter has a kid. She picked you because she knew that losing you would hurt Daisy.”

Sousa shook his head. “If I die, Daisy will be fine. She has Lincoln. She doesn’t need me to be happy.”

“That doesn’t mean that she wants you to die,” Trip reminded him. “She cares about you, Sousa. Maybe not the way you want her to, but she still cares.” He paused. “When this is over, you and I will fly to England for Peggy’s funeral. Sharon would want you there.”

Sousa gave Trip a sceptical look. “You’re still trying to set me up with her?” he asked.

“Hey, she was the one who flirted first,” Trip told him. “I know Sharon. She’s like _my_ younger sister. You can give me the talk about Kora, I’ll give you the talk about Sharon.”

Sousa shook his head. “Trip, I could never start anything with the great niece of Peggy.”

Trip shrugged. “You should read _Twilight_.”

Sousa frowned at him. “What is this _Twilight_?” he asked. “Hunter mentioned it before when we were talking about Inhuman soulmates.” 

Trip laughed. “At least Inhumans can’t squash the nine-month pregnancy timeline into one month,” he said. He patted Sousa on the shoulder. “If you read that book, you’d understand how you could have feelings for Sharon after having had them for Peggy.” He paused. “Actually...don’t read it. You’d probably be embarrassed out of your mind. I forgot you’re from the past. If menstrual cycles embarrass you...yeah, you shouldn’t read that book.”

Sousa gave him a look. “You millennials,” he muttered under his breath, but he did look embarrassed.

Trip shook his head. “You have a lot to get acclimated to,” he said. “And that was before you managed to jump 33 years into the future. Where do you want to start?” 




“Oh my God.”

Jemma looked like she was about to be sick. She and Ward were standing outside Daisy’s prison cell. A few hours had passed since they had last seen them; when Ward and Jemma had gone back to the cells where Ward had seen Daisy and Lincoln imprisoned after their torture, they had been gone. They had hunted around to no avail, but now, at long last, a few hours later, they were back in their cells. The only thing was...heading into Daisy’s cell, along with the guards who had just dragged her inside, was Fitz.

Ward pulled Jemma into the closet opposite Daisy’s cell. She was biting into her hand, looking like she was the one being tortured instead of Daisy. Ward could not blame her, Framework or not, this was a nightmare to see. 

“Jemma, this isn’t real,” Ward said, trying to console her. “Jemma, that’s not Fitz. Not the real Fitz. This world isn’t real.” 

“I know,” Jemma said, looking like her world was falling apart. “This isn’t the real world. And that’s not the real Fitz, I know. It’s not the Fitz from my timeline, it’s not even the Fitz from this timeline. That’s an LMD.”

Ward was so shocked that he was at a loss for words.

“How...how do you know that?” he stammered. “And didn’t you think this was important to tell me before?”

Jemma was in tears. “He’s the Doctor, Ward,” she said. “He’s the head of Hydra.”

“The head of Hydra? _He’s_ the Doctor?” Ward repeated. “What...what, what happened? What happened to you and your Fitz? And why didn’t you tell me before?” 

Jemma was rubbing the back of her neck where the implant was embedded in her skin, but there were tears in her eyes. 

“I...I’ve had a while to get used to the idea that Fitz is the Doctor,” she said. “And that he’s an LMD. And that he’s not real. But seeing him torture Daisy...it’s painful, it’s awful, it’s cruel, it’s my worst nightmare...and I didn’t want to believe that he could do it to someone who he cares about.”

Ward shook his head. “Jemma, what happened? You need to tell me. The more I know about this future, the better I can prevent it. Please tell me. _Please_.”

Jemma rubbed her face with her hands. “It’s not simple, Ward. It’s a mess...it’s a whole mess. And I don’t even know everything. All I know is that Flint was killed and we were trapped in this timeline and then this timeline’s versions of Fitz and I were killed and some Hydra officials saw the opportunity to turn Fitz into an LMD monster like Aida and then it was hell. I think they wanted him for his brain. When we first learned that Fitz was the Doctor, I went undercover in Hydra to try to figure out what had made him change. And then...well, we found out that he’s an LMD. But some part of him trusted me and once I was on his radar, there was no way that I could safely leave. It was fine; I already had the implant in by that time, but it was torturous, knowing that that LMD is wearing the face of my husband and knowing that there was no way I could get back to my timeline to be with my Fitz and that the LMD is being controlled by the real heads of Hydra. It’s so much easier for Hydra to take over when the face of evil is the face of someone who was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent; it showed that S.H.I.E.L.D. trusts Hydra and that made the transition easier. Mack was right when he said that when the devil shows up, he’ll be wearing the face of someone we trust.” Her voice was bitter when she spoke. 

“Oh my God,” Ward whispered, his brain feeling like it was about to explode. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“When we were being chased around by Hydra captives?” Jemma asked. “Or worrying about Daisy and Lincoln’s children? Or when I was cutting into my grandson to try and make him remember what made us put in these wretched implants in the first place?” Her voice cracked on her last sentence. 

Ward rubbed his hands over his face in his anxiety. “Oh God, I’m sorry.”

Jemma continued talking even though tears were still streaming down her face. “Fitz might look like the face of Hydra, but he really isn’t. I don’t know who’s the real head of Hydra; none of us does. That’s another reason why we were undercover in Hydra; it wasn’t just because we were trying to protect Daisy and Lincoln. We’re trying to overthrow Hydra.”

Ward placed one hand over his eyes. “Okay,” he said. “So we don’t know who the mastermind evil is, just that there’s someone even bigger and badder than the Doctor and he’s being controlled by someone. Who made the LMDs?”

“The theory is Doctor Holden Radcliffe,” Jemma said. “When you get back to the real world, you need to tell me that, me, Daisy and Lincoln. We’ll know how to stop it, or at least we know enough about LMDs to be able to prevent Radcliffe from experimenting with the LMDs.” 

“Okay,” Ward repeated. “Okay, okay, no one died in the Quinjet with Hive, there’s an LMD Fitz who’s also the Doctor, Lincoln and Daisy have their babies, implants...what happened to Bobbi? Why is she working for Hydra?”

“She got brainwashed,” Jemma said. “Hydra brainwashing. They do that for high profile targets; it’s the Faustus method. You need to tell us that as well.” 

Ward nodded. “Hydra brainwashing. Got it.”

Jemma looked at him. “We need to -”

She stopped talking when there was a thump from the door opposite in the corridor and the LMD of the Doctor came out of the room. He was speaking to the guards; there were at least ten of them outside the door, three of whom entered the room.

“She should fight to the death,” Fitz said coldly. The door thumped shut behind him and he turned to the guards. “Stay with her. She appears to be remembering and forgetting things at the same time. If she loses this fight, we’ll do a full autopsy to discover why she had that implant in and what secrets she holds.”

“Yes, sir!” The guards all spoke in unison. 

“I’m going to the other Inhuman,” Fitz said. “There’s an experiment I want to do on him...which could yield interesting results. If he survives this procedure, he’ll be her opponent. It’ll be interesting to see how much they fail to remember after being forced to fight one another to the death.” He paused. “We haven’t had a good Inhuman brawl for a while. Make sure that she doesn’t die before the fight.”

“Yes, sir!” All the guards spoke again.

Once Fitz was gone, Ward and Jemma looked at each other.

“A fight to the death?” Ward repeated. “Has that happened before?”

“Yes,” Jemma said, her face bone white. “I mean...sometimes Hydra pits Inhumans against each other to show the Inhumans that even the strongest of them cannot stand against the might of Hydra.” She paused. “And Daisy has had to fight to the death before, but never against Lincoln, thank God for that.”

Ward grimaced. “You think Fitz - the Doctor - means to pit them against each other?”

Jemma chewed her bottom lip. “I really really hope not.” She swallowed hard. “We need to find out what experimentation they’re planning to do on Lincoln. If it’s him that they’re experimenting on. I mean...I think it will be. I don’t think they have any other Inhumans in custody right now. They’ve experimented on Inhumans before. Ward...in the Framework, the time that Daisy and I went in...Lincoln died from Hydra experimentation. We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Ward looked at her. “That’s not the mission, Jemma,” he said. “Deke’s dead and that’s not real either. If Lincoln dies….”

“You don’t understand,” Jemma said. “When we were in the original Framework, when Aida emerged, she had four powers: Lincoln’s electricity, Jiaying’s healing, Vijay Nadeer’s fast reflexes and Gordon’s teleportation. If Lincoln’s body can host more than one power, or if we find a way to make that happen in this world, maybe we can do the same in the real world. Enable him to teleport to save the person who’s going to die in the Quinjet with Hive. Or get him out of the Quinjet with Hive if he’s the one who’s going to die.”




Kora entered the room where Bobbi and Hunter were. They were lying on the floor; as she opened the door, she heard Hunter mutter angrily under his breath, “Bloody powers.”

She sighed inwardly, closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Both Bobbi and Hunter looked up at her.

“You!” Bobbi gasped. “Get us out of here!”

Kora hadn’t been expecting that reaction from Bobbi. She would have thought that Bobbi was going to try and attack her, not that either of them could move very much, thanks to the drugs that were in their systems.

“You saved Hunter once,” Bobbi said. “You can do it again, you can get us out of here -”

“You need to keep quiet,” Kora said sharply. “I can’t help you. Either of you.”

“What are you apologizing for then?” Hunter asked darkly. 

Kora swallowed hard. Neither Bobbi nor Hunter knew the choice that she had made; she had chosen to save Jemma over Bobbi and this was the result. She didn’t like the choice that she had made, but, truth be told, it was a choice that she would make again. Although regarding family, people tried not to pick favourites, she knew that, if push came to shove, Deke would choose Jemma over Bobbi. It was a horrible choice and one that none of them wanted to think about, but Deke had known Jemma as his grandmother for over thirty years, whereas he had only just come to accept Bobbi as his grandmother. It was a complicated mess, one that she tried not to think about. She and Trip had talked about being forced to choose one person over another...and although she ultimately hadn’t been picking one person to die when she had chosen to save Jemma over Bobbi, she _had_ been choosing someone’s safety and comfort and she hated herself for the choice that she had had to make.

“I wasn’t aware…,” Kora began, only too aware that she was now lying. “You’re going to die.”

That prompted a sharp intake of breath from both of them. 

“What are you talking about?” Bobbi demanded.

“Which one of us?” Hunter asked, anxiety spiking in his voice. “Can we choose? Can you take me instead of Bob?”

“Hunter!” Bobbi’s voice was high, anxious and angry even as she spoke.

Kora pressed her fingers to her temples. She didn’t want to think about either one of them dying, but if someone didn’t do something drastic and soon, then one of them was going to die. There was a limit to how much Kora could help. 

“Get Bobbi out of here,” Hunter said, his voice high and anxious. “That bloody alien was already in here with that slimy Hydra guy -”

“Bakshi,” Kora said. “Bakshi already tried to use the Faustus method on Bobbi?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be able to predict the future?” Bobbi demanded. “That gift on the fritz?”

“Bob!” Hunter’s voice was less resistant and more anxious on Bobbi’s behalf. “Kora, if you can get one of us out of here, get Bobbi out. Those bloody aliens want her for something; I don’t know what, but they’re trying to make her more compliant before they try whatever they’re thinking of doing, but I don’t know how long they’ll wait….”

Kora raked her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t let Bobbi out; in fact Hive was on his way there at the moment. The only reason Hive wasn’t there at the moment was because he was dispatching Joey and some of Alisha’s clones to go to Indiana to steal the fully operational warhead for the Absolution virus. Kora was concerned, to say the least. Joey had been liberated from the ATCU complex at the same time that Bobbi and Hunter had been captured; he had been frozen in the gel matrix system for a few hours by the time James and Giyera had gotten him out. 

However, Kora wasn’t really worried about Joey. She was more concerned about the fact that Hive was keeping his heavy hitters in Afterlife. In all honesty, Kora wasn’t sure who Hive valued most of all his Inhumans. The most-likely answer was none, but in terms of value, Kora was pretty sure that Katya had been Hive’s favourite. Beyond that, she had no idea, although she was confident that telekinesis, an explosive touch, energy manipulation, superspeed, earth manipulation and the ability to move between the timelines, and the clairvoyance were more valuable to Hive than metal manipulation and duplication. 

What Kora was worried about was how Deke’s team could fight Hive’s Inhumans. Even with Joey and Alisha out of the picture, the rest were more than sufficient for making their lives hell. Not only were Hive, Giyera, James, Yo-Yo, Flint and Kora staying, but Alisha had split herself up. Two clones were going with Joey to Indiana and three were staying, including the prime. And that was a disaster. 

“I’m sorry,” Kora repeated. “I can’t get you out of here.”

“Then why the hell are you here?” Hunter demanded.

“Just...just hang on,” Kora said. “Keep fighting. S.H.I.E.L.D. is coming -”

At that moment the door flew open and an excruciating wave of pain seared through Kora’s brain. She fell to one knee, gasping in agony; even as she did so, both Hunter and Bobbi tried to move towards her, even though whatever drugs were in their system were still functioning. 

“Kora, what are you doing here?” Hive asked. Without waiting for an answer, he turned to James and Giyera who were crowding behind him in the doorway. “Take her to Bakshi,” he said. 

Kora was too weak to resist. The pain in her head was building and she couldn’t fight against James and Giyera even if she tried. However, the most painful thing was the fact that one of the clones of Alisha was carrying Robin in her arms. 

“If you’re doing the transference now, let me stay,” Kora pleaded. “Even though you know how this works, let me stay to help. And if Bobbi or Robin is in danger, I can help them both. Heal them. You know I can. Please.”

Hive looked at her. “You are not very compliant,” he said. “How long till S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives?” 

Kora squirmed where she was struggling on the floor. The parasites felt like they were boring holes into her brain.

“At least 14 hours,” Kora said. “There is more than enough time for you to do the transference and for me to be brainwashed by Bakshi. Wouldn’t you rather I stay here and do everything I can to help Robin and Bobbi and be brainwashed later? You’ll end up with all three of us alive, rather than possibly losing both Robin and Bobbi.”

Hive eyed her. “Very well,” he said and gestured to James and Giyera. “Take Morse.”

“Get away from her, you wretched parasite!” Hunter shouted, but Giyera broke a metal pipe off the wall with his telekinesis and swung it at Hunter. Hard. Hunter grunted in pain, slumping against the floor, unconscious.

“You’d better be right about this working,” Hive told Kora. “Otherwise when your sister and her boyfriend get here, they’ll pay for your deception. Or maybe I’ll take it out on the human you care so much about.”

Kora didn’t say anything. There was no point. Anything she said at this point would just make things worse, for her, for Bobbi, for Robin, even Daisy and Lincoln and Trip if Hive got his hands on them. 




“Isn’t that how this whole disaster of a world came about?” Ward asked Jemma. “Trying to save everyone destroyed the world! If we do the same -”

“It’s not the same,” Jemma said. “Putting Gordon’s teleportation powers in Lincoln hasn’t happened yet, not in the Framework, not in the real world. Right?”

Ward nodded reluctantly. “Not unless they’ve done that in the few hours that I’ve been here,” he said. “But don’t they need Gordon alive to do that?”

“Depends on the process,” Jemma said. “In the original Framework, Gordon had been dead for years when they transferred his powers to Aida, although they did need him alive to do the transference when they were using Nathaniel’s method. If Kora showed Lincoln her memories in addition to the rest of the team’s, he might know how.”

Ward stared at her. “Did Kora ever do that? Show him her memories? As far as I know, he’s never brought it up; he’s just mentioned remembering what happened to the rest of the team.” 

Jemma grimaced. “I’m not actually sure. She joined Daisy’s team after the war with the Chronicoms, so he might have some of her memories, but once they were all on Zephyr Three...well, chances are higher she would just have given him Daisy’s memories at that point. But I’m not sure.”

“So what, you want to see how Hydra does this to make sure that we can replicate it for Lincoln?” Ward asked. “Couldn’t that kill him?”

“Lincoln knows exactly how he was killed in the Framework,” Jemma said. “The original Framework. Because the Doctor and Aida experimented on him and he has Fitz’s memories of that time. So he’d be able to tell us exactly what not to do to him.”

“There is no way that Daisy would be down for this,” Ward said, his brow furrowed in concern. “Besides, where in the world is Gordon in the real world? Isn’t he dead?”

“He _is_ dead,” Jemma agreed. “His body is in Afterlife. That’s where he died.”

“Afterlife?” Ward repeated. “That’s where Lincoln and Daisy want to get married.”

Jemma looked at him. “They haven’t gotten married yet?”

“Unless they got married while I was in the Framework, the answer to that is not yet,” Ward said. “So...yeah, at some point they’re likely going to go to Afterlife.” 

“Then it’s definitely possible,” Jemma said. “It’s not the first time Daisy has dug up a body.”

Jemma was referring to when Daisy had dug up Jiaying’s body to get the healing component for the Centipede serum. If she had been willing to do that, she would be more than willing to dig up Gordon’s body, especially if it would mean Lincoln’s survival. The only question was if giving Lincoln teleportation would cause his death or save him. Teleportation was such a tricky power. Arguably, if he was in the Quinjet, he could use that power to get him out of there. On the other hand, if he was on Earth and tried to rescue the victim in the Quinjet, it could end up killing them both instead of just one. 

Ward stared at her. “This is insane,” he decided. “But we’re wasting time waiting around. At the very least, we need to go and watch the experimentation process. Because if you’re right and Lincoln is about to get teleportation, healing and/or super fast reflexes, we should go now. And worry about the dangers and ethical dilemmas later.”




Kora had never felt more guilty in her life than watching Giyera strap Robin to the machine that she and Radcliffe had built under duress. The little girl didn’t say anything; she was silent and compliant and Kora felt like the worst person in the world, even though there was literally nothing she could do to stop Hive.

“Robin, try and stay calm,” Kora said. “It’ll be easier if you’re calm. You can survive this. I did. And I’m right here with you. It’s going to be okay.”

“Right,” Bobbi said scoffingly from her own manacles. “You’re strapping a three year old to a machine and are about to suck all her powers out of her and quite possibly kill her. That’s reassuring.” 

“I’m here to help you both,” Kora said. “Help you both survive!”

“Only because you’re helping that stupid _thing_ torture us in the first place!” Bobbi snapped. “She’s a child, Kora! If you could save Hunter’s life, then you can save her too!”

All eyes swung to Kora.

“You saved that human?” James asked in disgust. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“It was to get them to trust me,” Kora said stiffly. “This was before S.H.I.E.L.D. knew that I was on your side. It was to help me get to Daisy and Lincoln.”

That, plus Kora had been trying to help. Hive had never specifically told her that she couldn’t save Hunter’s life. He’d told her that she must do everything she could to bring Daisy and Lincoln into the fold, so she had justified her choice at saving him as being a necessity to try and capture Daisy and Lincoln. Granted, that had been a bust, but seeing as she had saved Giyera, Joey and Alisha from being killed, the scales were more than balanced, at least in her opinion.

“Besides, what does it matter to you?” Kora demanded. “You weren’t there! You were off kidnapping a three year old!” 

James glowered at her, but Kora didn’t back down. James could glare all he liked, but he couldn’t hurt her. Regardless of what he wanted to do. She might be a pain-in-the-butt for Hive, but she was still one of his most powerful Inhumans. There was no way that Hive would dlet James hurt her...at least not now.

Kora knew that her usefulness was wearing thin. The only value she had left was her ability to predict the future and if Lincoln was ever captured, that usefulness would go out the window. Lincoln was the only one who could see the timestream in her head. If he gained access to her and was willing to see the timestream, Kora would have outlived her usefulness. Lincoln was more valuable than she was, even with her ability to restore life energy. His freedom was the only thing standing between her and the Quinjet to space. Thanks to Joey’s duplicate cross necklaces, the second Lincoln gained access to all her visions of the timestream, Kora was as good as dead. 

“You can trust me to make sure that you both are safe,” Kora said to Robin and Bobbi, both of whom ignored her. “I can manipulate life energy; you just need to let me know if you’re suffering or in pain or something.”

“And we’re here to help as well.”

Doctors Radcliffe and Johnson were also in the room, staring guiltily at Robin and Bobbi. Both looked nauseous and horrified about the fact that a three year old was strapped to a machine, but Kora could do nothing to help the situation. 

“Mad scientists,” Bobbi spat at them both. “This is a child, you two -”

James struck her across the face before she could finish cursing at the two human doctors. It wasn’t their fault that they were in this mess. They had been kidnapped and held against their will and they were doing what they had to do in order to survive; it was the same choice that anyone would make. But it didn’t make the situation any easier, although admittedly, if Bobbi was in that situation and had the power to refuse to help Hive, she probably would. Unless Hunter’s life was in danger. Everyone who had someone to lose could never be counted on to sacrifice them and save the world. Unless that person chose to sacrifice themselves, instead of ending the world. It was one of those terrible choices that people had to make. 

“Robin, look at me,” Kora said. “It’s going to be okay.” How she could lie to the little girl was beyond her, especially since the child knew that she wasn’t telling her the truth. . 

Robin looked at her. “This has happened before,” she said. “A threat, but no actions. This time...action.”

Kora knew what she was talking about. Talbot had threatened to absorb her into his Gravitonium mess to gain her soothsayer powers, but he ultimately hadn’t gone through with it. This time, however, Robin knew that she was actually going to allow the transference to happen. 

“I’m sorry,” Kora whispered as James hit the button for the machine to start. 




“Raina.”

Raina was handcuffed to a chair, a gag in her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She looked up as Alisha and Hive entered the room; all three clones of Alisha. Alisha pulled the gag out of her mouth, staring at her with curiously unemotional eyes.

“What do you want with me?” Raina asked.

Hive smiled at her. “It’s time to make you comply.”


	77. Episode 20: Everything Personal - Chapter 77

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I am SOOOOO excited to share this latest video with you!!!! EEEEKKKK!!! 
> 
> Looking forward SO MUCH to hearing what you guys think about it and about this chapter!!! Feel free to share the video with anyone you think might like it and feel free to comment on it!!! The video is called "Return to Afterlife". 
> 
> As always, happy reading and watching!!! 😍😍😍
> 
> Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PnMtjfRdwA

**Episode 20: Everything Personal**

**Chapter 77**

“Alright, change of plans.” 

Everyone was clustered in the communications centre, gathered around the table, staring at the giant screen where a large map of Afterlife was displayed. Everyone included the holograms of Hand, Coulson and Price; Lincoln was standing on the opposite end of the room as Price, avoiding her gaze as much as she was trying to catch his eye. While he knew he was asking a lot, Deke had called them all in because he needed them all there for the briefing. He tapped the screen, zooming in on a picture, displaying a whole series of X marks.

“What are those?” Miles asked. “Buildings?”

“They’re way too close together to be buildings,” Mack said, squinting at the screen. “Maybe they’re not landmarks for something. Are they...markers of the Inhuman population?”

“Hive can’t have swayed so many Inhumans,” Lincoln said, frowning. “Deke evacuated Afterlife; we would have heard if more Inhumans than the ones we know of have been swayed.”

“What are they then?” Daisy asked. “Admittedly I haven’t seen Afterlife in a while, but -”

“They’re traps,” Jemma guessed. “Right?” She glanced at Deke, who nodded. 

“They’re landmines,” he said. “Buried at the main entrance to Afterlife and some hills as well.” 

“James,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison.

“He’s a demolitions expert,” Lincoln explained, when everyone glanced their way. “He has all the explosives and trust me, he loves blowing things up.” His hand went automatically to his side where James had wounded him; Daisy’s eyes followed the motion of his hand. Their eyes met and he gave her a small smile in response to the concerned look in her eyes.

“He did that in the Badlands too,” Sousa said, drawing the attention off Daisy and Lincoln. “He buried landmines all around his trailer.”

“So now what?” Trip asked. “Different strategy for entering Afterlife?”

“These are only the landmines that we know about,” Deke said. “There could be others all over the various mountains, only we have no clue where they are. And if they’re putting landmines out there, then there are dozens of other traps that we might not know about. Giyera used to be a part of the U.S. military forces; Kora is an expert on all S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols; Alisha was the one setting the bombs at the Academy….”

“We could take out the landmines,” Daisy said, glancing at Lincoln. “I’ve done it before.”

“The second you blow up the landmines, they’ll know where you are,” Lincoln said anxiously, meeting her gaze. 

“That’s why you’ll be with me,” Daisy said, just the hint of a smile crossing her face. “We’ve taken him out together before.”

“Isn’t one of you enough?” Coulson asked, reminding the team of the three newcomers; in particular, Price and Coulson were unaware of the other timeline. “It doesn’t make sense to put all the heavy hitters in one location.” 

“Actually, it does,” Deke said. “Hive wants both Lincoln and Daisy; if they alert Hive’s Inhumans to the fact that they are at one location, they would be luring all of them there.”

“Plus, neither Lincoln nor Daisy has ever taken James out alone,” Jemma said. “When they fought him in the past without each other’s help, James blew up Lincoln’s side not once, but twice, and Daisy needed Robbie’s help when she fought him the second time. When they took him on together, they knocked him out.”

Jemma was conveniently not mentioning the fact that the one time they had successfully knocked him out without getting hurt had been before James had gone through Terrigenesis and they had had an unfair advantage. 

“That’s not reassuring at all,” Hand said. “You’re saying that your two Inhumans can’t take out _one_ of Hive’s Inhumans alone? And there are what, eleven of them?”

“I’ve beaten Giyera before,” Daisy said quickly. “And Joey, Raina and Yo-Yo.” 

“And I’ve beaten Alisha twice,” Lincoln said. “Yo-Yo as well, and James. But most of the time, we were together when we fought them. It’s safer and easier when someone you trust has your back.”

“And we can lure all the Inhumans to the front entrance,” Daisy said, glancing at Lincoln and then at Deke. “The rest of you would be able to safely get in by parachuting from above or something.”

“As long as there are no landmines in the centre of Afterlife,” Miles said darkly.

“You could land on this hill,” Lincoln said, tapping his finger against the map of Afterlife. “Granted, it’s a pretty open area, but of all places to have traps, I doubt they’ll put any there.”

Jemma looked at him. “How do you know that?” she asked.

“It’s got the best view in the whole of Afterlife,” Daisy said, jumping to his rescue. “It’s the best place to be to spot any incoming planes or anything like that.” 

In actuality, it was the hill which Kora had shown them that their wedding would take place. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln wanted to mention that in front of Hand, Coulson and Price, all of whom were not as aware of Kora’s unique sway. However, Daisy’s reasoning was plausible enough that those three did not pay her any additional attention, although there was a slightly suspicious look in both Jemma and Deke’s eyes as they looked at her.

“What if all of Hive’s Inhumans go after you?” Deke asked. “As powerful as you two are, I don’t think you can take on all eleven of them at once.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded glances. 

“We’ll figure something out,” Lincoln said. “Don’t worry.” He paused. “Besides, they don’t want to hurt us, remember?”

“Yeah, but you don’t want to hurt Kora or Yo-Yo or Flint either,” Jemma reminded them. “Or Joey, for that matter, or Alisha, if you can help it.” 

“Don’t worry,” Daisy said, even though her mind was racing a hundred miles an hour, trying to come up with a strategy in case they were confronted with every single one of Hive’s Inhumans. “Besides, the fewer of us who know our strategy, the less of a chance that Kora figures it out, right?”

Truth be told, no one was sure if Kora’s powers actually worked that way, but everyone decided to give Daisy the benefit of that doubt. 

“Are we good then?” Lincoln asked. “We pick up reinforcements in Hong Kong, you let Daisy and me out some time before we hit Afterlife, then the rest of you do your thing once we cause a distraction?” 

“Yes,” Deke said. “Do you two want parachutes or are you fine on your own?”

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other. 

“Sky’s the limit?” Daisy asked, her lips twitching with amusement.

“No pun intended,” Lincoln agreed. He turned to Deke. “We’re good without the chutes.”

“Okay, then,” Deke said. “You two are free to go do whatever you want or need to do; I’ll let you know when we’re close enough to Afterlife. The rest of you, stay, we’ll brief on the plan. Lincoln, Daisy, get earpieces from the lab downstairs.”

“Sure,” Lincoln said and Daisy nodded her assent. Both of them turned to go out the door; Jemma muttered something to Deke and then hurried after them, catching them when they were out of earshot of the others in the communications centre.

“What’s up, Jemma?” Daisy asked as they halted in the lab, picking out earpieces from the box of supplies. 

“I thought of something,” Jemma said. “You two might encounter Yo-Yo in addition to James.”

Daisy frowned. “We could encounter absolutely anyone -”

“No, what I mean is,” Jemma began, “After Fitz and I got married and we went to England technically for our honeymoon, jumped out of a plane _with_ parachutes and fought a bunch of robots. But Yo-Yo was with us at the time.”

“I remember that,” Lincoln said, rubbing his forehead. “Anton Ivanov. The end of the world. Again. Lovely.”

Jemma gave them a sympathetic look. “Just...be careful.”

“We will be,” Daisy said, smiling at Jemma. “You too. Even if you’re still on Lexi-sitting duty in the Zephyr. You could be a big target for Hive simply because Lexi’s with you.”

“I’ll make her try on flower girl dresses,” Jemma said teasingly. “I think she’d like that more than worrying about her mum.”

“When did you have a chance to do that?” Lincoln asked in amazement. He glanced at Daisy. “Did you know about this?”

Daisy shook her head. “Absolutely no clue,” she said; she was being completely honest. Although she had known about her wedding dress and Lincoln’s wedding suit, she hadn’t known about bridesmaid or flower girl dresses. Deke had clearly gone all out when he had decided to buy their wedding clothes in D.C..

Lincoln turned to look at Jemma, a quizzical look in his eyes. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jemma asked, smirking at both of them before disappearing out the door.




The transference process was not actually all that bad. Robin didn’t scream or cry the entire time, which Kora was grateful for. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure if it was Robin’s tendency to remain utterly and completely silent almost all of the time, or if it was genuinely not hurting her, but either way, Kora was glad she wasn’t saying or doing anything to resist. She was three years old; it was cruel even for Hive to be doing the transference process with a toddler. 

When the process was done, Kora immediately removed Robin from the machine. She picked the girl up, sheltering her in her arms, carefully transferring life energy via her powers into the child. While Hive might think Robin was a liability now, Kora was not about to let any harm come to her if she could help it.

“Make sure Morse is alright,” Hive said in a dismissive voice.

Kora glanced up from where she had her hand pressed against Robin’s forehead.

“No, don’t,” Bobbi said, her voice hoarse. “Make sure that Robin’s fine. She’s just a child, Kora.”

Bobbi’s fingers were already twitching; Kora could see her yearning for a piece of paper to draw on. Guilt welled up inside her. Given that her options at the time had been Jemma or Bobbi, Kora did not regret her choice, although she did feel guilty about Bobbi’s current condition. It was one of those impossible choices that she hated thinking about.

“I can look after both of you,” Kora said, but Doctor Johnson waved her off.

“I’ve got this,” he said, pressing his fingers to the side of Bobbi’s neck to feel her pulse. It was weaker than he would have liked, but still stable. “She’s going to be fine.”

“Take Morse to Bakshi,” Hive said to James and Giyera; Giyera popped open the restraints in the machine with his telekinesis. “I’ll be there after I take care of the infant.” Hive paused. “When that’s done, James, make sure that the landmines are prepped and ready. We don’t want to be caught by surprise.”

Kora took a step backwards, still holding Robin, even as James and Giyera slapped new restraints on Bobbi and started dragging her out of the room. 

“You wouldn’t hurt her,” Kora said, reverting the topic of conversation to Robin, even though she was starting to consider more future possibilities regarding James’ landmines. “She’s an Inhuman! She’s one of us!”

“And she’s served her purpose,” Hive said coldly. “But you’re right. She _is_ one of us. That’s why she’s going to be bait.”




Ward and Jemma were attempting to sneak into the experimentation labs, which was no easy feat. Those labs required codes and keycards to break in, which was no easy feat, considering that Jemma’s card was now deactivated. Jemma had just used Professor Vaughn’s third year compiler theory to open one of the doors when they were greeted with a horrifying sight.

Lincoln was in some sort of machine, several Hydra agents standing around him. As they watched, he looked up from where he was holding some sort of badge.

“Who is she?” he asked the agent standing in front of him; the agent didn’t deign his question with a response.

“You’re not scared you’re going to lose me, are you?” Lincoln asked, his voice much colder and more emotionless; it concerned Ward that he was shutting himself off like that. Lincoln was always kind and compassionate and since Daisy had come into his life, that part of him had definitely come to the fore. Ward was suddenly struck with the realization that forgetting about Daisy might have caused him to become more like a robot.

“He sounds like the Doctor,” Jemma whispered to Ward, her face pale. “I mean...in the original Framework, when Fitz had no idea who I was and was under his horrible father’s influence, he was cold and detached...kind of how Lincoln is sounding now.”

“Are you saying that Lincoln’s an LMD?” Ward asked, his voice just as low.

“No,” Jemma whispered back. “LMDs don’t have powers. Aida was able to get powers because she created a new organic body for herself, but Daisy proved to me that she wasn’t an LMD by demonstrating her powers. If they’re experimenting on him, he can’t be an LMD.”

Small comforts really, because in a way, Ward might prefer if an LMD was getting experimented on instead of Lincoln. 

Meanwhile, inside the room, the agent standing in front of Lincoln spoke again.

“Because you’re my best agent?” he asked; although Ward and Jemma could only see his back, neither of them liked the sound of his voice. 

“When I come out of here, your best agent is gonna be even better,” Lincoln said, his voice mechanical and detached. “Can teleport. You’ll see.”

Ward and Jemma turned to stare at each other, their eyes wide. 

“Wouldn’t want to miss the big fight,” Lincoln said and Ward’s heart sunk all the way down to his shoes, a lump forming in his throat. Their theory was right; Lincoln and Daisy were going to be pitted against each other. At that moment, however, the Hydra agent who was speaking to Lincoln was already backing up, about to turn on the machine; Ward and Jemma scrambled out of the way to leave. As they did, however, another alarm went off over the coms.

“Breach in the experimentation labs! Lock down the base!”

The Hydra agent turned; Ward did not recognize him, but in all honesty, it didn’t matter to him. 

“Run!” Jemma grabbed Ward’s arm and the two of them fled, even as the machine that was supposed to be turning Lincoln into a teleporter started working.




“You two ready?” Deke asked, as Daisy and Lincoln stood near the ramp, ready to jump off the plane. “Do you have your earpieces? And are you sure you don’t want parachutes?”

“Dad, we’ll be fine,” Lincoln said, hugging Deke. “We’ve got this.”

“Yeah,” Daisy said, squeezing Jemma in a quick hug; Jemma was also on the ramp. “Lincoln’s going to glue our hands together with static electricity and I’m going to catch us on landing. It’s going to be the softest landing in the history of all our crazy jumps from aircrafts.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Deke,” Sousa said. “This is the fourth time in less than a week that Lincoln’s jumping out of a plane.” 

“No,” Lincoln corrected him, but he was grinning. “The first time, we fell; the second, we were dropped; and the third, the plane split in half. This is the first time we’re voluntarily jumping.”

“You need another hobby,” Mack said, shaking his head at them; despite the dangerous situation they were in, he, Sousa, Trip and Miles all looked amused at their ridiculous shenanigans.

“Good thing we’re not afraid of heights,” Daisy said as Miles hit the button to lower the ramp. “Ready, Linc?”

“Whenever you are,” he said, holding out his hand to her.

Daisy took it, smiling at him. “Let’s go kick some Hive butt.”

The others backed away as the ramp opened and the two Inhumans approached the ramp. 

“We’ll be in your ear at all times,” Deke said. 

“Just don’t pull a Hunter and Bobbi and turn them off for a private conversation!” Mack called as they jumped off the ramp, holding hands.

Jemma glanced at Mack. “Fitz and I did that too,” she admitted. “As did May and Coulson once.”

Deke stared at her. “You say that now?” he asked. “We’re doomed.”




Her new power felt weird. Bobbi’s fingers were twitching; it was like she had an aching desire to draw something. That felt weird as it was, seeing as she was no artist. It was the peculiar power that was itching for a release, something that would only come from putting pen to paper. Of course, this desire to draw was in no way being helped by the fact that she was now handcuffed to a table; James and Giyera had cuffed her there. Now that Hive was back, both Inhumans had left, James saying something about the landmines that he had planted and Giyera in pursuit of something he had detected in the air. Bobbi had a terrifying feeling that what Giyera had detected was an incoming S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft; Kora had warned her that one was on the way. Even though it might mean a rescue, the rest of her team being in danger was the last thing that Bobbi wanted. 

Hive leaned over her, causing Bobbi to flinch. It was one thing to hear that Hive had Kara’s face and another entirely to see it. She and Kara had been friends; up till Daisy’s arrival, they and May had been the only women on Deke’s team. She could only imagine how torturous it must be for Ward, who had to deal with seeing the face of the woman he loved as a murderous ancient alien.

“Tell me,” Hive said, her voice dangerous. “Tell me what you see about the future. Say it.”

“Sure,” Bobbi said. “I’m here because you’re a twisted psychopath and wants -”

The blow that struck Bobbi in the face was more painful than the punches that Kara usually delivered. Bobbi had trained against Kara in the past; the strength that Hive put into his blow was literally Inhuman. Literally and figuratively. 

“I thought you might resist,” Hive said. “Bakshi?”

The man in the corner stepped forward. His face was afraid and tense at the same time, but Bobbi could deal with being confronted by a human. Bakshi had already put her through his Faustus torture method; he was likely only here to activate her brainwashing. Like the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bobbi had thought that Hydra was buried, but it appeared to be rising again. If she and Hunter were to stay in this timeline, Hydra would definitely be on the list for squashing like cockroaches, provided they managed to survive the battle with Hive. Either way, S.H.I.E.L.D. had a heck of a lot to deal with when this war was over.

Bakshi stepped forward, opened his mouth and began speaking, managing to control the nerves in his voice pretty well.

“Take a deep breath and clear your mind,” he said. “Remember your training. Remember. Compliance will be rewarded.” 

Bobbi didn’t say anything. Then, as an idea came to her, she turned to Hive.

“I need paper,” she said. “And a pencil. To draw.”

Hive studied her with those dark eyes that were so similar to Kara’s, it was creepy. Obviously the ancient Inhuman was much more than Kara, but still...it was terrifying.

“I thought as much,” Hive said, snapping his fingers at Bakshi; the Hydra agent laid down a piece of paper and a pencil in front of Bobbi. “I hope you’re better at explaining your drawings than that Inhuman child….”

Bobbi looked down at her handcuffs. 

“I need you to uncuff me,” she said. “At least one hand. Otherwise I won’t be able to draw.”

“Oh no,” Hive said. “I know your skills. Kara knows all about it.” He tapped the side of his head. “You draw the way you are. Or I’ll hurt your darling husband.”

Bobbi looked down at the pencil in her hand. And then she moved. She flicked the pencil at Bakshi, before lifting the table completely off the ground and slamming it into Hive. As she did so, she used the side of the table to knock Bakshi off his feet; she wrenched her wrists free from the handcuffs. 

Hive launched himself at her, but Bobbi retaliated as best she could, punching and hitting as quickly as possible so that Hive wouldn’t be able to get a blow in edgeways. She knew all about Hive’s parasitic powers; if she let up for even a second, she could get turned into bones. On the bright side, she was still valuable to Hive; she hoped that Hive would decide not to kill her. Being useful to Hive was her only playing card at the moment and that was the only thing standing between her and death. 




The second Daisy and Lincoln were gone, Miles closed the ramp and Deke gestured for the rest of them to head back upstairs. 

“Zephyr’s all yours, Jemma,” Deke said. “You’re staying with -”

As he spoke, the entire Zephyr shuddered. 

“What’s happening?” Sousa asked. “Power failure?”

The Zephyr groaned again and all of them stared at one another. 

“May?” Deke asked, pressing one hand to his ear. “What’s happening -”

Even as he spoke, the Zephyr took on a very steep dive. 

“Giyera!” Jemma shouted, sprinting back up towards the parachutes and snatching one. “He’s controlling the plane!”

“We’re supposed to be far away enough from Afterlife that they wouldn’t detect us!” Deke shouted back, frustrated, but even as he did so, he was also running for parachutes. “We don’t have either Lincoln or Daisy this time to help us fly!”

“I think that’s the point!” Miles shouted back. “They waited till they were gone to jeopardize our flight!”

At that moment the ramp burst open. Jemma was thrown out into the open air before any of them could make a move to grab her; none of them were sure if she had managed to get her hands on a parachute in time. 

“Jemma!” Deke shouted, already trying to strap on his parachute; Trip snatched it from him. 

“I’ve got this!” he said, jumping off the side of the plane, pulling the closed pack on. Although Deke was a skilled agent, he _was_ in his sixties and Trip was in his prime; it was much safer for him to go after Jemma. Little did any of them know that this had happened between Jemma, Fitz and Ward in the original timeline; on the bright side, Trip was no double agent.

The plane tilted again and everyone scrambled to grab onto something. Deke pressed a hand to his earpiece. 

“May, if you can get to the Quinjet, evacuate!” he shouted. “We’re being roped in by Giyera -”

“Already on it,” May said. “Lexi’s with me.”

“Go,” Deke said. “Get her out of here.”

Even as Deke spoke, he heard the sounds of the Quinjet being ejected from above; May and Lexi were gone. 

“What about the rest of us?” Sousa asked, but Mack and Miles were already pulling on parachutes.

“We’re jumping!” Deke said, grabbing a gun and holstering it. “Better we abandon ship than get roped into another trap!”

“Wait, what about Ward?” Miles asked. He let go of the side of the wall to go over to him and then yelped as the plane tilted and he was thrown out. 

“Miles!” Mack shouted; Miles was quickly strapping on his parachute even as he fell. 

“I’ll get Ward!” Deke took one step in that direction, but a strong gust of wind tilted the plane again and all three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were thrown into the air, thankfully, all carrying parachutes. 

“At least this time we have parachutes!” Sousa shouted to Deke as they spiralled through the air.

“I don’t know if I prefer Barrel of Monkeys!” Deke shouted back. “At least then we had someone else to count on, rather than just parachutes!”




Although Deke had told Daisy and Lincoln to keep their coms on, the ones on the Zephyr had been shorted out, either by Kora or Giyera, not that it really mattered who did it. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln had been expecting Deke to give them commands right off the bat, so the radio silence wasn’t a concern to either of them. Additionally, Deke was still coordinating things with the reinforcements in the other two Quinjets; Hand was in one with Agents Piper and Davis and Coulson and Price were in the other one, hence why neither one of them was concerned by the silence over the coms. At least at first.

“Watch out for landmines,” Lincoln said as they headed towards the location Deke had shown them on the map. “Knowing our luck, there’ll be landmines before the ones that we know of and you’ll step on one.”

Daisy smirked at him. “On the bright side, if we do, we both know I can hold it down with my powers.”

“On the not so bright side, James has powers this time,” Lincoln reminded her. “Which are definitely more lethal than a rifle.”

“I trust you’ll fry him before he blows either of us up,” Daisy said, slipping her hand into his. “But either way, we’re going to detonate said landmines. One giant distraction coming up.”

Lincoln laughed, even though the situation they were in was very dangerous. “I love you too,” he said teasingly. He paused as they reached a ridge. 

“I can feel it,” Daisy said, her own smile dropping as she hunted for the vibrations in the ground. “Mines are everywhere.”

As she spoke, another voice came from up ahead. 

“Hey, Flower.”

It was James. Unwelcome, but not exactly unexpected.

“I get that you’re attracted to danger. Break things up with Blondie or -”

Even before James had finished his sentence, Daisy had already knelt and sent a giant shockwave through the ground, causing the bombs to detonate. The first few had gone off before James realized what she was doing. 

“Dammit!” James cursed, grabbing for a rifle, but by now, Lincoln was stepping forward. A giant electricity bolt blasted James in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

“You talk too much,” Daisy said scoffingly, even as she pushed her hair out of her face. She paused. “And that’s what you get for flirting with me when I’m getting _married_ to said Blondie.”

Lincoln smiled at her, his lips twitching in amusement. “I think I fried him a little harder than I had to.”

“Jealous?” Daisy asked teasingly.

“Yes and no,” Lincoln admitted. “I know you’d never get involved with him, so I guess you could say it’s this tiny irrational part of me that’s jealous.”

Daisy smirked. “You have nothing to be worried about,” she said. “Although I do like that you were honest with me about it.”

At that moment, three red-headed Alisha clones came into sight and Daisy and Lincoln traded glances. 

“Time to be bait,” Daisy said. 

Lincoln nodded. “Let’s go,” he said. “But slowly.”

Daisy nodded in response. “Lure more in,” she agreed. 

They backed up slowly, making sure that Alisha kept them in sight, hoping that more of Hive’s Inhumans would appear.




“Agent May, where are the others?” Hand’s voice came on over the coms. “What happened to the Zephyr?”

“Giyera took control of the plane,” May said. “It must have been the psychics. They must have predicted what we were trying to do.”

“Alright,” Hand said grimly. “We’ll land the Quinjets and try to take Afterlife on foot. We have several other agents on board out Quinjets; if Agents Campbell and Johnson’s distraction works out, we might still have enough bodies to take back Afterlife.”

“I’m not landing the Quinjet,” May said warningly. “My daughter is on board -”

“By your admission, the Zephyr was just taken over by rogue Inhumans,” Hand said. “It might be safer for Alexis to be on the ground with you where you can protect her, as opposed to a Quinjet that can be snatched out of the sky.”

While Hand did have a fair point, it was equally, if not more dangerous for them to be on the ground. The evacuation in the Quinjet had been so swift that there had been no time for planning, plus the code that Daisy, Miles, Jemma and Mack had spent so long compiling had been intended for the Zephyr, not the Quinjet. And even if it did work, Giyera could probably detect the plane in the air, even with cloaking, similar to how Daisy could feel vibrations and Lincoln could sense electrical impulses, just by being in a close enough vicinity. At this point, May might as well try to protect Lexi on the ground.

“Momma, I’ll be fine,” Lexi said reassuringly. “We can do this.”

May grimaced. Her alternative was turning the Quinjet around and flying out of there, but even that didn’t seem like a good solution. Hive had found them at the Retreat and who knew if Daisy and/or Lincoln would be fast enough to rescue them this time. 

“Alright,” May said reluctantly. “But, Lex, promise me you’ll be safe. And cautious. And careful.”

“I promise, Momma,” Lexi said. “I promise.”

That was not exactly reassuring, considering Lexi had been volunteering to go through Terrigenesis, just to protect May. But, seeing as there were not many choices left, May would just have to trust Lexi when she said that she would be as safe and cautious as possible. And do whatever she could to keep Lexi out of danger.




Thanks to their earlier exit from the Zephyr, when Trip caught Jemma, they landed somewhere in some sort of snowy mountain area. 

“Where the hell are we?” Trip asked, staring around them. “And how are we supposed to get to Afterlife from here?”

It was _cold_. Given how warm Afterlife appeared to be, the snowy area that they were standing was the complete opposite of that.

“I think we’re in the mountain area,” Jemma said. “If I’m not much mistaken, Daisy caused an avalanche here once.”

Trip’s teeth were chattering at this point. 

“Is that supposed to be reassuring?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jemma said. “It means that we’re not too far from Afterlife. Just...a walk away.”

Trip groaned. “I think you mean a mountain climb,” he decided. “Ideas?”

“We hijack a car?” Jemma asked. “If we can find one?” 

“Reassuring,” Trip said; they were in an area that didn’t appear to have any form of transportation. It was remote Nepal, after all. “Or maybe...I could contact Kora and tell her we’re going to die of hypothermia if she doesn’t get us out of here.”

“You want to willingly betray our location to Kora?” Jemma asked. “I’d sooner try to contact Hand or Coulson’s Quinjets!”

Trip tilted his head. “Yeah, that might be the smarter move, actually,” he admitted.

Jemma pressed a hand to her ear. “Deke? Hand? Coulson?”

There was no response over the coms. 

Trip tapped his own earpiece. “Deke? Miles? Lincoln?”

Again, there was silence. 

“No luck,” Trip reported.

Jemma grimaced. “Walk first,” she decided. “Before we freeze. Maybe we’ll get better luck with the coms.”

“Or maybe they’re frozen on the inside,” Trip said, pulling out his earpiece to look at it. “We _are_ in the snow and the cold.”

“Reassuring,” Jemma told him, turning his own words on him. “Let’s go before we freeze. If we’re going to die of hypothermia, then contact Kora. Before then...I think it’s a better idea if we remain radio silent.”




Deke, Sousa, Mack and Miles landed somewhat closer to Afterlife than Trip and Jemma had, but also nowhere near in the vicinity of Daisy and Lincoln. It was a good thing that they had memorized the maps because if they hadn’t, they would be seriously lost.

“So what’s the plan now?” Miles asked. “Are we trying to sneak in and find Hunter and Bobbi? Because I don’t know how much of a sneak attack that was.”

“We split up,” Deke said decisively. “You and Mack try to track down the Zephyr. See if you can find Ward; you two could probably repair the Framework machines if necessary. Watch out for Giyera. Sousa and I will start looking for Bobbi and Hunter. If you encounter Katya, Miles, just pretend that you’re under her influence. Hopefully it’ll buy you some time for Mack to put a bullet in her. Same goes for you, Sousa.”

“And if we encounter the other not-so-friendly Inhumans?” Miles asked. “Or the Absolution virus?”

“Run like a Vrellnexian is after you,” Deke said. 

“Great,” Mack said. “That’s reassuring.” 

With that last sarcastic comment, the two teams split up and went in separate directions, one heading to the east and the other west.




When May landed the Quinjet in a field, she was more than a little worried for Lexi’s safety. Before she opened the ramp, she spoke to Lexi, who was bracing herself, as if for an attack.

“Lex, I know we agreed that you should come with me,” May said. “But for my sake, if someone breaks a Terrigen crystal near you or releases the Absolution virus, just run. Away. And hide. Do whatever it takes to get out of danger. Yes?”

“I promise,” Lexi said, her eyes wide and anxious. Despite her bravery, Lexi was still an eight year old girl; she had a right to be afraid. May smiled at her reassuringly. 

“I’ll protect you,” May said softly. “No matter what.”

After Lexi nodded, May opened the ramp. Unfortunately, as the ramp opened, an Inhuman stepped out from behind the bushes where he had previously been out of sight. It was Giyera; even as all three Quinjets tried to close their ramps, he directed canisters of the Absolution virus at them.

“Get back!” May shouted, but Giyera was quick. The three canisters shattered; both May and Lexi sprinted back into the Quinjet and jumped straight through the glass at the front of the plane, shattering the glass completely and landing on their sides. They weren’t the only ones with that idea; Coulson, Price, Hand, Piper and Davis had also successfully evacuated their Quinjets, but the other agents weren’t so lucky. May could hear them gagging and coughing on the inside; she cursed under her breath. Those Quinjets had held up to twenty agents; that meant twenty Primitives in addition to all the Inhumans they had to face.

“Run, Lex!” May shouted, but Lexi needed no encouragement. All of them sprinted for the closest buildings, trying to get away from the Primitives who, in addition to being trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, were also armed to the teeth with bullet-proof vests and guns.


	78. Chapter 78

**Chapter 78**

The buildings that May and Lexi sprinted into were arranged in a sort of maze. If someone wanted to get lost in Afterlife, it wouldn’t be all that hard. In fact, the arrangement of the transition rooms and other buildings was more like a labyrinth than anything else. On the bright side, that meant it was harder for the Primitives to catch them. On the down side, it also meant that getting lost was a much bigger possibility.

May and Lexi were separated from Hand, Coulson, Price, Piper and Davis pretty quickly. After the initial frantic running, they slowed their pace, opting for sneaking around in silence as opposed to making noise and possibly running into a trap. There were too many Primitives and Giyera was flinging anything and everything non-organic out of his way in pursuit of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. 

“Stay low,” May said in a low voice. “If you see any hint of the Absolution virus, run as far away as you possibly can. Even if it means leaving me.”

“Momma -” Lexi began, but May cut her off.

“No arguments,” May said. “You run. And hide. Or keep running. Do whatever you have to do to escape. Even if it means leaving me behind.” 

“Momma -” 

“Stay low,” May said, the seriousness in her voice evident. “Keep an eye out for -”

She stopped talking when a Primitive came out of seemingly nowhere. These Primitives were armed to the teeth with weapons; this one in particular was wearing what appeared to be some sort of armoured bodysuit. May didn’t know who this S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had previously been, but she could already tell he wasn’t going to be easy to take down. He grabbed out at Lexi, but May leapt in the way, kicking his leg out of the way as hard as possible. He spun around and May leapt straight up, landing on his shoulders and yanking his head back in an attempt to break his neck.

“Run!” she shouted at Lexi, who looked torn between helping her and obeying her mother. “Lex, RUN!”

Lexi turned and fled. She hadn’t barely made it down the corridor, however, when an agent grabbed her around the neck and shouted, “Got you!”

He wasn’t a Primitive, but Lexi had no idea why he was attacking her or how he had survived the Absolution virus attack. Maybe he had leapt out of the Quinjets with Hand, Price, Coulson, Piper and Davis. If the other five had survived, it was possible that one or two others had as well. Either way, she was utterly confused as to why he was attacking her. It was only when he next spoke that Lexi realized who he thought she was.

He barked into his coms, saying, “I have the precognitive Inhuman child!”

And Lexi realized the truth. He thought she was Robin Hinton.

Idiot! Robin was three years old and Lexi was eight; there was a huge difference. Obviously this idiotic S.H.I.E.L.D agent didn’t know that she was May and Andrew’s daughter and in a situation when S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were panicking about being turned into Primitives, it made sense that they might lose all sense of logic and reason. There weren’t very many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had met her, although those on Deke’s team obviously had. There was no time for reasoning with him; she could see Giyera over his shoulder.

Lexi kneed the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the balls as hard as she possibly could and leapt upright, landing around his neck and twisting. Within seconds, he was flat on his back on the ground, not dead, just unconscious. She might be eight, but she hadn’t been kidding when she’d told Lincoln, Jemma and the others that her parents had trained her how to protect herself. Like her mother, she was a skilled gymnast and martial artist; her father had taught her how to read people in order to assess if they were lying. Lexi might be eight, but she was a miniature S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in every possible way. 

Lexi looked up from where she had put the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent flat on his back and met Giyera’s gaze. He froze, the canister with the Absolution virus in hand. Neither one of them moved for a split second and in that moment, Lexi knew that, like her, he knew that he could not use the Absolution virus on her. Not deliberately. Earlier, when he had released the virus on the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, he probably hadn’t been targeting her or hadn’t realized that she was there. But now that he saw how she could fight...even if he triggered her Terrigenesis, he didn’t know if he could beat her. Her mother had beaten him before and Lexi was just as skilled as her mother at fighting.

And Giyera couldn’t risk triggering her Terrigenesis in the off-chance that she had inherited her father’s powers. 

Then he turned, as if something had caught his attention. Lexi didn’t know what it was, but she suspected it was an attack of some other kind. Before she could decide if she wanted to risk leaping onto an Inhuman who was more than capable of kidnapping her, another Primitive leapt at her and she dodged out of the way. Clearly, Giyera had bigger fish to fry, not that that was a good thing. The only people who were more important to Hive than Lexi were Daisy and Lincoln.




If it was just Alisha after them, Daisy and Lincoln could have dealt with her easily. But their job was to lure as many of the Inhumans after them as possible. James was out cold, but Alisha was coming and quickly. If there were only three after her, that meant the other two clones were either trying to lure them into a trap, or off doing something else. 

“Think one of them is the prime?” Daisy asked Lincoln as they backed away. 

“Maybe,” Lincoln admitted. “But we should wait and see if more are coming.”

Daisy hated the waiting game, although it made sense. Out of all of Hive’s Inhumans, Alisha was the one they could take most easily, provided she didn’t come within too close proximity of them. Aside from her clone selves, Alisha’s talents were in her martial arts skills; Daisy and Lincoln could both knock her out with their powers from a distance. Alisha was playing it smart though; she was moving towards them slowly, a gun in hand, keeping close to the trees. While Daisy could stop bullets easily, keeping close to the trees meant that she had objects to duck behind if it came to that.

On the other hand, they couldn’t make it too obvious to Alisha that they were the bait. If she got wind of the fact that they knew it was a trap….

At that moment, something came barrelling out of the trees to their right. It wasn’t Alisha; it was something ugly, grotesque and -

“Primitive!” Lincoln shouted.

Daisy reacted instinctively, blasting a quake pulse, sending him flying backwards into a tree. As her attention got caught up with that, the ground rumbled under their feet _and_ two batons came flying through the air straight at them. 

Lincoln fried them both out of the air, but as he did so, more Inhumans and Primitives came into sight.

“Was that you?” he asked, but Daisy shook her head.

“Must be Flint! Was that Bobbi? Or just her batons?” she asked, turning slightly; they had been standing back-to-back, hands outstretched in either direction. 

“Giyera,” Lincoln said, nodding to where the telekinetic Inhuman was now approaching them.

Daisy looked up. Alisha was no longer alone; Giyera and Flint were coming towards them. In addition to them, at least ten Primitives were approaching them as well and, from what Daisy could see, James was stirring on the ground, regaining consciousness. There was no sign of Bobbi, but it made sense that Hive would have her batons, seeing as she was his prisoner.

“Time to run?” Daisy asked, even though there were a lot of Inhumans still missing: Kora, Yo-Yo, Joey, Katya, Hive, Raina and Robin. Admittedly, Raina and Robin were not fighters, but the rest…. Based on their fights with them at the Academy and in D.C., both Daisy and Lincoln knew that they were in communication with one another. Now that some of them were there, the others would follow. Plus, if Yo-Yo was there...running would be a whole lot harder.

Lincoln nodded. “Let’s go.”

Turning, both Inhumans booked it into the trees as fast as they could go, the other Inhumans and Primitives hot on their heels.




Mack and Miles were not having an easy time of it. The Zephyr could have landed literally anywhere and both of them were walking on metaphorical eggshells, trying to avoid encountering any swayed Inhumans and/or Hive. To make matters worse, Miles was not a skilled field agent; he was a hacktivist first and field agent second. If they encountered an Inhuman like Giyera, who was an expert martial artist, in addition to being a telekinetic, they were in for a whole heck of a lot of trouble.

“So if you could have powers, what would you wish for?” Miles asked as they edged around one of the seemingly endless transition rooms in Afterlife.

Mack looked at him. 

“What?” Miles asked. “I’m just saying, powers would be freaking awesome. Especially considering Shake and Bake and Break can cause earthquakes and conduct electricity and control energy.”

“You’re as bad as Hunter,” Mack decided. “You two are a bad influence on each other.”

“That’s what Bobbi said,” Miles admitted, but he looked concerned even as he spoke. “You good? I know Bobbi and Hunter are family to you.”

Mack grimaced. While Lincoln was like a younger brother to him, Bobbi was like his younger sister. He was fairly close with Hunter, and despite his abrupt introduction to Daisy, was definitely liking her. He had seen Lincoln lose his temper before and, after the disastrous reunion with his birth mother, Mack had been expecting a lot more angst from Lincoln than what he had shown. While Lincoln was obviously bitter about Price, Daisy’s presence had soothed his temper; Mack had seen it while he, Deke and Jemma had been in Lincoln’s bunk. Initially Mack had been beyond confused about the other timeline and Lincoln and Daisy’s swift relationship, but he had to admit that, despite all the confusing stuff about timelines, Daisy was very good for Lincoln. Their mutual care for one another was also a relief to Mack; Amanda hadn’t been the only one concerned about Lincoln’s relationship status. Mack just hadn’t wanted him to be alone. 

“Deke will find them,” Mack said, sounding more confident than he was really feeling. “They’re his grandparents; he won’t let anything happen to them.”

“S.H.I.E.L.D. and it’s weird families,” Miles said cheerfully. “At this rate, I’ll end up being related to someone else too! Maybe I’m Talbot’s illegitimate son. That would make sense. Or maybe I’m _Deke’s_ illegitimate son!”

Mack’s eyebrows raised into his forehead. “That would be...something.”

Miles grinned suddenly. “I doubt that would happen,” he said. “Unless, of course, he had no idea that he knocked up an ex-girlfriend of his or something -”

Mack cut him off from speaking when they spotted the Zephyr. It was in a field, seemingly no worse for the wear; there was no sign of any other aircraft nearby. Giyera was nowhere in sight, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t hiding nearby, waiting for someone to take the bait. 

“Think we should just...barge in?” Miles asked. “Should we try to close the ramp or not? Cuz if we do, we might be trapping ourselves in the Zephyr with a rogue Inhuman. Or we could be leaving ourselves open to an attack from said Inhumans. If we leave the ramp open.” 

Mack tapped his earpiece. “Sparks? Tremors? Any word on Inhumans?”

There was dead silence.

“That’s not good,” Miles decided. “EMP? Or Kora gone wild?”

Mack sighed. “I don’t know enough about that one.”

“Me neither,” Miles admitted. “Before she was swayed, I barely interacted with her at all.” He paused. “Although she saved my life. Risking her own life and Sousa’s to kick me out of a Quinjet while I was still under Katya’s sway. She’s definitely a good one. If she weren’t under Hive’s sway, that is.”

Mack grimaced. “Okay then,” he said. “We’ll seal the ramp. You see if Ward’s okay; I’ll clear the Zephyr. Deal?”

Miles nodded. “Here’s to hoping Ward’s still there and fine. Because those machines are seriously energy-sucking demons.”




It had taken Ward and Jemma ages to lose all the Hydra agents on their tails. They had evacuated the main Hydra building, hijacked a car and driven far far away. It had taken hours to evade all the agents; they had switched cars three times, run a marathon through an abandoned strip mall and stolen a ride in a food truck back into the city. Hours had passed and they were now trying to get back into the main Hydra building through the garbage chutes.

“So you’re sure that this fight is tonight?” Ward asked Jemma as they landed in the basement, smelly and both in need of a serious bath.

“Yes,” Jemma said. “Well...more like 80% certain.”

Ward looked at her. “Seriously?” 

“Well, sometimes they experiment on Inhumans longer,” Jemma explained. “But if the Doctor was talking about a fight to the death already, I doubt he’d want to lose favour with the other Hydra heads by postponing it.”

Ward looked at her. “What do you mean?”

Jemma looked exhausted. She was worn out and tired and the effect of Deke’s death was evidently weighing on her. She rubbed her face, leaving a streak of dirt on her cheek.

“The heads of Hydra have some Inhumans fight for entertainment,” she said. “It’s to gain favour. If their Inhuman wins, then they get privileges. I can’t pretend to understand all of what these privileges are, but we suspect it’s more like access to weaponry and money and power and things like that.”

Ward felt like he was going to be sick. This future was becoming worse and worse with everything that he learned about it. 

“Oh my God,” Ward said. “How many Inhumans? How do they prevent them from turning on their...Hydra masters?”

Jemma grimaced. “Gordon’s powers aren’t the only thing they’ve been experimenting with,” she said. “I don’t have any proof, but Katya’s powers -”

“Oh my God,” Ward repeated. “This isn’t the Framework, this is hell!”

Jemma was too worried and concerned to be amused that she had once told Daisy and Ward a similar thing in the original Framework. 

“And there’s the Faustus method as well,” Jemma said. “Brainwashing people, humans and Inhumans.”

Things were going from worse to disastrous. “So...after Inhumans get experimented on, they get...thrown into a fight to the death?” Ward asked.

“It’s worse than that,” Jemma said. “This is the timeline where Nathaniel Malick found a way to steal Inhuman powers after all. When someone has a power they want, they steal it. Maybe to keep for themselves, maybe to make weapons, I’m not sure.” 

“I take it back,” Ward decided. “This isn’t hell. This isn’t even an apocalyptic hellscape. This is...Tartarus. The darkest part of the flipping Underworld.”

Jemma didn’t even have the heart to tell him that Tartarus was technically part of hell too. Just the worst part of hell. Instead, she changed the subject. 

“On the bright side,” she said, “you just need to wake up and tell them how to prevent this future from happening.”

Ward rubbed his forehead. “One of our own to prevent this disaster.” His voice was bitter when he spoke. “Raina really screwed up our world.”

Jemma looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry about Kara, Ward.”

Her mentioning Kara’s name felt like a punch in the larynx; Ward felt like he couldn’t speak for the lump in his throat. Still, he knew Jemma meant well, even though there was nothing she could do to help rectify the situation. 

Ward shook his head, trying to remind himself that he was currently a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and not a mourning lover. “It hasn’t been all that long, but it feels like an entire lifetime has passed,” he admitted. “When this is all over, I have to contact her mum and tell her that Kara’s dead...she’s going to be heartbroken. There won’t even be a body to bury because it’s going to blow up in space.”

Jemma grimaced as they made their way to the makeshift arena where the Inhuman fights were conducted. As much as she despised the original timeline Ward and Kara, this Ward had proven himself more than once to be a loyal and true agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and while she hadn't ever met Kara, she didn’t doubt that Kara was an equally good and trustworthy agent, prior to her death. 

“You’ll find another love, Ward,” she said. “It might take a long time, but you will.”

Ward looked at her sceptically. “Right,” he said. “Because you and Daisy totally moved on from Fitz and Lincoln.”

Jemma winced. “Ward, there is always that one person who is our one true love,” she said. “Fitz is mine; Lincoln is Daisy’s. But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been other people along the way. If I had been trapped on Maveth for the rest of my life, I would have been happy with Will; if Lincoln hadn’t returned, Daisy would have been happy with Sousa. But they would never ever be our first choices.”

Ward nodded slowly. “They’re the men you would have been with because your true love was gone.”

That one felt like a bullet in the back. He might find another love, but she would never be anything like Kara. The same way Daisy would never ever find a replacement for Lincoln, Ward would never ever find a substitute for Kara. It was just the way the world worked. 

“It doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness again,” Jemma said, noticeably not denying what he had just said. “Honestly, Ward.”

Ward smiled grimly. “If that’s true and if I get out of this battle against Hive alive, I’ll ask your real-life self this,” he said. “I hope that that’s true.”




While Daisy and Lincoln were running from countless assailants, Miles and Mack were trying to retake the Zephyr, May and Lexi were fighting S.H.I.E.L.D. agents turned Primitives, and Jemma and Trip were stranded in the snowy mountains of Nepal, Deke and Sousa were not having an easy time of their hunt for Hunter and Bobbi. There were literally so many transition rooms to check that they hadn’t made much progress at all. Some of the transition rooms were a mess; Hive’s Inhumans had clearly been sleeping in some of them. James’, for example, had beer bottles everywhere, whereas Giyera’s was the perfect picture of a military soldier’s lodging; there was not a strand of hair out of place. The only indication that someone lived there at all was a suit hanging up for airing next to the wardrobe.

“They’ve certainly made themselves at home,” Sousa said, shutting the door behind him. 

“On the bright side, they’re not trashing it,” Deke said as they approached another one of the transition rooms. “Well, not all of them are trashing it.”

Sousa shook his head. “They’re certainly something, alright.”

He opened the door to the next building and froze. The ambivalence of that room was so different it was uncanny. There were rose petals on the bed, the air smelled soft and sweet, candles were placed, unlit, around the room. It had an unmistakably romantic feel to the room.

“Who the hell sleeps here?” Sousa asked, but even as he spoke, he realized where they were. “This...this is Daisy’s old transition room, isn’t it?”

Deke glanced up and down the row of buildings and nodded. “This is where they marked it on the map,” he said. He glanced back at the room and took a step backwards. “I swear, Sousa, I had no idea that this was happening. And I am a lot of things, but setting the room up like this was not something I could physically have done. I -”

“I know,” Sousa said, stepping backwards and shutting the door before they could do anything to destroy the perfect honeymoon suite. “Hive’s Inhumans have been here for days and there’s no way you could have gotten anyone to set up her room like a….” He couldn’t bring himself to say the words. Although he knew perfectly well that Daisy and Lincoln were engaged and wanted to get married in a few hours, it was a jarring realization that the wedding was actually happening and they might even have their honeymoon in Afterlife. _He_ felt like throwing up and the sympathy on Deke’s face was even worse. Of course Deke, of all people, who had let Daisy go to be happy all those years ago, was now the biggest Daisy-and-Lincoln fan of all. The hand that life played sometimes truly sucked.

The last thing in the world Sousa wanted to see was the room where Daisy and Lincoln would consummate their marriage. He wasn’t an idiot; he knew that they’d had sex before and likely multiple times since Daisy had chosen Lincoln, but still...it made Sousa nauseous, furious and downright sick to see the place where they would have their honeymoon. Of all sights...probably the only thing worse than that would be to see them actually making love. Not that that was something he ever wanted to see. Hearing about it was bad enough and Sousa had done that way too many times for his liking. 

“A honeymoon suite,” a voice said from behind them and both Sousa and Deke turned, to see Kora standing there, a frown on her face. “You two shouldn’t be here.”




Jemma and Trip were getting colder and colder. There had been radio silence the entire time; neither one of them had been able to reach any of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Afterlife looked a lot further away than it had previously seemed; they were probably going to have to walk for an entire day just to be able to reach Afterlife. 

“Okay,” Jemma said, shivering. “Try and reach Kora. Even if she captures us and brings us to Afterlife, we might be able to escape and help our friends that way.”

“Kora won’t turn us in,” Trip said, sounding more confident than he really felt. “She’ll figure out something.” 

Jemma frowned at him. “Last time, Trip, when she brought you to the Quinjet to save your life, I ended up being teleported into D.C.. I don’t think I can count on her good will.”

Trip shrugged, even though he was shivering from the cold. “She knows that hurting you would hurt Daisy. She wouldn’t want that.” He paused. “And please believe me when I say that. I’ve spent ages trying to convince Sousa that Daisy doesn’t want him to die even though she’s not in love with him.” 

Jemma eyed him. “Trip, Sousa doesn’t _want_ to believe that Daisy still cares,” she said. “Because it hurts more that way. She cares, but not enough. Lincoln is and always will be the one she wants. She’s in love with Lincoln; she’s marrying him; she wants a family, children, old age with him. Even if Lincoln dies - which is the last thing any of us wants - Daisy will never ever feel for Sousa the way she loves Lincoln. In fact, I doubt she would allow herself to even try again if something were to happen to Lincoln. But if Sousa thinks for a second that Daisy still cares, it’ll cause him to hope. Hope that she might change her mind, hope that she’ll return to him. And to have that hope crushed is more painful than to believe that she doesn’t care at all.”

Trip was silent for a while. “That’s...awful,” he said at last.

Jemma nodded. “It is. I’m not on his side - if anything, I’m on Daisy’s side, not Lincoln’s or Sousa’s - but it’s hell, what he’s going through. Every single moment he had with Daisy has had the shadow of Lincoln hanging over it, subconscious or conscious for her. Although….” She sighed. “Everyone’s hurting. Ward lost Kara, you and Kora, May lost Andrew…. No one has much to celebrate or enjoy right now.”

Trip grimaced. “We’ll get you home to Fitz,” he said. “And Alya. Whatever it takes.”

Jemma smiled at him. “Thanks, Trip,” she said. “I guess Daisy told you about them? Or Lincoln?”

“Kora, actually,” Trip said, his smile fading. “Before she got swayed. But yes...we’ll make sure you get home.”




Both Deke and Sousa had their guns out, aimed at Kora, who made no move to blast their weapons away, just as neither of them tried to shoot her.

“Kora, you don’t want to do this,” Deke said, attempting to pacify her.

Kora laughed. “I’ve heard that one before,” she said. “More than once.”

“Kora, it’s us,” Sousa said. “Deke and Sousa. You don’t want to hurt us.”

Kora winced, shaking her head hard, like she was struggling with something in her brain. Her face was pale and bloodless; it was a shocking realization that her blood had been the one that Hive had been using to create his Absolution virus. Deke realized, all of a sudden, that if one of them were to attack her, she might not be able to hold her own.

“Kora…,” Sousa began tentatively, but Kora cut him off.

“No, Sousa, stop talking,” she said, rubbing her head hard; she looked like she was struggling with something. Deke was reminded abruptly of Ruby Hale and Glenn Talbot; they too had been struggling with more than one voice inside their heads. Kora looked similarly tortured, like she was fighting against something inside her.

“Windowless room,” Kora rasped, her voice strained. “Red room.”

“What?” 

Kora might speak in riddles sometimes, but now, she was being particularly cryptic.

She froze, all of a sudden and then said aloud, “I’ll send the Zephyr to you. Or at least...it’ll go to you.”

“Kora?” Deke was beyond confused, but Sousa, Sousa who had seen Trip communicate with Kora before, realized, all at once, what was happening.

“Kora is Trip on your line?” Sousa asked. “We haven’t been able to reach them at all! The communications are fried.”

Kora didn’t say anything for a moment, ignoring both Deke and Sousa. Then she stumbled to one knee, clutching her head in both hands. 

“I’m giving them my earpiece,” she said. “I don’t...have long. I’m sorry...there wasn’t more time.”

Then she popped her earpiece out of her ear and held it out to Sousa and Deke.

“Take it,” she rasped, her throat hoarse. “Take it before I can’t give it anymore.”

“Kora, what’s going on?” Deke asked. “Come with us -”

“I can’t,” Kora whispered. “Don’t try and make me; I’ll have to defend myself -”

She cut herself off with a frantic scream, collapsing on the ground completely. Hive was striding towards them, her long black coat, almost like a cape, trailing behind her.

“Run,” Kora whispered. “Run!”

Both Sousa and Deke opened fire on Hive, but he extended his hands towards them. The very sight of that caused both men to bolt, Sousa snatching the offered earpiece from Kora as they went. There was nothing either of them could do to help her; she was curled up in a sort of ball, shivering and muttering to herself. If they tried to grab her, they would all be captured.

Sousa shoved the earpiece into his ear, hating himself as they ran away. Both men knew that Daisy would find it hard to forgive them for their abandonment of Kora. While May and Mack had left Daisy with Hive before, she had been under Hive’s control at the time; Kora was obviously fighting the sway as hard as she could, to the point of torture. However, there was no choice in the matter. If they stayed, Hive would kill them with a wave of his hands. Running was literally their only option.




Daisy and Lincoln led the Inhumans and Primitives in a wild Vrellnexian chase. However, as fast as they were, it was by no means easy to keep evading so many, even when they had a head start.

As it was, Lincoln had already fried two Primitives and Daisy had quaked one Alisha and one Primitive into two trees, but still...there were way more after them than they had expected. As they headed north, a loud shout came from behind them; it sounded like Giyera was issuing orders to the Inhumans. Neither of them could quite catch what he’d said, but it was enough of an indicator that their pursuers had, by no means, given up chasing them down, even with some of their comrades having fallen. 

At that moment, somewhere up ahead, they heard a young girl’s voice shout something unintelligible. There were only two children in Afterlife that anyone knew of: Lexi and Robin. It made no sense to either Daisy or Lincoln why Lexi was on the ground in the fight, seeing as the plan had been for her to remain in the Zephyr at all times, but whether it was Lexi or Robin, it didn’t matter. Either way they needed to protect her; she was innocent. 

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other, even as they hurdled over a fallen tree.

“Go!” Lincoln said urgently. “We can’t bring more Primitives down on whoever it is!”

Even though there was a possibility of Robin being swayed, both of them knew that Robin was in no way capable of hurting them. Her gift lay in the realm of drawing the past, present and future; she was a three-year old and by no means a fighter. And if it was Lexi...well, both Daisy and Lincoln would do anything to try to save her. 

“What about you?” Daisy asked frantically.

“They want me more than you,” Lincoln reminded her. “You have a better chance of saving Lexi or Robin than I do.”

Daisy hesitated for a split second, then pulled him to a halt behind a tree, pressing her lips urgently to his in a frantic, desperate kiss.

“I love you,” she said. “Promise me you’ll be safe.”

Lincoln kissed her back just as urgently. “I love you too,” he said. “And I promise I’ll see you soon. Stay safe.” 

Daisy hesitated for a split second longer and then tore into the underbrush in the direction of the shout. Lincoln ducked out from behind his cover and made more noise than he could have done racing in the opposite direction from Daisy. He pretended to trip as he ran, cursing out loud; at least half of the Inhumans and Primitives followed him. Lincoln bolted through the brush, only pausing for half a second when Alisha called his name in a futile attempt to get his attention. 




Daisy hated herself for leaving Lincoln, but truth be told, there wasn’t much of a choice. Lexi was more vulnerable than most; she might be a skilled and talented daughter of two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but she was still an eight-year old little girl. Additionally, while Terrigen crystals and the Mist would not harm her, seeing as she was Inhuman, they _would_ turn her. Going through Terrigenesis was the last thing that anyone wanted for her. And if it was Robin...well, Robin was even more vulnerable than Lexi. Robin was three years old; Hive was beyond cruel to even consider swaying such a young child.

Unfortunately, before Daisy could get very far, she was confronted with a Primitive who came out of seemingly nowhere. At such close quarters, Daisy was forced to trade blows with him, ignoring the way her muscles hurt when his arms struck hers. Primitives were stronger than ordinary humans; Inhumans were just as strong as humans, although they did have powers. It took several blows for Daisy to be able to bring him down and by the time she grabbed his gun, she heard a frantic scream behind her.

“No!”

She turned, dropping the gun when she saw another Primitive aiming his weapon at her. Typically Primitives did not use weapons, but regardless...Primitives retained some of their knowledge even after the Absolution virus transformed them. On the other hand, Daisy had _not_ been expecting Bobbi to be out and about. Truth be told, she didn’t even look that much worse for the war. Daisy was utterly confused, but now was not the time to be worried about how Bobbi had escaped captivity. She brought both palms up, causing a massive quake pulse to rip through the woods, deflecting the bullet aimed at her; a massive tree shattered into a gazillion pieces, some of the pieces stabbing the Primitive in a dozen places. Bobbi too, was thrown backwards, but unlike the Primitive, none of the wood pieces stabbed her. Still, her anxiety about both Lincoln and either Lexi or Robin had caused Daisy to throw a bigger than expected quake pulse; several trees beyond Bobbi and the Primitive continued to crumble. However, even as that happened, a massive sound of electricity crackling sounded not too far away.

Daisy turned; electrical rain was falling out of the sky and not like lightning. While the inhabitants of Afterlife relied on candles a lot, there was still electricity there; Lincoln had hit the electrical tower. Of all distractions, that was a really good one. Especially since trees were still crumbling. Talk about natural disasters; they were seriously causing a lot of destruction. Although admittedly, Afterlife was still standing, so they hadn’t destroyed that yet. The last thing either of them wanted was for Afterlife to burn down...again. 

Not a second later, Daisy heard another sound, this time, the rumbling of the earth. She could feel the vibrations in the ground and she was horrified by what was happening. It was an avalanche, similar to what she had caused during her training with Jiaying. From the way she was sensing the vibrations, she could tell that it wasn’t something entirely unnatural; it wasn’t James causing the mountain to explode or Kora causing it to collapse. There was only one Inhuman who had the power to cause an avalanche in a natural way like her and that was Flint. And after seeing Flint with Hive's other swayed Inhumans, she knew that he was swayed as well. 

Daisy grimaced, even as she dashed to Bobbi’s side to see if she could help her. Even though Lincoln couldn’t hear her, she cursed under her breath, speaking to him. 

“This time, Linc, the avalanche is _not_ a good thing,” she muttered. 




Trip had spent the last few minutes futilely yelling at Kora in his head when the snow started falling above them. Both he and Jemma looked up, just in time to see an avalanche of snow pouring down the mountain.

“What is that?” Trip asked incredulously; Jemma grabbed his arm and hauled him away. Even as they ran, they heard the grunts of Primitives being swept away in the snow; apparently some Primitives had been sent after them. 

“An avalanche!” Jemma shouted as they sheltered behind a rock.

“Are you kidding me?” Trip asked. “You had to jinx it, right? By mentioning that this is where Daisy caused one before!”

“Daisy wouldn’t have caused this avalanche!” Jemma said. “It could be anything from a missile to James to -”

“To Flint?” Trip asked. “Actually, scratch that. Ask questions later. Not get swept away by snow now.”

“Trip! Jemma!” The voice in his ear this time wasn’t Kora, but Sousa instead. “Miles and Mack are on their way to you now! They’re in the Zephyr.” 

That was a shock. Not the fact that the Zephyr was on its way to them, but the fact that Sousa was speaking to him instead of Kora. Or the fact that his earpiece was working. Trip was beyond confused about the entire electronic situation. To make matters worse, any one of the Inhumans could have destroyed their communications system; it could be anything from an electrical malfunction (Lincoln) to a power failure (Kora) to the destruction of a tower (Daisy, Giyera, James, Joey or Flint). But more than the fact that the communications were fluctuating, Trip hated more than anything the fact that he had lost contact with Kora _again_. Especially when it sounded like she had just said goodbye. 

However, before Trip could say anything in response, a massive wave of snow plowed straight into him and Jemma, even though they were hugging the rock as tightly as possible. Both Trip and Jemma were knocked flying, with no idea of what was up or what was down. 




For once, Mack and Miles had been in luck. The Zephyr was empty, none the worse for the wear and even Ward appeared unharmed despite the rough landing. When they had transferred him to the Zephyr, they’d had the sense to lock his machinery in place; Jemma had warned them that that was essential, just in case of a rough landing or attack. The one and only shock they had gotten once onboard was the fact that Kora, of all people, was telling them to rescue Trip and Jemma; the heat signatures on the mountain were proof that there _were_ two people there. Although they had been doubtful as to Kora’s intentions, neither Mack nor Miles wanted to risk allowing them to be caught by Hive.

Or buried in an avalanche of snow, which was what happened when they got the Zephyr close to the mountain.

“Holy Vrellnexian,” Miles said. “That is a...whole ton of snow.”

Mack couldn’t even be bothered by Miles’ sarcasm about the alien monsters. He was staring at the avalanche in a combination of shock and horror. 

“We have to find them,” he said. “We can’t just leave them.”

“I know,” Miles said, already looking at the heat signatures on the electronic map. “We should try and find -” He stopped talking as a beeping sounded on one of the machines. “Oh no.”

“What is it?” Mack asked frantically.

“Something went wrong with the equipment downstairs,” Miles said. “We didn’t see it earlier because we were in such a rush, but there’s something wrong with Ward’s Framework connection. I’ll find Trip and Jemma, you try and fix Ward’s machines. Because if we’re not careful, I think he’s going to start coding.”


	79. Chapter 79

**Chapter 79**

Daisy dashed to Bobbi’s side. 

“Bobbi, are you okay?” she asked anxiously. 

Bobbi was stirring weakly on the ground; part of her head covered in blood. Thankfully, however, she didn’t appear to have been stabbed by any of the wooden pieces from the tree explosion, although she did have several cuts and bruises on her arms that didn’t appear to have been caused by Daisy’s powers.

“Bobbi?” Daisy repeated, feeling for a pulse at her neck.

“I’m...fine,” Bobbi managed to say. She struggled to sit up, but her face was pale and she was moving like her ribs were injured. 

“Did I do that?” Daisy asked, horrified, seeing the pain on Bobbi’s face. She hadn’t lost control in a while, nor did she want to. It was everyone’s lives being on the line and just being in Afterlife brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad ones, that had caused her temporary lapse of control. 

“No,” Bobbi said, although her voice was strained. “I just got in a fight with Hive, of all people, so that was him, not you.” 

At that moment, there was another faint child’s shout from somewhere towards the centre of Afterlife. Daisy turned, torn between running after Lexi or Robin, and helping Bobbi. Bobbi caught her gaze as she turned back.

“Go after her,” Bobbi said. “I’ll be fine.”

“But the Primitives and Hive -” Daisy began; Bobbi cut her off.

“I’ve got to get to Hunter,” Bobbi said. “He’s still being held captive. Do you know where there is a windowless room with a red door?”

Daisy’s eyes widened. “That’s where Hive was keeping you? It’s used for prisoners mostly; my dad couldn’t break out of there -”

“Just point me in the right direction,” Bobbi said urgently. “I’ll figure it out from there.” 

At that moment, more shouts came from behind them; the explosion that Daisy’s powers had caused was enough to attract their enemies’ attention. Both Daisy and Bobbi turned to look towards the woods and Bobbi staggered to her feet. 

“I’ll lead them off,” Daisy said, even though she was well aware of the irony. Lincoln had been bait for her, now she was being the bait for Bobbi so that Bobbi could get out of there. She pointed in the direction of the Inhuman prison room. “That’s where Hunter will be if he’s still being held captive. Good luck.”

Bobbi nodded. “Don’t die out there,” she said.

Daisy tilted her head in surprise; it was the exchange that Bobbi and Hunter always traded and she honestly hadn’t realized that Bobbi cared so much about her safety to remind her of that too. But in a way, it made sense. Daisy knew that Bobbi cared about Deke’s wellbeing, so much so that she had volunteered to take point when they had been trying to rescue Mack from Yo-Yo back in D.C.. Deke cared about her, so Daisy’s safety was also on Bobbi’s list of priorities. 

“Go,” Bobbi told her and Daisy turned, already blasting another quake pulse into the trees to pave a path for herself. On the bright side, they could repair the woody area of Afterlife much more easily than the buildings, not to mention flattened trees were, for the most part, less lethal than fire and avalanches. At the rate things were going, anyone monitoring Afterlife was going to think that way too many natural disasters had happened there for anyone’s liking.




Deke and Sousa had sprinted away from Hive and Kora, running as fast as they possibly could. They had bolted around several buildings, ducking and dodging until they had finally found themselves in another wooded area, near a bridge of sorts. Both of them had memorized the map of Afterlife; they knew they were very close to the place where Jiaying had killed Raina.

“Okay,” Deke said breathlessly when they had finally stopped running, having lost Hive and Kora a ways back. “I take back every single second of doubt I ever had about Kora’s unique sway. Trip was right. There is something very wrong with her - in a good way.”

Sousa didn’t respond; his face was pale. Deke snapped his fingers in front of Sousa’s nose.

“Sousa, is Kora talking to you?” he asked. “Sousa!”

Sousa snapped out of it.

“No,” he said quickly. “That was the coms with Jemma and Trip. I think they were just caught in an avalanche.”

Deke instantly went white. “An avalanche?” he asked. “Daisy wouldn’t have -”

“It could have been Flint,” Sousa said. “But in all honesty, it could have been any of the Inhumans. James and his explosives, Flint and his rock manipulation; even Daisy or Lincoln could have triggered it by accident.”

“I doubt it was Daisy or Lincoln,” Deke said. “That electrical rain and the wood explosion?”

While they had been running, both side by side and separately, thanks to their persistent dodging behind trees and buildings, there had been very obvious manifestations of Daisy and Lincoln’s powers at work. Admittedly, they were more than capable of using their powers at a distance, but not _that_ far. As it was, Sousa turned to Deke, shaking his head.

“We can’t help them,” he said. “I already spoke with Mack and Miles; they’re on their way to the mountains -”

Deke shook his head. “We have to figure out some way to help them. Give me the earpiece -”

Sousa stepped backwards. “You’re too emotional right now, Deke -”

“I’m too emotional?” Deke demanded. “You’re just as emotional as I am!” 

Sousa’s face darkened. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he countered. 

Deke raised an eyebrow at him. “Kora,” he said. “She’s like your younger sister, isn’t she? What were _you_ thinking?” 

Sousa blanched. In actuality, he had been thinking more along the lines of Daisy and Lincoln’s honeymoon suite. Given that there was no possible way for Deke to have set that up, the only person who could possibly have done that was Kora. In the last few minutes, Kora had proven beyond a doubt that her sway was unique; she would undoubtedly have prepared Daisy’s old transition room for Daisy and Lincoln out of her own free will, not in service to Hive. Sousa did not blame Kora for choosing to do what made Daisy happy, but all the same...the very fact that Kora had known that their marriage was inevitable...it hurt. Especially seeing as Kora and Sousa were friends. Admittedly, Kora’s loyalty was obviously to Daisy, but it was still painful. It made Sousa so nauseous thinking about it that he actually had to try not to throw up. 

He changed the subject before Deke could realize what he was thinking about. 

“We should see if we can find Bobbi and Hunter,” he said. “They’ve got to be around here somewhere. They’re your grandparents too.”

Deke felt a wave of guilt when Sousa reminded him about Hunter and Bobbi. He cared a lot about them, even though he hadn’t had much experience with them as his grandparents or much time to get used to the new situation. Jemma and Trip already had Mack and Miles going after them; it only made sense that he and Sousa tried to find Hunter and Bobbi. Additionally, seeing as Mack and Miles had the Zephyr, he doubted that he and Sousa would be able to find another aircraft; he had no idea where the Quinjets were, if they had even landed. Everything was a mess, not to mention that the only earpiece that was apparently working was the one that Kora had given Sousa; Deke doubted that it could contact Hand, Coulson and Price if he tried. 

“Right,” Deke said grimly, more than a little stressed out. “Let’s go. Sneak back to search the buildings for them. Stay in contact with the others. But keep as quiet as possible. We don’t want to encounter any more Inhumans.”




Mack full-on sprinted down to the lab in the Zephyr. He was incredibly grateful that Deke had insisted that all of them learn how to fly; Miles was more than capable of flying the Zephyr on his own, although he definitely wasn’t as skilled a pilot as May or Ward. Miles had to pilot the plane and bring them to the mountains where Jemma and Trip were likely buried under who knew how much snow and Mack had to figure out if Ward was alright. 

Much easier said than done.

The Framework machines were complicated for sure. As Mack pulled apart the machinery to see what was the problem with its insides, he hoped that the fix was going to be simple. While he was an engineer, he was in no way Deke, who was the most skilled technician Mack knew. Or Fitz or Daisy, both of whom had more experience with the Framework than he did.

When the Framework machinery was open, Mack cursed under his breath. There was nothing obvious wrong. Which made things even worse because it meant that he would have to explore and repair as he went; it was a whole lot harder than just finding one problem and solving that.




Jemma clawed her way out of a snow drift. She had no idea where she was, what was up, what was down, just a whole sea of white. She wasn’t even sure where Trip was, although she was pretty sure that he had been thrown in the same direction as her, at least initially. 

“Trip?” she tried to say, but her throat hurt. She wasn’t even sure how long she had been unconscious under the snow. Maybe seconds, or maybe it had been hours. She had no idea; first she had been trapped at the bottom of an ocean, now she had been buried alive at the bottom of a mountain. Life truly sucked sometimes.

She pressed a hand to her ear to try and find her earpiece, but there was nothing. The earpiece had been washed away by the snow. Unsurprising, but entirely unhelpful. It was when she was trying to claw her lower body out of the snow as well, that a patch of snow next to her moved.

“Trip? Trip!”

His hand was struggling out of the snow.

Jemma frantically tried to sweep the snow away from him, but it was difficult to get leverage, given that she was half-buried as well. Grimacing, she attempted to work her way out of the snow like it was quicksand, but before she could fully free herself, the Zephyr uncloaked itself above her. When the ramp was lowered, she gasped in relief; it was not Giyera at the helm. Instead, Mack was standing on the edge, extending his hand towards her. If Jemma hadn’t been so afraid that it had been Giyera, she might have cursed the universe for throwing her into this ridiculous situation again. Out of all idiotic situations, Mack could have passed off as Nick Fury as well.

“Jemma!” Mack shouted. “Grab on!”

A winch cable from the side of the Zephyr was being lowered towards her. Instead, Jemma frantically tried to swipe the snow away from Trip, to no avail. Then, for the first time in what felt like eternity, she got a bout of good luck. The mountain shook as Flint used his powers, snow moved and Trip became exposed as the snow slid off of him. He was stirring feebly; Jemma grabbed his arm with one hand and the winch cable with the other. 

Just in the nick of time. 

As the cable hauled them out of the snow and the Zephyr rose higher, the mountain shook again, dispersing more snow and rocks everywhere; if they had remained there any longer, they would have been crushed by more trees and snow. 




Lexi did a round-off, back handspring to land on a Primitive’s shoulders and punched him three times in the face as hard as she could. It was difficult to fight Primitives; as skilled a fighter as she was, she was still a child and these Primitives had some form of super strength. Quickly, she used her momentum to throw him off balance and to the ground; she banged his head hard against the ground on impact. And then May was there a second later, stamping on his face so hard that his nose broke.

“Momma!” Lexi gasped in relief, but at that moment, three more Primitives approached them, this time with an Inhuman in tow. 

Yo-Yo.

“Run, Lex!” May shouted, but Lexi was already moving. 

Lexi launched herself at the first Primitive, shoving him backwards over so hard that he too fell over. From that Primitive, she leapt like a cat onto the second, sending them both rolling over the floor, even as May swung a massive hammer at the third; where her mother had gotten it from, Lexi had no idea. 

And then Yo-Yo was there, trading blows with May. Thanks to Yo-Yo’s powers, she was successfully knocking May back and forth between herself, rather like Alisha’s clones had with Daisy, except there was only one Yo-Yo, one who was moving fast enough to have the equivalent of five Alisha clones. 

“Stop it!” Lexi shouted, but Yo-Yo made no move to stop. 

She ran to one of the Primitives and grabbed a canister from his belt.

“Stop or I’ll use this!” she shouted and Yo-Yo turned, not using her speed as she realized what Lexi was holding.

“You want me to burst it?” Lexi asked; she was far away enough from her mother that she knew that the virus would not hurt her. May was fast; she could avoid the Absolution virus although it would turn Lexi into an Inhuman. “I’ll do it, I swear I will. You want to tell your master that the one Inhuman who could destroy him is back -”

Lexi was cut off from speaking as Yo-Yo launched herself at her and literally boomeranged off a makeshift pulse shield. 

Thank God for Daisy. If she hadn’t been there, Yo-Yo would have gotten the Absolution virus canister from her and both Lexi and her mother would be in a whole hell of trouble. 

“Daisy!” Lexi gasped, turning as May started trading blows with Yo-Yo again, Yo-Yo who was too dazed and stunned from bouncing off a metaphorical wall to use her powers again. 

“Are you okay?” Daisy asked, even as she grabbed the canister from her and tossed it aside. She extended her hand again and the gun that a Primitive was aiming at her literally shook to pieces as she quaked it apart. Then a second quake pulse tossed the Primitive into a tree branch, stabbing him through the body.

“Yes!” Lexi gasped, even as May knocked Yo-Yo flat on her back.

Both of the Primitives that Lexi had knocked out had now gotten back to their feet. As swiftly as they could, both Daisy and Lexi punched, kicked and used the Primitives’ momentum against them to knock them to the ground and knock them out. When Daisy turned to see if Lexi needed her help, she found herself staring at a Primitive, out cold; Lexi standing above him with a rock in her hand.

“He’s not dead,” Lexi said. “Just unconscious.”

Daisy was more than relieved that Lexi said that. While Lexi was a kick-ass fighter, she was extremely relieved that some of her innocence had still been retained. She was incredibly relieved that that innocent eight-year old girl was not a killer. She could only imagine how terrible it would be if Lexi was capable of killing at that age. Lexi caught her gaze and Daisy gave her an attempt at a reassuring smile. 

“I take that back,” Daisy said, trying to inject some humour into the situation. “May is not the strict rules kind of mum with early bedtimes and stuff. She’s the badass mum who teaches her daughter how to be a supremely awesome and badass agent who might even be able to put me on my butt.”

May gave her a look, even Lexi snickered. 

“What’s going on?” Daisy asked, changing the subject. “What happened to Lexi staying in the Zephyr? Where is everyone?”

“The Zephyr was hijacked,” May began, but even as she spoke, all of them heard the whir of the Zephyr approaching them overhead; all three of them looked up as wind started blowing their hair back from their faces. 

“Incoming!” Daisy shouted. “Run!”

They hadn’t made it more than two steps, however, when someone shouted in her ear.

“Stop, Daisy, it’s us!”

Jemma.

Daisy halted, even though May and Lexi continued running, pausing before they had made it more than a few steps away when they realized that Daisy was no longer with them.

“Daisy, come on!” May called, frustrated, but at the same time, Jemma was speaking in her ear.

“We can put Yo-Yo in containment!” Jemma said urgently. “We have the Zephyr!” 

Daisy looked up. The ramp was open and a winch system was lowering a cable. Mack was standing on the edge, waving to her; the forest was too dense for the Zephyr to land on the ground. 

May turned to look at her. “I need to get Lexi out of here,” she said.

“Go,” Daisy said immediately, without the slightest hint of hesitation. “Take Yo-Yo as well and put her in containment.”

Even as Daisy spoke, Mack came slinging down the side of the cable, followed by Miles; Trip was at the top, monitoring the winch system to make sure that the cable did not break. 

“Go,” Mack told May. “We’ll take care of the Primitives.” He was carrying a sidearm in one hand; Miles was armed with a sniper rifle in addition to his holstered gun. 

Before any of them could say anything, there was another shrill cry from up ahead and Daisy’s head snapped upright.

“Robin,” she said. She turned to Mack. “Find Lincoln! Make sure he’s okay!”

“And what about you? Where are you going?” Mack demanded, but by this time, Daisy was already sprinting into the streets of Afterlife, forgoing the path in the trees in her haste to get to Robin faster.

Miles turned from where he was helping May attach the winch cable to an unconscious Yo-Yo.

“Go after her!” he said as the cable started retracting. “Or Sparks! Whomever you end up with will kill you for not sticking with the other, by the way.”

“Is that meant to be reassuring?” Mack demanded, but he turned and took off after Daisy as Miles turned back to the others. 




Lincoln had sprinted north at first, but after causing an electrical rain shower that was almost as dangerous as a lightning storm, he changed paths. He knew that Alisha was on his tail and quite possibly James as well, but who else, he was not sure. The biggest part of the problem was that, without a cure or a solution to Hive’s sway, the Inhumans that they knocked out would just get right up again, especially with Kora on Hive’s side. Even though she had a peculiar sway, Lincoln knew that she had to help Hive in some ways; he was guessing that healing his Inhumans was certainly one of them.

At this point, Alisha should just get used to being shocked by him. As he wove his way through the trees, he knocked out two of her clones, not sure if one was the prime or not. Either way, she was definitely less dangerous than James, Yo-Yo and Flint, all of whom were still out there; Flint had caused the avalanche, so Lincoln suspected he was near the mountain where Daisy and Jiaying had first trained.

The rocks that came out of seemingly nowhere smacked him in the face and Lincoln stumbled backwards, bracing himself as he got a faceful of pebbles. Flint was more than capable of causing more damage, but Lincoln suspected that causing the avalanche had taken a lot out of him, hence why the pebbles instead of boulders. 

Lincoln flung an electrical bolt at Flint, but Flint managed to get a boulder in the way, just in time. The boulder literally exploded; both Lincoln and Flint were thrown backwards from the force of the explosion. 

“Flint, I don’t want to hurt you!” Lincoln shouted, but Flint was already lifting his hands, aiming sharp rocks at him. 

A Primitive came lunging out of the forest and Lincoln took advantage of that distraction to use an electrical charge to pull the Primitive in front of him. The rocks buried themselves in the Primitive’s body; Lincoln then flung the Primitive at Flint. Flint went flying backwards and Lincoln threw both hands out to fry them both into unconsciousness; bolts of electricity struck them both in the chest. 

“Sorry,” Lincoln muttered as he checked Flint’s pulse. “Come on, buddy...let’s see if we can get you out of here.”




Kora was well aware that she was screwed. Hive had seen her let Deke and Sousa escape and give Sousa her earpiece. Torture was probably the least of her worries at this point. She barely had enough energy in her for one energy blast; as she staggered to her feet, she tried to summon one. Unfortunately, as she did so, she already could sense someone coming up on her periphery.

Coulson. 

She turned and punched him in the face with a glowing ball of energy. 

Kora barely had time to feel guilty about it, or recognize that what she had done was something that Hive had made her do. She staggered backwards, but Giyera was already there, catching her in a headlock and cutting off her oxygen supply. As he did so, Kora saw Hive striding away from them, clearly in pursuit of something else.

Giyera pushed something into her neck, pressing down the plunger. Kora gasped, feeling her powers recoil from her. This must be something like the drug that Deke had used on Daisy and Lincoln; her powers felt like they were being buried and unreachable, like whoever had been the victims of Flint’s avalanche.

Lincoln had destroyed all the supplies that Alisha had stolen from the Academy; those which he had not ruined had subsequently been blown up by the Watchdogs on the Zephyr. However, with both Doctors Johnson and Radcliffe working for him under coercion, Hive was more than capable of recreating the drug. He was probably planning on using it on Daisy and Lincoln, both of whom he still wanted. Her only hope was that both of them managed to stay out of Hive’s hands, for both of their sakes’, not just her own. 




For the first time, it seemed as though they had an advantage over Hive. Deke and Sousa looped back around Afterlife in pursuit of Bobbi and Hunter, only to run smack into them along with Hand, Price and Coulson. Coulson’s face was burned and both Hunter and Bobbi were limping. Hand and Price were supporting him between them, while Doctor Radcliffe and Hunter had Bobbi in between them.

“Where did you guys come from?” Deke asked.

“Windowless room where Jiaying kept her prisoners,” Hunter said. “Red door.”

 _That_ was what Kora had meant by the red room! Deke rushed to hug both Bobbi and Hunter; Hunter looked surprised at his gesture, but then again Hunter had had much less time to process that Deke was his grandson.

“We have to get you guys out of here,” Deke said.

“We can fight,” Bobbi said, although her face was pale. “Daisy and Lincoln are still out there somewhere - I saw Daisy - and I’m pretty sure she didn’t drop into the middle of a warzone alone.”

“Wait, where’s Doctor Johnson?” Sousa asked. “Daisy’s father?”

“Hive took him somewhere,” Doctor Radcliffe said. “And the child Inhuman, Robin.”

“Oh God,” Bobbi said. “Daisy was looking for Robin. Or Lexi. She heard a child scream -”

Deke cursed under his breath at the same time as Sousa said, “We need to find her. Now.” 

However, before any of them could move, a whole group of Primitives came charging at them out of the woods; the Primitives were seemingly endless in their numbers. There were those that had been formerly loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and those who had been Watchdogs; either way, their numbers were incredibly high. 

Deke and Sousa, both of whom were armed and unencumbered by helping others, opened fire on the Watchdogs. After a second, Hand and Price did too, firing bullets into the swarm of Primitives, not that that was much use, considering that the Primitives were wearing tactical battle gear. 

“Why are they after us?” Hunter demanded. “I thought these guys want good old Shake and Bake?”

“Well, if they can’t find them, I guess we’re the next best thing!” Deke said.

Just when they thought things couldn’t get messier, the Zephyr flew overhead and started opening fire, thankfully on the Primitives and not on them. Everyone scattered to hide, only emerging when Lexi called down to them. 

“Use the winch cable to get the injured up here!”

She was lowering the winch cable down the side of the ramp. It made sense that she was - May and Jemma were obviously piloting the Zephyr and shooting at the Primitives - Lexi was tasked with the winch system. The guys had already dispersed into Afterlife: Mack, Miles and Trip had been unleashed on Hive’s Inhumans and Primitives. 

“Didn’t the Zephyr get taken by Hive?” Hand asked. “And isn’t she Inhuman? She could be turned!”

That was not something any of them wanted to think of. 

“Haven’t been swayed!” Lexi called. “Or gone through Terrigenesis! But you guys might turn into Primitives if you don’t watch out! Behind you!” 

Her warning was just in the nick of time. Behind them, Alisha threw two canisters of the Absolution virus straight at them and all of them scattered down the middle, running in every single direction to avoid the virus. The only good thing about that was that all of them knew that they could trust Lexi; she would not have warned them of Alisha’s presence if she had not been on their side. 

“Hey!” 

The new shout came from behind her. Lincoln flung a bolt of electricity at her, using it to catch her and throw her away.

“You should really know that I can do that by now!” he snapped at her, before heading over to the winch system. 

“Lex, I’ve got Flint,” he called up; indeed, he had been carrying Flint in a sort of fireman’s carry over both shoulders, even while he had shocked Alisha. “Put him in containment with Yo-Yo!”

“What about Alisha?” Lexi asked, even as he attached Flint to the bottom of the cable and the cable started retracting.

“Don’t know if she’s the prime,” Lincoln said grimly. “But the others can send her up next. But you might want to move away from the Absolution virus.” 

“Will do,” Lexi called down. “After we haul up Flint. Lincoln, Daisy went looking for Robin.” 

Lincoln cursed under his breath. “I’ll find her,” he vowed, turning on his heel. 

“Can the Zephyr like, move or something?” Deke called to both of them. “The rest of us can’t get the injured up because we’re all human!” 

“Once Flint is up, it’ll move,” Lincoln said. “I’m going to find Daisy.”

Before anyone could respond to him, there was the sound of a gunshot and Trip’s voice shouted, “NO!”

Lincoln tore off in that direction, going at top speed; without a second thought, Deke, Sousa and Price sprinted after him as fast as they could go, leaving Bobbi, Hunter and Hand to help send Flint, Alisha and Coulson to the Zephyr.




Mack, Miles and Trip had split up in an attempt to secure Afterlife. Both Mack and Trip were capable of tracking people in the woods, but once Daisy hit the paved streets of Afterlife, that was no longer a possibility. Once they reached the main road of Afterlife, the trio had divided, Mack going left and Miles and Trip going right; Miles was less of a field agent than Mack and Trip was too emotionally involved in the situation to think clearly. That had been a good plan, up until they encountered Giyera dragging a semi-coherent Kora down the street. She was barely resisting; she was pale and semi-conscious. 

“Kora!” Trip pulled out his gun, but Giyera grabbed it out of his hand with telekinesis, dropping Kora on the ground as he did so. The gun turned on Trip, who raised his hands; he caught sight of Miles ducking behind a building out of the corner of his eye. Thank goodness for that, because if he was there, Miles would just be another weapon that could be used against Kora and Trip.

“Leave Kora alone!” Trip shouted, even though it was hard to be brave with a gun pointed at his head.

Giyera’s eyes widened in realization.

“ _You’re_ the human boyfriend,” he said. “Oh, James would have a field day with this.”

“Run,” Kora whispered, her face pale, as she struggled to her knees from where she had been lying on the ground. “Run, Trip.”

Giyera looked at her and the gun in the air moved to her hands. It twisted, facing the underside of her chin instead of being aimed at Trip.

“No,” Trip whispered, but the gun was moving closer and closer to Kora’s head.

“I’ll do it,” Giyera warned. He tilted his head as if intrigued. “Hive will get Daisy, James will get Lincoln and I’ll be able to shoot this stupid bitch right here, right now. Is that what you want?”

“Shoot me!” Trip said. “Don’t shoot her, you need her! You’ve been keeping her alive all this long for a reason; you need her for something!” 

Giyera looked at him and then clenched his fist. A gunshot rang out and Trip screamed, “NO!”

Giyera staggered backwards, the gun dropping out of Kora’s hands. There was a bullet in his shoulder. 

“God dammit!” Miles appeared out from behind a house, swinging his sniper rifle aside and pulling out his sidearm. He didn’t have the best aim with a sniper rifle; he had been aiming for the heart, not the shoulder. Regardless, his shot had been very useful, seeing as Giyera was now injured. With his sidearm, he opened fire on Giyera at the same time as Trip dove at Kora; Giyera snatched her upright, using her as a body shield even as he dispersed the bullets that were flying at him with his telekinesis.

“Stay back,” Giyera growled, even though his voice was uneven from the pain that he was in. “Both of you. Or I’ll let your bullets hit her.”

Miles stopped shooting, but he was still aiming the gun at Giyera. Giyera’s face was strained and tense; he was bleeding out from his shoulder. He continued to drag Kora backwards; Kora was so pale and bloodless; she was barely able to resist. However, Giyera was also bleeding; Trip and Miles followed them warily up the path, even as Giyera backed away. 

Then Giyera released a can of the Absolution virus. 

Trip and Miles weren’t stupid. They dove in opposite directions, sprinting as fast as they could away from the cloud of Absolution virus. By the time they got their bearings and returned to the path where Kora and Giyera had been, the two Inhumans were gone. 




Daisy encountered Robin Hinton...with none other than Doctor Johnson. That was strange enough, but it was pretty obvious that it was some sort of trap, seeing as Hive would not allow them to be in the middle of nowhere, completely unchaperoned. Either that, or they had managed to escape, although that honestly didn’t seem very likely.

“Dad!” Daisy gasped, running towards him. It was the first time she had seen him since leaving to go to the Retreat; this was a shock in and of itself. He looked much less like the refined S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor whom Daisy had seen before; he now looked a little bit more like his crazed self, some combination between his Cal Johnson side and his Doctor Hyde juiced self. 

“Daisy, watch out!” 

Daisy turned, just in time for a Primitive to plough into her, tackling her midsection. She kicked him hard, sending him flying backwards, but even as she did so, another Primitive leaped at her from behind. Massive quake pulses flew everywhere, even though Daisy was being as careful as possible to avoid hitting her father and Robin. 

“You need to stand down,” a familiar voice said and Daisy looked over, startled to see May standing in her path.

“Stand down?” Daisy asked, confused beyond belief. 

What was May even doing there? May wouldn’t have left Lexi alone on the Zephyr, especially since Giyera had already hijacked the plane once. Then realization dawned when she remembered what Hive had done with Anon in Bucharest; at the same moment, an uneasy feeling crawled over her skin, the same sensation that she had felt when she had realized that Anon was actually Hive in Bucharest.

“Who are you?” Daisy demanded, but even as she spoke, she swung a punch at Hive. 

Hive was _strong_. As strong as he had been the last time she’d fought him in the original timeline. In that timeline, when she’d fought Hive, they had wrecked half the hangar and Daisy had barely hurt him. Her quake pulses had had almost no effect on Hive and now he was stopping her punches like they were nothing. 

“Get Robin out of here!” Daisy shouted at Doctor Johnson.

“What about you?” Doctor Johnson asked, but Daisy was already too engaged in a full-on hand-to-hand combat battle with Hive to respond.




Even though Lincoln had been rushing off to help Trip, instead, he encountered James. Out of all of Hive’s Inhumans, James was probably Lincoln’s least favourite. In the original timeline, they had already been on pretty unfriendly terms, especially since Jiaying had chosen Lincoln to go through Terrigenesis, not James; even their powers were fairly similar. If Lincoln had an equal in the whole “Inhuman species must be balanced” shebang, James was definitely his opposite. Unless Kora counted. But then again, seeing as Kora technically combined his and James’ powers, with a little dash of Jiaying and technically Daisy as well, _and_ she had very fluctuating sides, Lincoln wasn’t even sure if she counted. Additionally, if James hadn’t blown up his side and Lincoln hadn’t been injured, it might have been possible for both him and Daisy to get off the Quinjet, leaving Hive to blow up alone in the Quinjet with its fried manual controls. 

Needless to say, Lincoln did not have fond feelings towards James. 

Not to mention, at the moment, James was being _incredibly_ annoying.

Seeing as Afterlife was under attack, Lincoln would have thought that James had something better to do that play around. However, he had set up the glasses that Daisy and Kora had used to practise their powers on and he turned them all into explosives. Those glasses were _very_ significant and meant a lot to both Daisy and Kora; it made Lincoln’s blood boil to see them being used by James of all people. 

The glasses exploded, sending glass everywhere and Lincoln shouted, “Stop! Where’s Daisy?”

Electricity started crackling in his hand, but before he could throw a bolt of electricity at James, another voice shouted, “Stop!”

Mack.

Now James turned around. 

“He started it,” he told Mack, gesturing to Lincoln, who gritted his teeth, raising his arm, ready to fry James into microwavable popcorn.

Mack glanced at the blown-up glasses on the table, realizing all at once who James was. 

“You’re that Inhuman,” he said. “Where’s Daisy?”

James rolled his eyes, turning back to the table where the glasses had been.

“That bird has so many male suitors,” he said scoffingly. “Blondie here, Suit Boy there, now Muscle Man here….”

Suit Boy was clearly Sousa. Lincoln knew that Sousa and James had met while Sousa had been Hive’s prisoner, but it appeared that James knew more about them than he was letting on. However, now was not the time to worry about what Sousa might or might not have told James or what James might have told Sousa. 

“Where’s Daisy?” Lincoln repeated. “Tell me now -”

James turned to Mack. “What are your muscles made out of?”

Mack frowned at him. “Me?” he asked, answering both James’ question and asking if he was talking to him, as opposed to Lincoln.

James threw a glowing lamp straight at Mack and Lincoln responded in turn, frying the lamp out of thin air, causing it to explode in the middle of the room. James backpedalled, as did both Lincoln and Mack, but even as they did that, Doctor Johnson came sprinting into the room, carrying Robin in his arms.

“Lincoln, Daisy’s fighting Hive! You need to help her!” he gasped. “She’s on the main path of Afterlife!” 

That was...the worst possible thing that he could imagine. Even as Lincoln turned to him, Mack was already speaking.

“Go!” he said urgently; but Lincoln was already sprinting out of the room, tearing back into the street.


	80. Chapter 80

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate!!! (I'm part Chinese, so I do, LOL 🏮). And Happy Valentine's Day to everyone too!!! ❤️🍋❤️🍋

**Chapter 80**

Fighting Hive with May’s face was a nightmare. It was one thing to fight Hive with Ward’s face, whom she had hated before he had even become Hive, but to fight Hive when Hive had May’s face...it was another nightmare entirely. May was one of the people whom she cared about most in the world and to have her worst enemy wearing the face of one of the people whom she loved was a nightmare come to life. 

_When the devil shows up, he’ll be wearing the face of someone you trust._

Mack had said that once, when they had been dealing with Sarge. This was just as bad. Then, she’d been fighting Coulson, now she was fighting May. She’d fought Agent 33 before with May’s face, but this felt different. She loathed Hive a lot more than Kara; she hated Hive more than any of her other enemies because he had been the one who had cost her Lincoln. She’d even had to deal with evil Fitz aka the Doctor; the number of times she’d had to fight someone she’d cared about were ridiculously high. The only good thing was that Lincoln, at least, was still her Lincoln and she’d never had to fight or try to kill him; the few times they’d been on opposite sides, thanks to Jiaying and then Hive, they’d taken turns trying to talk the other down, although he had fried her, once, hard enough to send her into a wall, but not hard enough to knock her out. She didn’t think she’d be able to handle being able to hurt him now that she loved him; she admired May for being able to fight and deliver what should have been lethal blows to both Coulson and Andrew while they had been threatening the lives of people whom she loved. 

Hive was stronger than she remembered. What with Hive’s super strength, apparent healing abilities and Kara’s fighting skills, this was by no means an easy fight. The only reason she was lasting so long was because Hive didn’t want to hurt her; he had told her as much within the first few seconds of their fighting, to which she had responded with a classic, “You won’t.”

However, it appeared that she was about to eat her words, because Hive countered with a massive sweeping kick that knocked her legs out from under her. She landed heavily on her side, blacking out for a second as her head hit the ground. 




“You don’t want to take her.”

Hive was standing over Daisy, about to lift her off the ground, when Raina stepped out of one of the transition rooms, heading towards him. She tilted her spike-covered head towards Hive, who scoffed at her. 

“What does that have to do with you?” Hive asked. “And why do you care?”

Raina gave her a slight shrug. “You might have put me under the Faustus method, but I’m clear-headed now. And we still want the same thing. I might have experimented on Kora, but I never tried to free her from your control.”

Hive eyed her. “What do you want?” he repeated.

Before Raina could reply, Lincoln came running out of one of the transition rooms. 

“Leave her alone!” he shouted, flinging a bolt of electricity straight at Hive. 

The electricity struck Hive right in the face and sent him skidding backwards. Lincoln was incredibly lucky. For whatever reason, he had chosen to aim for the face and not the body; Hive staggered as the nanomask temporarily short-circuited, causing the image of May to become disfigured.

“We need to get out of here!” 

Giyera sprinted down the main path of Afterlife, hauling Kora over his shoulder. As he appeared, James came staggering out of another transition room, his face slightly dazed. 

“Boss, we need to get out of here,” James said urgently. “Alisha’s prepping a Quinjet for take-off.”

Hive glanced at both of them, but Lincoln sent another massive bolt of electricity at him. Once again, he struck him in the head, but this time, he sustained the charge. As James snatched up a tree branch to turn into an explosive, the Zephyr appeared overhead and opened fire on the Inhumans. It succeeded in driving off Hive’s Inhumans; Lincoln severed his electrical charge on Hive, diving towards Daisy and sheltering her from the bullets. Even though they were right there, well within capturing range, Hive was now looking dazed and confused, clutching his head. Although the Zephyr was covering them, if Hive was in his right frame of mind, he could easily have captured both Daisy and Lincoln; Kora was barely conscious and he had both James and Giyera to help him. But Lincoln had done something the second time he’d fried him and he was now clutching his head and groaning. 

“Boss?” James asked. “Boss, we should get out of here.” 

Hive was clutching his head, staggering around back and forth, trying to maintain some semblance of footing. 

“I love you,” he said. 

James and Giyera looked at each other. 

“Was he talking to you?” James asked. 

“Ward! Ward, help me!” Hive shouted.

James and Giyera looked at Hive and then back at him. 

“Think the boss has gone a little gonzo, maybe?” James asked. 

“We have a connection,” Hive said. “I want a connection.”

“Let’s get him out of here,” Giyera said. “Come on.”

The two men hauled both Hive and Kora out of there, Giyera deflecting bullets as they ran. 




The second Hive was gone, Lincoln turned to Daisy, scrambling to her side.

“Daisy, talk to me,” Lincoln said, kneeling at her side, testing her pulse. 

“What happened?” Daisy gasped. 

“Breathe!” Lincoln replied, but his voice was almost as breathless and anxious as hers. 

A sound of a massive explosion rang out somewhere behind them and both of them turned to look. Mack tore out of one of the buildings, wincing and clutching his ears from the ringing of the explosion. A few seconds later, the Quinjet took off, zipping away into the sky. 

“Was that...Hive?” Daisy asked. She paused. “How am I...why didn’t he take me? Or you? Where are the other Inhumans?” 

Lincoln exhaled in relief, reaching for her to help her upright, his touch soft.

“I fried his brain,” he said. “Or I tried to. It’s what I did with the memory machine that time when I was on the Pacific Missile Silo mission with May, Mack and Yo-Yo.” He paused for breath. “This time, I tried to do it without the machine…I don’t know how well it worked. But I’ve had a lot more experience with messing with memories in this timeline for sure.” 

He was not wrong. He had delved into Kora’s memories of the timestream twice _and_ had helped Peggy with her Alzheimer’s, helping her remember when Sousa had wanted to talk to her. While he hadn’t been around to see how successfully he’d scrambled Hive’s brain in the other timeline, he appeared to have messed with the neurons at least semi-successfully.

“That’s good,” Mack said, staggering up to them in time to catch the tail end of their conversation. “That means this’ll be over soon, right?” 

Daisy and Lincoln traded anxious glances. Then Lincoln reached for her wordlessly and pulled her into his arms; she clutched the back of his jacket, trying to control the vibrations under her skin that were struggling to burst out and explode from the force of her worried emotions.

“Where’s everyone else?” Lincoln asked Mack, even as he held Daisy close. 

Before Mack could respond, however, Deke, Sousa and Price came running up; Trip and Miles from the other direction. Jemma also hurried over; she had lowered herself from the winch cable on the Zephyr that was hovering above them.

“May’s going to park the Zephyr,” she said. “She’s using the trackers in the plane to track heat signatures.”

As the others came into the area, Daisy let go of Lincoln, although she wanted more than anything to remain close to him. Despite the concern on his face, he managed to give her a faint smile like he understood, his blue eyes kind and concerned. However, before they could say anything to each other, Jemma caught sight of a slight wound on Daisy’s forehead; there was a thin cut near her hairline from where she had cut her forehead falling to the pavement.

“Let me take a look at that,” she said. 

Daisy shook her head. “You should get out of here,” she said. “Just in case. Hive’s Primitives could still be around.”

“What about you?” Jemma challenged. “And Lincoln and Deke and everyone else?”

“I….” Daisy began, halting. Jemma had a fair point. 

“We have to do something,” Lincoln said. He paused. “And by that, I mean track down Raina. I didn’t see her get on board with Hive and the others.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln. “I’m going with you,” she said. “We’re not splitting up. Not again.” She bit her bottom lip. “Especially not after what you just did to Hive.”

“What did Lincoln do?” Jemma asked, her brow creasing in worry.

Both of them looked up at her.

“He tried to fry Hive’s memories,” Daisy said. “We don’t know how well it worked, but -”

Jemma nodded, rubbing her forehead. “Okay,” she said. She paused. “Oh dear.” 

“What is it?” Lincoln asked.

“We have Radcliffe,” Jemma said. “In the Zephyr. With May and Yo-Yo. And Mack is right here.” She paused. “It’s almost the end.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Mack asked. 

“Not necessarily,” Jemma said, checking her watch. “Ward still has almost two hours left to be in the Framework. We still don’t know what the future holds if we try to prevent Hive from killing one of us.”

“We can stay in Afterlife till then,” Deke said. “No point in rushing anywhere if we don’t know where to rush to.”

At that moment, Price got off the phone. The others hadn’t realized that she still had cell service on the mountain, or that it even worked, seeing as Lincoln had just blown up the electrical tower. 

“That was one of my agents in Indiana,” she said. “They just told me that a fully operational warhead was stolen by two Inhumans. Do you happen to know anything about this?” 

Jemma sat down hard on the ground, her face shocked and concerned. 

“Oh God,” she said.

Daisy didn’t say anything. Wordlessly, she crawled towards Lincoln from where she was sitting on the ground; he pulled her into his lap without a word, holding her close, wrapping his arms around her both soothingly and protectively. 

“We forgot,” Jemma said. “Oh God, this is all my fault. How could I have forgotten?”

“It’s not on you,” Lincoln said, even as he ran his fingers through Daisy’s hair, comforting her with his touch. “We forgot too.”

“It is on me,” Jemma argued. “I was there when Talbot told us about it - you and Daisy weren’t! And you both have been dealing with much more insane crap than I have!”

By now, Price was looking supremely confused, which was a bad reminder that she didn’t know anything about the two timelines. 

Before she could say anything, though, Sousa looked up, not wanting to look at Daisy and Lincoln’s inseparable embrace on the ground, and happened to see a Primitive standing there, holding a gun.

“Watch out!” he shouted, but it was too late.

The gun went off.

Everyone reacted differently, most of them diving out of the way or dropping to the ground to avoid the bullet. Thanks to their tangled embrace, neither Daisy nor Lincoln was going to be able to free themselves in time to deflect the bullet _and_ hit the Primitive; Lincoln yanked Daisy out of the way and her quake pulse went flying, straight into the Primitive, sending him straight across the courtyard and into a tree. 

“Are you okay?” Lincoln asked, helping Daisy upright; she nodded, fingers gently brushing his cheek as she sat up. Her touching him was more natural and instinctive than anything; she liked the reminder that he was there, that he was hers, that nothing was stopping her from having him. 

“Lincoln!” Jemma’s voice was more panicked than either of them would have liked to hear; both looked up to see Rosalind Price clutching her shoulder, staggering, about to fall. 

Time seemed to slow down as Deke caught her, lowering her to the ground.

“Mum!” 

The words burst out of Lincoln before he could stop them and he dashed to her side. No one knew if the Primitive had been aiming at her or at someone else, but either way, she had taken the bullet. 

“Oh my God,” Daisy whispered, even as Lincoln pressed his hand to the wound.

“You’re going to be okay,” Lincoln said, anxiety all over his face. “The bullet went straight through; you’re going to be fine -”

“Split up,” Deke said, looking up at the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were gathered around them. “See if there are any more Primitives or Inhumans here. Be very careful. Miles, Trip, take the north; Mack, take the south; Sousa, go east; I’ll go west. Make sure that your earpieces are working again; May can track us from above.”

“We should get Price into the Zephyr,” Jemma began, but Daisy was already speaking.

“The Absolution virus is already out there,” she said. “May can’t track the virus. And if there are traps like James’ landmines with canisters of the virus…. If one of you triggers that, you’ll turn into a Primitive. I should do it.”

Lincoln glanced at her. “Daisy….”

“You should stay,” Daisy said, crouching down beside him, placing one hand on his shoulder. “You know I can hold down landmines.” 

Lincoln shook his head. “Daisy -”

“Go with her,” Price said, her voice strained. “You two can protect each other; I’ll be fine.”

Daisy and Lincoln’s eyes locked all the irony of the moment flashing through their minds at the sudden realization. Jiaying’s gunshot wound in Afterlife, Jiaying sending Lincoln to protect Daisy when she had gone to Milwaukee with her father, Lincoln and Alisha helping Jiaying after she’d gotten shot, Jemma offering to treat Jiaying’s wound….

The only difference was that Price was not a psychopath. Although the time for messed up mothers was clearly very strong at the moment. 

“Go,” Price repeated calmly, even though her face was screwed up in pain. “Jemma can help me. You two do what you have to do.” 

Lincoln hesitated and when Daisy took his hand in hers, he stood up, squeezing her hand tightly like it was his lifeline. 

“Okay,” he said. 

Deke nodded once he had made up his mind to go. “Okay,” he said as the Zephyr came up overhead and Hand lowered herself via the winch system; she handed out new and functioning earpieces to everyone. “Hand, go with Trip and take the north side; Mack, Miles, take south; Sousa come with me; Daisy and Lincoln -”

“We’ll go west,” Lincoln said, as Jemma started attaching Price to the winch system. 

Deke nodded. “Okay. Stay in contact via the earpieces at all times. If any of you triggers a landmine, don’t move. Stay on it and wait for Daisy.”

Everyone nodded. 

“Be very very careful,” Deke said. “We don’t want to lose anyone today.”

Miles glanced at him. “I actually think all of us are safe from being turned into Primitive squash,” he said. “Because one of us is going to die in the Quinjet with Hive in space. So we won’t...turn into an ugly overcooked muffin.”

Miles had a very good point, but the very fact that he was calling the Primitives ‘ugly overcooked muffins’ was a little too close to James’ sense of humour for Daisy’s liking. 




“Is it wrong of me?” Lincoln asked Daisy when they were out of earshot of Jemma and Price, heading down the west-bound path. “To still hate Price for abandoning me and Amanda even though she took a bullet for me? Or maybe not for me. I don’t know who that Primitive was aiming for. Maybe she took it for you. Or...I don’t know.”

Daisy caught Lincoln’s hands in both of hers, pulling him to a stop since they were also out of sight of the others. 

“Linc, we all have complicated feelings about our parents,” she said, squeezing his hands tightly in hers. “Even though my mum tried to kill me, I still wanted closure from her when I had the chance to get to know her before Hydra experimented on her. It’s okay if you have mixed feelings about your mum.” 

Lincoln sighed heavily, resting his forehead against hers. “Part of me is still mad at her, but she told me to go, to make sure that you would be okay too,” he said. “And as mad as I am about her, I was concerned enough to stay. I would have stayed. But she knows that you’re the most important person in my life, so she let me go so that I could protect you and look after you and not lose you even though you’re so badass you would definitely beat me in a fight - not that we would ever fight - but -”

“Shhh,” Daisy whispered, pressing a fingertip to his lips gently, cutting off his speech. “It’s okay. It’s okay to feel confused about some things. We’re only human.” She paused. “Technically we’re Inhuman, but….”

Lincoln gave a half-laugh, half-sigh and pulled her closer, enveloping her in his arms. Daisy wrapped one arm around his back, rubbing the back of his neck with her free hand, trying to alleviate his stress. 

“God, what did I do to deserve you?” Lincoln asked, burying his head into her neck; she held him close, pressing her lips softly to the top of his head in comfort.

“Everything,” Daisy said softly. “Don’t for a second feel like you don’t deserve me. You’ve saved my life time and again in both timelines. You’ve risked everything for me to live. Everything. I can’t survive without you.” 

Lincoln pulled back slightly to kiss her, holding her as close as possible. Daisy lost herself in the feeling, not wanting him to stop kissing her because when that ended, it would mean that they had to think about logical things, like stopping Hive and saving Kora and chasing down all of Hive’s swayed Inhumans and saving the world.

“Lincoln?” Daisy whispered, her breath uneven, when his lips trailed across her cheek, causing her skin to tingle with anticipation. 

“Yes?” Lincoln replied, his lips moving down to her neck, brushing across her pulse point.

“The sooner we clear Afterlife, the sooner we can get married,” she whispered. “And then we can have our honeymoon.”

Lincoln pulled back to look at her, his blue eyes meeting her brown ones. “You just have the most logical arguments, don’t you?” he asked, but his tone was teasing.

Daisy smirked. “I love you,” she said softly. “But you do realize that even though we’re out of sight of Jemma and Price, the second they get into the Zephyr, they, and May and Lexi can see us? Making out like teenagers behind some trees?”

Lincoln groaned. “Let’s go track down some Inhumans and Primitives,” he said, popping in his own earpiece. “They don’t know what they’re in for. I have a lot of pent-up aggression that I want to take out on them.”




Once back in the Zephyr, Jemma helped Price over to her lab station. Coulson was in the healing pod and Radcliffe was monitoring his condition, although he was wearing handcuffs, just to be on the safe side. Bobbi and Hunter had gone upstairs to rest in the bunks after Jemma had treated their wounds; Lexi was with them, making sure that they were alright, aside from malnutrition, dehydration and several not-too-serious injuries.

On the bright side, Price’s injury wasn’t all that severe. Lincoln had been right - the bullet had gone straight through Price’s shoulder - which made for an easy and quick treatment. Given all the craziness that she’d dealt with over the last few days - operating on Koenig and having to run out in the middle of surgery to treat Lincoln, making sure that Lincoln didn’t bleed out from his injuries while they were in the Quinjet flying back to the Lighthouse, and then making sure that Ward didn’t die whilst in the Framework - Jemma was incredibly grateful that Price’s injuries were simple. And far, far from a gunshot through the neck. Even though a bullet in the shoulder was remarkably similar to Jiaying’s injuries in Afterlife where Daisy and Lincoln had also tried to help her. 

Parallels sucked.

“You should be fine,” Jemma said, carefully examining her wound. “I just need to irrigate the wound and you should take some antibiotics. Then I’ll stitch you up and you’ll be good.”

“Thank you,” Price said. “How’s Phil?”

“Not too bad,” Jemma said. “He had some severe burns, but I put him in the healing pod. When the cycle is done, he’ll get a skin graft and then he should be fine.”

“That’s good,” Price said. “Thank you for helping him. And for helping me.”

“I’m a doctor,” Jemma said. “It’s what I do.”

Price looked at her and caught the expression on her face. “You know...you know about my...you know about Lincoln.”

“It’s not my place to judge,” Jemma said, although she had a pretty good feeling her face was pretty judgey. 

Price swallowed hard as Jemma started dabbing at her wound with lap pads. 

“Daisy and Lincoln mean everything to each other,” Jemma said finally. “Daisy is the closest thing I have to a sister and if you hurt Lincoln, you are, by retrospect, hurting Daisy. So yes, I do have some issues if you hurt him. But you just took a bullet, possibly one that was intended for him so...I have mixed feelings about that too.”

She deliberately did not bring up the fact that Deke was her grandson, not wanting to alert Price to the intricacies of the other timeline, although it might already be too late for that, seeing as she, Daisy and Lincoln had mentioned their knowledge of the warhead being stolen from Indiana before in front of her. 

Price sighed. “I never meant to hurt him or Amanda.”

Jemma didn’t say anything for a moment and then she gave a slight shrug.

“Well, given the circumstances, you did the best thing you could possibly have done,” she said. “You let him go with Daisy when you could have asked him to stay with you. Lincoln is a good guy. He would have stayed to make sure that you’re alright, even though both of you aren’t on the best of terms right now. But you let him go with her and they will both appreciate that. A lot. I can’t speak for both of them, of course, but they’ll probably give you a second chance. They’ve given people second chances for less.”

Jemma was referring to Kora, mostly, but she did think it was true. If Price survived the battle against Hive, chances were good that both Lincoln and Daisy would forgive her, or at least try to forgive her. Price would never be as close to Lincoln as Deke was, but their relationship would probably improve, given that Price was trying. A lot.

“She saved my life once,” Price said, referring to Daisy catching her when she had fallen from the top of the building in D.C.. “Daisy, I mean. And they both seem to love each other a lot. They seem very good for each other. From what I’ve seen of them.”

Jemma nodded as she started stitching up Price’s wound. “They mean the world to each other,” she said. “They would move mountains and cause lightning to rain out of the skies to save each other.”

Price looked at her. “Were you trying to be literal?” she asked.

“No…,” Jemma said. “Although...yes.”

Price eyed her. “I thought so.”




Deke and Sousa were making their way down the west-bound path when Sousa suddenly spoke up; he had been deep in thought for a while.

“Deke...this might sound weird, but you saw just now what Price did because she cares about Lincoln,” he said. “You mentioned before that Raina genuinely likes Lincoln; do you think that her...affection for him would go to that extent? To the extent of possibly taking a bullet for him?”

Deke stopped walking and turned to Sousa, deliberately switching off his coms so that no one would be able to hear them talk. “Sousa...what do you know?” he asked.

For a while now, Sousa had been pondering what Raina had told him back when he had been Hive’s captive and it was starting to plague him. As much as he wished Daisy had chosen differently, he genuinely liked Lincoln and didn’t want anything bad happening to either of them. Raina had told him that he shouldn’t tell anyone about how he was the only one who could save Daisy by letting her go, but she had also told him that the Primitives weren’t going to look like burned muffins. However, it didn’t make sense for her to lie to him about everything. She hadn’t had to; she hadn’t had to tell him about her lack of sway or about how she’d made Lincoln immune. So Sousa still believed that he could save Daisy, although it was possible and probable that he no longer needed to remain quiet about what Raina had told him.

“I’m just wondering,” Sousa said. “Because, well, Raina...maybe we could persuade her to help us if their lives were at stake.”

Deke looked at him. “You want to make a deal with the devil?”

“If it means saving their lives, then yes,” Sousa said. “Sometimes we have to do things that we’d rather not because we care about them.”

“We can’t trust anything she says,” Deke said. “She killed Andrew; she orchestrated Hive’s return; she’s been working with Hive the entire time -” He stopped talking. “Sousa. What do you know?”

Sousa looked at him. “Nothing,” he said.

“You’re lying,” Deke decided. “You would not have suggested working with Raina if you didn’t have a very good reason for believing that you could trust her. What did she tell you? When you were Hive’s prisoner?”

Sousa looked at him for a moment and then decided to cave. A little. There was only so much he could do or say at this point and by Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma’s own admission, they were almost at the endgame.

“Raina told me that Daisy can save Lincoln,” Sousa said. “How, I don’t know.”

Sousa deliberately left out the fact that she had said that he was the only one who could save Daisy and that was by letting her go. Deke met his eyes grimly.

“Does that mean that he ends up in the Quinjet with the warhead?” Deke asked. “Or that she quakes his heart to life again? Or -”

Sousa shook his head. “I don’t know. I really don’t, Deke. I would tell you if I did.”

Deke grimaced in frustration. “Something must have changed from last time. But okay. We should find that little Bitch Queen and we make her talk. Make her tell us how we can save him.”




While Deke and Sousa had been talking, Daisy and Lincoln had had the good fortune of locating Raina. Well, good fortune was arguable, seeing as they guessed that she might have left some clues to her whereabouts in her old transition room. 

Neither of them had been expecting her to be in said room, simply waiting for them to arrive. 

Daisy burst into the room, fists clenched at her sides.

“Raina!” she shouted, all her fear and tension at losing Lincoln bubbling up inside and threatening to explode. 

Raina was sitting with her back to them, making no attempt to escape or evade capture, her hood covering her thorns.

“Daisy,” she said, without bothering to turn to see her face. “Isn’t this...interesting. I had a feeling I might see you. We have so much to talk about.”

As she was speaking, Lincoln came running into the room; he had been trying to reach Deke, who had, for some reason, gone radio silent. They had been wondering if it had had something to do with the electrical charge of the coms, hence why Lincoln had been working with the coms, trying to get them to function again. Neither of them had suspected Raina of actually being in her own transition room; it had been Daisy’s shout that made Lincoln realize she was there. 

“What happened to you?” Daisy asked, both horrified and confused as to why Raina was merely waiting around to be captured. She had evaded S.H.I.E.L.D. before by stabbing an agent in the neck with a knife; Jemma had nearly shot her when she had been trying to escape. But now...she was just sitting. Sitting and waiting for them like she had had all the time in the world.

“Destiny...apparently,” she said, standing up. “Children are so afraid of monsters. They should know it’s worse to be one.” 

That was all the confirmation that Daisy and Lincoln needed to realize that Raina really had done this because she had been discriminated against by the rest of the human world. Daisy clenched her teeth. 

“My sister, Kora. Hive. You did this!” she snapped, stabbing one finger at her. 

Kora had been right there. Right there in the courtyard with Hive, James and Giyera. And she hadn’t been able to help her. Her condition was Raina’s fault. 

“I was only trying to help,” Raina said. 

“What the hell!” The words burst out of Lincoln; he was just as angry as Daisy was. Raina had been his transitioner and he had trusted her, but her cryptic comments were just more confirmation that she had deliberately orchestrated Hive’s return, maybe for the conversion of all humans into Primitives, maybe for some other reason.

Daisy shook her head in frustrated agitation, even as Raina started speaking again.

“We were the same before and we’re the same now. I am on the outside what you are on the inside!” As she spoke, she lowered her hood, but Daisy was not disturbed by her monstrous appearance. In reality, she was more agitated by the comparison of her to Raina; everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D. _had_ done questionable things in pursuit of what they believed was right. The suggestion that, after everything, Raina still believed that she was right, was gut-wrenching and sickening for Daisy.

“NO!” Daisy shouted.

“Daisy,” Lincoln said warningly, but by now, Daisy had had enough. She was done with Raina hurting Lincoln, done with Raina causing Kora’s sway, done with Raina killing Andrew. Her powers exploded out of her fingertips, causing Raina to start to vibrate. It was a subtle torture method, but it was working. After all, this was just a fraction of the pain that Raina had caused others. 

Raina turned back to look at her. “So that’s what you are,” she whispered. 

It was a subtle reminder that Raina did not see everything regarding the future. As she fell to the ground, Lincoln spoke again.

“We need to stop,” he said, but his expression was tense. He didn’t want her to stop, not really, but at the same time, he knew that Raina was more valuable to them alive than dead. Daisy was angry not only because of Kora, but also on his behalf; Lincoln was more concerned at this point at getting answers out of her, similar to how Daisy had told the S.H.I.E.L.D. team everything she had known about Hive after being liberated from his sway.

“No. Finish this!” Raina spat. 

“Daisy. We need answers,” Lincoln said. 

Daisy clenched her fists at her sides, as Raina said, “End my nightmares.”

At Lincoln’s admission that they needed answers, Daisy might have stopped anyway, but at that moment, Deke’s voice came from the doorway. 

“Hey!”

Daisy spun around to face him, breathing heavily; Lincoln turned as well. Deke and Sousa were both standing there, tense expressions on their faces.




“Lincoln and Daisy, you’re mad,” Deke said. “I get that.” 

Daisy felt a wave of guilt that he was blaming Lincoln for joining in her torture of Raina. Truth be told, Lincoln hadn’t done anything to her. It had all been her temper and her lack of control. However, as he spoke, Lincoln placed a reassuring hand on her elbow, subtly letting her know that he was okay with sharing an equal amount of the blame. Daisy felt another wave of gratitude for him; despite his immense confusion and concern about his mother and his worries about them approaching the endgame of the war against Hive, he was still there for her. He had more reason than most to be mad at Raina, seeing as she had been his transitioner, but he was still trying to do what was right for everyone. It was Daisy who had almost lost control.

“We need to be dispassionate about this,” Sousa said, causing both Daisy and Lincoln to look at him.

“You don’t know her,” Daisy said; she was completely unaware of Sousa and Raina’s conversation while he had been Hive’s prisoner because he hadn’t told her. “You have no idea what she’s capable of.”

“What does that mean?” Sousa asked.

“She can’t be trusted, she killed people!” Daisy said, her voice rising as she gestured towards Raina on the floor. 

“We might have to make some hard choices,” Sousa said.

By that, he could have meant anything towards trusting Raina, or sparing her life, but either way, Daisy was done. 

“Why would you -” she began, even though Lincoln had been proposing a similar thing when he’d told her to spare Raina. There was a difference between Lincoln suggesting that and Sousa suggesting it; Lincoln knew her a whole hell of a lot more than Sousa did. Additionally, Sousa might like Lincoln to a certain degree, but he was no way half or even a quarter as invested as Daisy was regarding his safety. If they went about this timeline wrongly, Lincoln could die and the thought of that was tearing Daisy from the inside out. 

Deke cut her off. “No time to argue!” he said, clapping his hands loudly to get their attention.

Sousa subsided, but Daisy was still furious.

“I am not -” she began, only for Deke to cut her off this time.

“I should explain,” he said. “We’re gonna find a way to save him.”

Daisy and Lincoln turned to stare at Deke. 

“What...what do you mean?” Daisy asked.

“Is my death...is that my purpose? In this timeline?” Lincoln asked, his voice stoically calm for someone who might have just been handed a death sentence.

“No, Linc -” Daisy began, her eyes shifting to him immediately, panic and anxiety in them.

“Raina told Sousa that you can save him,” Deke said, causing all eyes to turn from him to Sousa and then to Raina. 

“The past and the future are intertwined,” Raina said cryptically. 

“Wait…,” Lincoln said. “You’re talking about...you’re talking about the original timeline. When Daisy saved me from Hydra.”

“Yes,” Raina said. “She quaked your heart to life. But they were experimenting on you. The same way they experimented on Daisy all those years later.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Daisy asked, frustrated. “We already know all those parallels between me and Lincoln and Sousa and I, what does that have to do with anything -”

She cut herself off. “Oh my God.” 

“Daisy?” Lincoln turned to her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Oh my God,” Daisy repeated. “Gordon. Jiaying. Garrett. The Framework. Aida. Fitz.”

“What?” Deke asked, but by now, Daisy was putting the pieces together.

“Nathaniel figured out how to steal powers from Inhumans,” Daisy said, realization dawning. “He stole my powers and put them in himself; he stole Gordon’s powers and put them in Garrett. In the Framework, the original Framework, Aida experimented on Inhumans too. She got Vijay Nadeer’s powers, Jiaying’s powers, but most importantly, Lincoln’s and Gordon’s. She could teleport. And we talked about it before. We talked about how Lincoln and my powers might be compatible for combining, if we had a healing component or Kora’s powers or something. If Lincoln can teleport, it wouldn’t matter if he ended up in the Quinjet with the warhead. He could still get out of there.” 

There was a long silence for a moment, everyone staring at each other. 

“Gordon’s grave is in Afterlife,” Deke said at last. “It...it wouldn’t be the first time you dug up a body to save someone you love.”

Daisy glanced at him, thinking back to the moment when she had dragged Jiaying’s body into the Lighthouse. Combining her powers with the Centipede serum would have saved Coulson; if they were able to combine all the experimentation techniques, they might be able to give Lincoln teleportation.

“Is that even…possible?” Sousa asked, his gaze flickering between Daisy, Lincoln and Deke.

“You must believe me,” Raina said, drawing all their attention to her. “We want the same thing.” She didn’t say anything else, but the implication was clear. She had told Sousa that Daisy was capable of saving Lincoln’s life and her doing so was basically her telling them that she wanted Lincoln to live.

“It’s not _that_ crazy,” Deke said, even as Daisy turned to look at Lincoln.

“I...I can’t lose…,” she began, losing all sense of words in her anxiety. “I have to save him.” She turned back to face Raina. 

“You’re all he wants,” Raina said softly. “And the feelings are mutual. No one can ever replace Lincoln.” 

It was abundantly clear what Raina meant by that. Neither Daisy nor Lincoln said anything to deny it, although Sousa did say, “Harsh, but yes.” 

His tone was being deliberately flippant; he was trying to indicate that he was as over Daisy as he could get. Raina, however, ignored him, and continued speaking.

“I had a vision today and it revealed the truth,” she said, addressing both Daisy and Lincoln. “You’ve only seen the beginning.”

There were only two visions that they had shared which were still relevant, the first being Charles’ death prophecy and the second being the ones that Kora had shown them of their future and their family. The knowing look in Raina’s eyes was all the confirmation they needed.

“A family,” Daisy and Lincoln said in unison, staring at her.

“Yes. It’s all you’ve ever wanted, isn’t it?” Raina asked. “I’ve seen it. Babies...parents…. Just because something’s powerful, doesn’t make it dangerous.”

Her last sentence was confirmation that their children would be Inhuman and have incredibly dangerous powers. The theory that Hive wanted their super-powered Inhuman babies was essentially confirmed. 

Daisy’s hand automatically went to her stomach, which was as flat and unchanged as ever. She took a step backwards; Lincoln placed his hand on her shoulder, his eyes having followed the movement of her hand. 

“Let’s just go,” he said. 

“You’ve changed, Lincoln,” Raina said, her expression unreadable behind her thorny exterior.

“You’re never going to see Daisy again,” Lincoln said, even as he guided Daisy towards the door. 

“Yes,” she said. “In fact, we’ll speak to each other again.” 

That caused Daisy to look up at her in shock; the last time Raina had told her that, she had been hours away from dying. But Deke and Sousa were already speaking and she and Lincoln were almost out the door; the moment had passed.

“Well, that’s great,” Deke muttered, not even being sarcastic.

“That’s a win in my book,” Sousa agreed, clapping Deke on the shoulder. 

The door swung shut, separating Daisy and Lincoln from Deke, Sousa and Raina; wordlessly, they headed down the path towards the hill where Lincoln had once told Daisy was a good place to go and clear their heads.


	81. Episode 21: Forever and Always - Chapter 81

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what, guys??? NEW VIDEO COMING SOON!!! And it's got a whole ton of new footage, so get excited, cuz I am!!! 😍😍😍
> 
> And as always, happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Episode 21: Forever and Always**

**Chapter 81**

The second Daisy and Lincoln were gone, Raina shrugged her shoulders at both Deke and Sousa. 

“I was only trying to help,” she said.

Both men stared at her with a mixture of incredulity, frustration and devastation on their faces. Without giving them time to process what she’d just said, Raina continued speaking.

“It is the thorn that protects the rose,” she said. She paused and gave a little huff of amusement, although how she could still be amused when Hive was taking over the world, she was essentially S.H.I.E.L.D.’s prisoner, and the only thing standing between her and imprisonment in the Fridge was Deke’s goodwill. “Or in this case...the daisy. Besides, you two would do the exact same thing to protect them.” She paused. “Well, Deke, you’d do anything for both of them and Sousa, you’d do anything for Daisy.” 

Deke and Sousa glared at her, but before they could speak, Raina continued speaking. 

“I’m sure you remember,” she said. “You would do anything for them to be happy.” 

“I’ve already been given the privilege of a second chance,” Sousa said, the words coming back into his mind as easily as if he had said the day before.

“Maybe you’ll see me again some day,” Deke said, the words, equally unbidden, springing to his lips. 

Raina scoffed. “Destiny. I’m afraid it’s out of my hands. I hope they’ve said their goodbyes.” 

Deke glared at her. “Enough with the riddles and the metaphors,” he snapped. “We’ve played by your rules enough, Raina. Spill.”

Raina shrugged. “I don’t see the point,” she said. 

“You do realize that I’m the only thing standing between you and the Fridge,” Deke said. “Or maybe I’ll let May in here to take out all her anger on you. You killed her husband and the father of her child. She’s never going to forgive you.”

Raina studied him sceptically. “I’m not looking for absolution,” she scoffed. “And do you really think threats are going to make me answer your questions?”

“Was that meant to be funny?” Sousa demanded. “First the daisy puns, now absolution?” 

Raina laughed. “Well, I could always say that I’ve seen the stars in their sky, but I think Kora already used that one.” She pursed her lips. “What else…. Oh, I know. Lincoln’s return could be considered the ‘resurrection’. And what, Afterlife is the Garden of Eden? My grandmother did call the Kree ‘blue angels from heaven’.” 

“Oh, shut up,” Deke said, completely done with her riddles and mind games. “I could always turn you over to the ATCU, you know. S.H.I.E.L.D. has very different methods for dealing with Inhumans than they do. They could put you in a gel matrix coma for the rest of your life.”

Raina scoffed. “Right. Because you know perfectly well that we Inhumans can break out of that system.”

Deke glared at her, but he didn’t want to push for answers. He didn’t know as much as he would have liked about the future and it was impossible to tell sometimes if she was lying. Gritting his teeth, he said, “You’re going into containment right now.”

Raina smirked. “Right,” she said. “When you already have two of Hive’s Inhumans in containment. You definitely want me in there with them where I can kill them or they can kill me.”

Sousa’s head snapped upright and he glared at her. “For once in your life, Raina, answer questions without giving the answers yourself,” he snapped. 

Raina smiled at Sousa, or at least, it would have appeared to have been a smile, had she been capable of doing so. “Oh, Agent Sousa, you disappoint me,” she said. “I have never lied to you. Have a little faith.”

“Faith. Faith?!” Sousa demanded incredulously, completely done with her biblical comparisons. “I guess that makes you Judas, then.” 

Raina raised a thorny eyebrow at him. “Judas committed suicide,” she said. “ _I’m_ not going to top myself.” 

Before either Deke or Sousa could rip Raina to shreds for her latest metaphor, the door opened and May entered. Her face was livid; she fired a gun at Raina, three rapid shots that sent her flying backwards.

“May!” Deke protested, but when May lowered the gun, Deke and Sousa realized that it wasn’t an ordinary gun, but instead, it was an ICER.

May turned to look at Deke. “She was never swayed,” she said, nodding to Raina’s unconscious body on the floor. “Swayed Inhumans are immune to the ICERs. There’s our undeniable proof that she’s behind everything.”

May turned and stalked straight out of the room. Deke and Sousa stared at one another with wide eyes, then grabbed Raina’s arms and dragged her out of the room.




By this point, most of the other agents had reconvened in the centre of Afterlife. The Zephyr was parked in a nearby field and the ramp was down; Deke saw Jemma inside, finishing stitching up Price. Yo-Yo and Flint were in containment, but the majority of the field agents were still milling around the plane: Mack, Miles, Trip, May and Lexi were waiting for them in the courtyard. 

“Where’re Daisy and Lincoln?” Trip asked when they came out, dragging Raina between them. “We thought they might be with you guys.”

Deke frowned. “They left before we were done with Raina. You guys didn’t see them?”

All five of them traded glances.

“No,” Miles said, speaking for all five of them. Then he grinned mischievously. “Who wants to bet that they’re unreachable via coms?” he suggested. “I’m betting they turned them off for said private conversation.”

“Miles,” May said warningly, nodding towards Lexi, who was still standing with them. 

Miles subsided a little, but as he did so, Deke sighed. 

“They probably just need space for a while,” he said. “Is the rest of Afterlife clear?”

“From what we could tell by exploring and by sending D.W.A.R.F.s around,” Mack said. “We found Piper and Davis, but Doctor Johnson and Robin are still M.I.A.. It’s possible that Alisha took them onto the Quinjet with her, Hive, James and Giyera. What should we do now?”

Jemma came out of the Zephyr as Mack spoke. “We need to, um, confirm that we’re all who we say we are,” she said.

Everyone looked at her confusedly. 

“I saw the fight from the Zephyr,” she said. “And I could have been wrong, but it looked like Hive was using the nanomask to take on May’s face. With my experience with the nanomask, Kara was able to take more than just May’s face. She took on a male guard’s face once. We all need to confirm our identities.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Miles asked. “Doesn’t Hive have Kara’s past memories? She would know everything that happened to her.”

“And doesn’t Kora have access to all knowledge of what happened in the past?” Sousa asked. “She could have told Hive everything she knows about what happened to you and Daisy and the others in the original timeline.”

“Yes,” Jemma said. “To both of you. But that knowledge doesn’t cover everything that’s happened to us in the last few days. And Kora doesn’t know everything about this timeline either. If, say, something happened between Deke and Mack in this timeline in the past that Kara never had any knowledge about, that could pass off as confirmation that you are who you say you are.” 

Deke groaned. “So we’re going to ‘Izel’ the situation?” he asked Jemma.

Jemma looked at him. “Do you have a better idea?” she asked.

“We could get Daisy to quake our bones,” Sousa suggested. “That’s what she did to you once, right, Jemma?”

Jemma nodded. “Daisy and Lincoln are definitely still Daisy and Lincoln,” she said. “I saw Lincoln use his powers -”

“We saw Daisy use hers too,” Deke agreed. “They are definitely still them.”

“But they’re not here right now,” Jemma said. “So we should, as Deke says, ‘Izel’ the situation.”

“How does that work?” Mack asked.

“One person asks another person a question only he or she knows the answer to,” Jemma said. “They answer it correctly, ask one in turn, and those two are clear.”

Miles shook his head. “I’m an open book -”

“Then you can start,” Deke said grimly. “Anyone got a question for Miles?”

There was silence for a moment and then Jemma spoke.

“Miles, where is the place you want to visit most in the world?” she asked. “In both timelines.”

Miles grinned suddenly. “Kitson,” he said. “You told me about your and Daisy’s adventures and that sounded like _fun_.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What?” Miles asked. “Alien puffs!”

Mack shook his head at Miles. “Of course.”

“When did you have a chance to talk about _that_?” Deke asked incredulously.

“In the car on the way to the Lighthouse,” Jemma said. “It was a _long_ drive.”

“Okay,” Deke said, sighing. “Miles, ask Jemma something.”

Miles pondered for a moment and then suddenly grinned. “Jemma, what’s three c?”

Jemma stared at him. “Of all questions, Miles!” she protested.

“Oh, come on, give me a break,” Miles said. “There are only so many things I could ask you, given how we met, like what, a week ago?”

Jemma sighed and Mack protested.

“I was there for that too, Miles,” he said. “And so was Ward.” 

Miles shrugged. “Ward’s asleep,” he pointed out. “Besides, you’re just one other person. You can confirm it too. Besides, there are seriously only so many questions I can ask.”

Miles’ logic was sadly true. 

Jemma sighed. “Fine,” she said bluntly. “Three c means sex.”

Deke stared at her. “Why were you talking about sex with _Miles_?”

“Oh my God, no!” Jemma protested, at the same time as Miles said, “Ew! Gross! Deke!”

“I am not _that_ bad,” Miles said. “I would never ever flirt with Jemma. Or have feelings for her. She’s married!” 

Thank goodness for both of their vehement denial that there was anything going on between them. The very thought of Jemma and Miles possibly being a thing made Deke more nauseous than him walking in on Daisy and Lincoln post-sex. 

“Okay, okay,” Deke said. “Sorry, but -”

“We were talking about Daisy and Lincoln causing the Lighthouse to shake and the electricity to fluctuate,” Jemma said, still looking mortified. “And it turned out to not be sex; it was nightmares. For pity’s sake, Deke!”

“We are changing the subject,” May declared; she had been covering Lexi’s ears with her hands since Jemma had mentioned ‘sex’. “Mack, your turn. After you and Nicole had Hope, what advice did I give you about being a parent?”

As Mack started to respond, Sousa sighed heavily, doing his best not to glare at Raina on the ground of the courtyard. This one-on-one interrogation was not something he was looking forward to. 




After having left the transition room where Deke and Sousa had taken over making sure that Raina did not escape, Daisy and Lincoln had just walked. Without speaking, they had known where they wanted to go; they went to the hill where Lincoln had first demonstrated his powers to Daisy. It was, after all, as Lincoln had said, a good place to go and clear their heads, plus it was the place where they’d had their first true bonding moment. 

As they approached the summit of the hill, Daisy sighed. “The past won’t leave us alone,” she said. After another moment of silence, she spoke again. “I was trying to protect you.”

They reached the top of the hill, both of them staring out at the beautiful view, which looked gorgeous in both timelines. 

“I understand,” Lincoln said. “You don’t have to defend yourself to me. In both timelines, I went overboard and threatened to torture Alisha so that she would tell me where you were. I’m the last person in the world who would judge you.”

Daisy glanced at him and she saw the understanding on his face. He really did understand. She _had_ gone overboard earlier, even though Lincoln had asked her to stop. In a way, she was even more in the wrong than Lincoln; he had been desperately trying to get her back, but she had had him at her side the entire time. Admittedly, Raina had done a lot more wrong to either of them than Alisha had, but still...she had gone to the extreme.

“Thank you,” Daisy said softly, glancing at him; he smiled back at her.

“I love you more than anything,” Lincoln said, causing her to look at him again, warmth blossoming all over her and a smile covering her face. Every time he told her that, it made her feel warm and happy all over again; she never would get tired of hearing him say that. “You are my future.”

The mention of the future made Daisy’s smile fade a little. Raina telling them that their children were going to be powerful, but not necessarily dangerous made her feel worried all over again. Lincoln caught the concern on her face and he turned to face her.

“I promise, no one will harm you,” he said and Daisy turned to face him as well.

“You and me,” she said softly. “Us against the world.”

She didn’t use that phrase lightly. She had used it with Jemma, whom she was closer to than almost anyone in the world; Lincoln knew how much it meant that she was telling him that. He smiled at her and held out his hand.

“Take my hand,” he said.

Without hesitation this time, Daisy did so and she couldn’t help smiling as tingles of electricity started running throughout her body and into the ground. 

“Wow,” she said; she couldn’t help it. Lincoln had used his powers on her multiple times in the last few days, mostly when they had been falling from planes, but without the adrenaline of falling, it felt different. 

Her feet left the ground and Daisy couldn’t help laughing as he started walking around her in a circle, his electricity keeping her aloft.

“This is crazy,” Daisy said laughing, referring more to the fact that they were reliving the timeline than his powers. But either way, she didn’t care; after he had used his powers on her the first time in the original timeline, not only had she started to accept her powers a little, but she had also started to develop a small crush on him, and he knew that now. Of course he was going to flirt with her in a similar way. 

Lincoln lowered her to the ground and he smiled at her. “Our powers don’t have to be terrifying, remember?” 

And Daisy understood completely. He hadn’t just been flirting with her; he had been trying to reassure her that it didn’t matter what kind of powers their kids got. Their powers were dangerous, yes, but they could use them for a million different things, including flirting with each other. 

“The future…,” Daisy began, but Lincoln spoke over her.

“Trust me,” he said softly. “We’ve got this.”

Daisy smiled. Of course he knew exactly what to say to her to make her feel better. She glanced back out over the view and then back at him.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “I love you too.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her close, both of them staring out at the view. After a moment, she spoke.

“Do you...do you think we should go back? In case the others are looking for us?” she asked.

“I don’t want to go,” Lincoln admitted. “I’d rather hold you here in this peaceful moment for a short while longer.” 

Daisy smiled. “Okay.” 

They stood there, locked in their embrace, staring out at the view. It felt like the calm before the storm.




Lexi had just confirmed with Jemma that after having been sent to her by Daisy and Lincoln, she had, in actuality, given Jemma one of her slices of pizza, when Daisy and Lincoln returned to the Zephyr. Neither looked any worse for the wear; instead, they looked rather happy and content.

“Do they have to do this too?” Miles asked. “Because I’m sure it’ll be easier for them than anyone else.”

Both Daisy and Lincoln stared at Miles quizzically. 

“No,” Jemma said. “They’re still immune, I saw Lincoln use his powers and Deke and Sousa both saw Daisy use hers. They’re clean.”

“Unless they got replaced in the last however long it took for us to interrogate each other,” Mack pointed out. “Doubtful, but possible.”

“What are we doing?” Daisy asked.

“We’re ‘Izel-ling’ each other,” Deke said. “Because of the nanomasks.”

Daisy groaned. “Spilling a secret?” she asked. “That one other person here can confirm?”

“We’ve all done it,” Miles said, shrugging.

Daisy sighed heavily. “Okay. Um….”

“Just keep it PG,” May said warningly. “Miles has already polluted our brains enough.”

Both Daisy and Lincoln looked at Miles quizzically and then simultaneously decided it was best not to ask. Daisy turned back to Lincoln. 

“Okay,” she said. “Um...I know. Have you ever successfully heated up food with your powers? And if so, what did you heat up?”

Lincoln laughed out loud. “Of course that's what you're thinking of,” he teased. “The answer to that is yes, but badly, and it took several tries with popcorn kernels to get it to a temperature that you liked because you refused to let me try on the whole bag.”

Daisy grinned, elbowing him in the ribs. “If I’d let you try with the whole bag, you could have burned all the popcorn,” she pointed out. “And I wanted to eat some.” At that moment, her smile dropped as she realized something. “Oh my God. Kora was right.” 

Lincoln glanced at her. “The popcorn?” he asked. 

“Not just that,” Daisy said. “Although that too. Levitating on the hill.” 

Lincoln’s eyes widened as he pieced together what she meant. Kora had shown them that in the visions that she had shared with them; aside from eating popcorn on a bed, she had also shown him levitating Daisy with his powers. They hadn’t even realized it up till now.

“I didn’t even...realize that,” he said. “But...I mean….”

Daisy nodded. “I shouldn’t be surprised,” she admitted, glancing down at her engagement ring. “She wasn’t in the vision when we got married...and she’s not here right now.” 

She looked up at Lincoln, her eyes, both concerned and hopeful at the same time. Could Kora have been right? Did that mean that both of them survived the battle with Hive this time? Was it possible that, in this other timeline, they both lived? Hope flared through her, dangerous because it was so overwhelming. 

“I think that’s confirmation that they are who they say they are,” May said; she, Mack and Lexi hadn’t been around when Daisy and Lincoln had given the few details about the visions to everyone else. “No one else knows the visions, right?”

“Kora does,” Deke said, but Lincoln spoke. 

“I don’t think...Daisy, when Kora showed us the wedding, the kids were older,” he said. “Alya and Owen, I mean, and we don’t know how much time has passed in the original timeline -”

“The two timelines are existing at the same time,” Jemma said. “Fitz confirmed it with me.” She took a deep breath. “And...and we can communicate between the timelines now. Daisy...if you want to stay, there’s nothing holding you back anymore.”

There was silence as everyone took in what Jemma was saying. 

“How?” Deke asked. “Last time, 33 years passed here and only one passed for the rest of you -”

“The theory is because Owen was born literally in the quantum realm, connecting both the timelines, he’s enabling the two timelines to exist at the same time,” Jemma said, her gaze shifting from Daisy to Deke and then back again. “I mean, you did lose a year while you were here, originally, but now that he’s born...that won’t happen anymore.”

There was silence for a moment and then Daisy said the only thing she could think of.

“So...so Kora was wrong,” she said, her voice starting to shake. “So...the future….” 

She clapped a hand to her mouth, nausea rising inside her. Lincoln pressed a hand to her back, rubbing soothingly, comforting her. 

“Daisy, Raina saw our children too,” Lincoln said, drawing her into his arms. “Raina is never wrong. She’s never once been wrong. If Raina’s seen it, then it will happen.” 

“We can’t trust what she says,” Daisy said, her voice shaking, but Trip interrupted.

“Kora’s seen this happening,” Trip said, causing everyone to look at him. “She saw this wedding. This one. The one that happens in, what fifteen minutes? Twenty? She even...she even gave me a message to give to you, Daisy. She knew that this was going to happen. She told me so. A few hours ago.” 

There was silence for a moment. In actuality, prior to the fight between him, Miles and Giyera, Trip had last spoken to Kora before they had left the Lighthouse, which was over 15 hours previously. But that had been before Deke had given permission for him to have an earpiece and to try to talk to Kora; Trip didn’t want his allegiance to be at question again.

“See?” Lincoln said, soothingly running his fingers through her hair; it was starting to become a habit for both of them, when the other was in pain or worried about something. He paused. “Besides, we agreed that we were getting married because we love each other, not because of the vision that Kora showed us.”

Daisy gave a slight laugh at that, tilting her head up to smile at him. “You’re right,” she said softly, even though she was still worried. She leaned her head against his upper chest. “I love you.” She rose on her tiptoes to whisper this last sentence in his ear, causing him to smile, press his lips lightly to her cheek and hug her tightly before letting her lower herself back to her feet. 

“So…,” Deke said, checking his watch. “We still have about an hour and a half before Ward wakes up. I’d say we have time for the wedding.” 

Daisy pulled away from Lincoln to glance at Jemma; the three of them traded anxious glances.

“What’s wrong?” Deke asked, seeing the anxiety on their faces. 

Daisy broke the news so that neither Lincoln nor Jemma would have to do it. She knew that both would feel incredibly guilty for giving Deke the bad news, especially since time was running short. 

“Hive already has a fully operational warhead,” she said. “That means...it’s the Absolution mission.” 

“Meaning?” Deke asked, his brain racing to Raina’s cryptic mention of ‘absolution’.

“His goal will be to use his warhead to launch the Absolution virus pathogen into the atmosphere,” Jemma explained. “Disperse it and it’ll affect a significant amount of the population; all of them will turn into the swayed Primitives that we just encountered. He just needs something to launch his warhead with, now that he has the warhead.”

“He’ll need the Zephyr,” Daisy said.

“Or the Pacific Missile Silo,” Lincoln pointed out. 

Jemma cursed under her breath; she had remained behind with Daisy, Fitz and Coulson while Lincoln and the others had gone on that mission. 

“We should check and see if it’s gone dark yet,” she said. “If it has, we’ll have less than five hours before we need to be there. It took Hive five hours between the base going dark and him attempting to release his missile.”

“Logically he wouldn’t go there,” Deke said slowly. “It’s halfway across the world.”

“You should seal off all S.H.I.E.L.D. bases that have Zephyrs in them,” Lincoln said. “If he has access to any of the Zephyrs, he’ll have everything he needs to launch his missile.”

“Doesn’t he still need you two?” Sousa asked. 

“Not necessarily,” Daisy said. “We’re immune to the Absolution virus because we’re Inhuman. He could always get his hands on us afterwards. And if a significant amount of the population are Primitives, well...it would be very easy for him to capture us.”

“What do we do then?” Mack asked. “We could fly to the Pacific Missile Silo -”

“No,” Lincoln said. “Jemma, you need to contact Fitz. We need to figure out how I can teleport.”

“No,” Daisy said immediately. “Lincoln, it’s too dangerous. You know what happened to you in the Framework!” 

Her hands were starting to shake with vibrations. She hadn’t lost control in so long and now that Lincoln had returned and her fear of losing him was back, she had lost control more times than she cared to admit. Lincoln caught her hands in hers, knowing what was happening. 

“Fitz knows how to prevent that from happening,” he said. “I know parts of it too; I have his memories from the Framework. Daisy, I have to do this. I can save whoever ends up in the Quinjet with the warhead.”

Daisy shook her head violently. “Linc, I can’t lose you -”

“You aren’t going to lose me,” Lincoln said softly. “I would never let anything happen to you.” 

“Those aren’t the same things,” Daisy countered. “Linc -”

“Would you promise me that?” Lincoln asked. “Would you promise me that you aren’t going to die for me to live?” 

“I…,” Daisy’s voice trailed off in mid-sentence. 

“Promise me,” Lincoln said. “That you aren’t going to try to die for me and I’ll make you the same promise.”

Daisy closed her eyes. “I can’t do that, Lincoln. I love you -”

“I can’t do that either,” he said. “I can’t promise you that I won’t die for you because I would do it again in a heartbeat. And seeing as the Quinjets are now designed to maneuver in space, I _definitely_ need to fry the manual controls. If I can teleport, it gives us more time.”

“Three and a half more minutes,” Daisy said softly. “Give or take a few seconds.”

“That’s right,” Lincoln said. “Roughly two minutes during which we talked before the communications failed. Slightly longer than one minute in space after the communications died.” 

There was silence for a minute or two. 

“Does Daisy have a photographic memory too?” Miles asked, causing everyone to look at him. He shrugged. “Considering that happened, like, five years ago, for you, that is a really good recollection.”

Daisy laughed hollowly. “No photographic memory, Miles,” she said. “But I remember because I replayed that day in my head for years, wondering what I could have done to change it. Down to timing, down to the last second. How I could change it, how I could have saved his life. Lincoln was the only one who could have fried the manual controls, but Bobbi had electrified batons that could be thrown, oh, but of course, she had already been disavowed and had left the team. The Quinjet wasn’t designed to maneuver in space then, oh, but it wasn’t designed to fly underwater either, yet May managed to do that all the same. Fitz upgrades the Zephyr to fly in space, oh, but two years too late. Fitz continues to upgrade the Zephyr to be able to open to people in space to save me, but no, we couldn’t do that years previously. Gordon could have saved him - and would have, because Gordon liked Lincoln - oh, but Fitz, Mack and Coulson killed Gordon a year previously. We learn that we can combine powers in Inhumans in the Framework, oh, a year too late as well. We learn that powers can be taken from corpses and injected into people via Centipede serum, but, again, two years too late. I learn how to stop nukes from exploding, oh, _three_ years too late. Deke invents the ShawDrive, but of course we didn’t have that in 2016. Doctor Radcliffe invents LMDs to prevent other casualties like Lincoln, and we end up in a digital hellhole where I don’t even get him back there because the world is too cruel like that. We go into the future, oh, but can we go to the past? Nope. When we can go into the past, oh, I get flirted on by Gideon freaking Malick of all people and get experimented on by Nathaniel flipping Malick, who, by all intents and purposes, might as well be Hive, and I get reunited with my mother and see Gordon again and John Garrett of all people gets teleportation, but do we go back to 2016? Nope. We stopped in 1983. 1983! And of course, when I finally do get Lincoln back, we’re back in 2016, fighting against Hive. Again.”

There was a long silence. If it hadn’t been clear to everyone how desperately Daisy had wanted to get Lincoln back into her life, it certainly was clear now. She rested her head against Lincoln’s chest in defeat and he pressed his lips to the top of her head, rubbing her shoulders gently. 

“Okay,” Deke said finally. “ Jemma, I think you need to contact Fitz. If we can use Gordon’s DNA to make Lincoln able to teleport, then we should do it.”

Jemma twisted her hands together. “Fitz would probably remember how to safely experiment on Lincoln,” she said. “We’d just need to dig up Gordon’s body.”

“I’ll do it,” Mack said grimly. “Apparently, I’m the guy who killed Gordon, so now I’ll be the guy who...digs up Gordon?”

“Okay,” Deke said. “But before you do that, Jemma, you said we have about five hours before Hive gets to the Pacific Missile Silo?” 

“Well, Hive is seriously confused right now,” Lincoln said slowly. “So we possibly have longer than that, but equally possibly, we have shorter than that.” 

“At any rate, we need to wait for Ward to get out of the Framework,” Jemma said. “And we’d need kill codes for the missile site.”

“You’d need to get in touch with the President,” Hand said; the others hadn’t noticed her, Piper and Davis come up. “As skilled as Agents Lydon and Johnson are, hacking into that system won’t be a possibility.” She paused. “Hive took one of the Quinjets, but there are still two here and the Zephyr. Agents Piper, Davis and I can go to do...whatever it is you need us to do, Deke. I know you have some unfinished business in Afterlife.”

“We don’t even know how scrambled Hive’s brain is,” Deke said slowly. “And Kora -”

“She’s in no shape to heal him,” Miles said. “She looked...complicated when we last saw her.”

He gave Trip a sympathetic look as he spoke and Trip grimaced in response. 

“If you could try and track the Quinjet, we might have even more time than we previously thought,” Deke said. “Could you do that, Miles? And send the coordinates to Hand?” 

Miles nodded. “Sure.”

Deke turned to Hand. “Fly to the Pacific Missile Silo,” he said. “Just in case.”

“They can’t take him on their own,” Lincoln said, his brow creased in concern. “Last time, May, Mack, Yo-Yo and I were all there and Giyera and James still got away with the warhead.”

“It’s just in case,” Deke told Lincoln. “Hive’s brain is likely too scrambled to do anything. Besides, we don’t even know if that’s where he’s going. For all we know, he’s going to rendezvous with Joey and Alisha somewhere.” He turned to Hand. “Go.”

Hand, Piper and Davis left and as they did so, Jemma turned back to Deke.

“Using a green screen, Miles could get the kill codes,” Jemma said. “Fitz did last time; he, Coulson and Talbot got the codes through to Lincoln and May in time.” 

“We have time,” Deke said aloud. “Besides, Nana needs to get Bobo over for your guys’ science-y stuff. So she can get the whole team while she’s at it, Daisy and Lincoln can have their perfect wedding; Miles will try to find kill codes and track the Quinjet; Nana, Bobo and Mack will work on the possible teleportation; and May, Sousa and I will interrogate Raina.”

“You sure that’s wise?” Jemma asked. “You want to speak to Raina? She talks in more riddles than a sphinx!”

“Worth a shot,” Deke said, deliberately ignoring the fact that she had spoken in the most frustrating code that made him want to blow her brains out. 

“What about me?” Trip asked. 

“LMD Coulson should also have a perfect recollection,” Deke said. “Of everything that happened during Hive’s takeover. You’re going to sit down with him, and the other timeline version of Mack and Yo-Yo and get every single detail that they were privy to. Everything, down to the last detail, no matter how embarrassing. Everything from how they captured Hive, to who got attacked, to the order of the passing of the cross necklace…. Speaking of, who has the wretched cross necklace of death?”

There was silence as everyone looked at each other. 

“Who had it last?” Deke asked. “Guys!”

“We all have our duplicates still,” Daisy said, fishing in her pocket for the necklace. “I’m not sure...does it even matter who has the original?”

“Give me that.” Deke snatched it out of her hand. “All of you, give them here.”

“What are you doing with them?” Miles asked as he dug his out of his pocket. “Besides, I’m pretty sure, Bobbi and Hunter still have theirs.” 

“Ward too,” Trip added as he handed his to Deke as well. “And May and Mack and Lexi don’t have any.”

“That’s good,” Deke said as Jemma took hers out, looking troubled. “Less to burn.”

“We’re burning them all?” Jemma asked. “I mean, melting them? We already said, as long as there’s one, we have a confirmed way of destroying Hive.”

“I know,” Deke said grimly, taking hers from her. “That’s why we’re burning - or melting - all but one. Lincoln, take out yours.”

“Dad…,” Lincoln began, but Daisy glared at him.

“Lincoln, do it,” she snapped. “Don’t you dare do this to me again. I swear -”

Lincoln held up one hand in a placating gesture as he dug in his pocket for his cross necklace. Deke snatched it out of his hand before he could give it to him.

“I’ll get Bobbi and Hunter’s from them,” he said. “And find Ward’s. Then I’ll melt them all but the original.”

“So who’s going to hang on to it then?” Jemma asked. “Deke, you can’t keep the original!” She paused. “Even if you know which one the original is!”

“I won’t keep the original,” Deke said. “I’ll put it in the Quinjet. It’s as simple as that.” 

There was silence for a moment.

“And if Hive finds where you hide it?” Daisy asked, voicing what all of them were thinking.

“Or if Kora is forced to tell him?” Lincoln asked, his voice equally anxious.

“He won’t find it,” Deke said. “Trust me.”

There was silence again and when no one else objected, Deke clapped his hands together. 

“Great,” he said. “So this is what we’re going to do. Nana, reach out to the other timeline; Mack, go dig up Gordon; Miles, see if you can track down the missing Quinjet; Trip -”

“I’m on decorating duty,” Trip said. “I’ll find flowers. I know where the nice ones are.”

“You’ve never been here before,” Deke said, frowning at him.

Trip tapped the side of his head. “Kora,” he said simply. “She did all she could do to be here, even though she’s not, actually here.”

“Fine,” Deke said. “Trip gets decorating duty; May -” 

“I’ll put Raina in containment,” May said. “Lex -”

“Lexi can come with me,” Daisy said. She addressed her next comment to Lexi. “Deke got you a dress when he got mine. If you want to wear a dress. I know May hates heels and dancing, so you might hate dresses too, but there’s a dress if you want one.”

Lincoln stared at Daisy and then at Deke in amazement. “You got Daisy a wedding dress?” he asked incredulously. “When in the world did you do that?”

“In D.C.,” Deke shrugged. “And I had to get the whole team clothes way back in 1931, that’s how I knew what size; don’t kill me.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Lincoln said. “I mean, you have the right taste in women, I’ll give you that, Dad, but, thank you.”

He hugged Deke; Deke clapped him on the back in response. 

“I got you a suit too,” Deke said, when Lincoln had let go of him. “It’s in Mack’s bunk in the Zephyr.” 

Lexi beamed, lighting up. “This is going to be so much fun!”


	82. Chapter 82

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay in the release of this chapter! I needed to figure out chapter lengths and stuff like that and discovered that I think the story will have 24 episodes (I think, not 100% sure), but then again, some tv series DO have 24 episodes in a season. I'd rather give all of you better writing than fewer episodes and lesser quality writing. Anyway, let me know what you think, and I'll try to post the next chapter at the same time as always! 
> 
> As always, looking forward to hearing what you all think about this chapter and happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 82**

“Wait,” Daisy said, pinching her forehead, just as everyone was about to disperse. “I just thought of a problem. A big problem.”

Everyone looked at her, concern on their faces. All of them knew how badly Daisy and Lincoln wanted to get married at the moment; the very fact that Daisy was bringing up a potential problem meant that it had to be an incredibly serious problem for it to be worth mentioning when everyone had agreed that there was time for them to get married right there and then. 

“Hive needed the Zephyr to get to 100,000 feet to release the pathogen,” she said. “The Quinjet can get that high as well, can’t it, Deke?”

Silence reigned for a moment, a deadly silence as all of them realized what Daisy had said was true. 

“Oh God,” Jemma said, speaking before Deke could. “Lincoln, you told me that Quinjets are now designed to fly in space. The second Hive gets his hands on that warhead, it’ll be over. He won’t  _ need _ to get to a Zephyr.”

Lincoln rubbed his face with a hand. “We have to go after him now.”

“Can we even catch him?” Mack asked. “He’s had a, what, fifteen minute headstart now? Twenty?” 

“Hive’s Quinjet has him, James, Giyera, Alisha, Kora, Doctor Johnson and Robin Hinton,” Deke said. “May could catch him in the Quinjet if she took, what five agents tops?” 

He could not bring himself to look at either Daisy or Lincoln as he spoke; he knew what he was asking them to do. He was asking them to go after the Quinjet that potentially had the warhead, with Hive, with hardly any backup. They had to go; there was no way that humans could make a dent against Hive’s Inhumans. 

“Quinjets move faster with less weight,” May confirmed. “If I took five agents, I’d be lucky if I could catch him. If I took four, I have a much higher chance. If I took three, I’d definitely be able to overtake him. If I took two, we could definitely beat Hive to Joey and Alisha  _ and _ possibly get the warhead back.” 

“Joey and Alisha,” Mack repeated. “They’re the metal-manipulating guy and the clone red-head, right?”

“Yes,” Deke said, forcing himself to look at Daisy and Lincoln, who had been communicating silently through rather intense stares for the last minute or so.

“If Alisha isn’t the prime, then she can’t duplicate herself,” Jemma said. “Which is good. But Joey can still manipulate metal, which means he’s bullet-proof.” 

Before anyone could respond to Jemma, Daisy spoke, her voice cracking as she addressed Lincoln. 

“Lincoln, please, you can’t,” she whispered; Deke knew that she was trying to voice what they had previously been arguing about without speaking. 

“We have to,” Lincoln said quietly. “You know we do.”

“Then let me go alone,” Daisy argued. “Please, Linc, I can’t lose you again.”

“You aren’t going to lose me,” Lincoln said, drawing her into his embrace. “I can’t let you go alone, Daisy! I can’t lose you. You mean everything to me -”

“I’ll go,” Sousa interrupted. “You two stay, get married. May can take me; we can even be holographic audience members if you want us here. You don’t need us to be physically here.”

He meant well, but once again, his logic was flawed, similar to his offer to remain in the alternate timeline while the rest of the team returned to the original one. All eyes turned to him, but Daisy shook her head, even as Lincoln looped his arms around her from behind, her hands gripping his arms tightly, desperate not to let go of him. 

“Even with May, the two of you can’t take on Alisha and Joey by yourselves,” she said. “I don’t mean to downplay your abilities, Sousa, but you’re not a field agent. Guns don’t even work on Joey because he can melt bullets! Alisha has beaten May before. If Lincoln hadn’t been there, Alisha would have shot May. Because of her clones. May fought Alisha twice and both times, Lincoln was covering her. He was the one who took her down in the end. At least one of us has to go.”

May raised an eyebrow at them, but Daisy shook her head. 

“Sorry, May, I’m telling it as it is,” she said. “You’re an amazing agent though, you beat Giyera alone and knocked James out after Lincoln fried him with electricity. But Sousa can’t be your backup even if you go alone. One of us has to go with you.” 

“You aren’t going alone,” Lincoln said fiercely, drawing her attention back to him. “Together, Daisy, or not at all.”

Daisy turned in his embrace to wrap her arms around his neck, resting her forehead against his. The desperation on her face was evident; Lincoln looked equally stressed and worried at the same time. He wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close. 

“I love you,” Daisy said softly. “And I want to marry you. I want us to live and love and be together for the rest of our lives, until we’re old and grey and ancient. But if this is it, if this is the end, you and I both know we can’t do nothing.”

“I love you so much,” Lincoln said, thumbs brushing her cheeks gently. “I can’t lose you. I want to be with you until the end of time; don’t try to make me stay while you go into danger. Every time we have split up, it’s like tearing part of myself away. Please don’t try to make me stay when we both know I’ll come rushing after you anyway.”

Before anyone could say anything to make either of them feel better about leaving, possibly dying and/or not being able to get married, Price came out of the Zephyr, her wounded arm in a makeshift sling. 

“I have good news,” she said, causing all of them to look up at her. “Well, good news and bad news, depending on how you look at it.”

Everyone exchanged anxious glances; Daisy turned, resting her head against Lincoln’s shoulder and he released his grip on her slightly so that one arm was wound around her waist instead of two.

“What do you mean?” Deke asked harshly. “Spit it out, Price.”

At this rate, the news couldn’t be any worse than what they had already heard. 

“Talbot just got off the phone with me,” she said. “The missile blew up.”

“What?!” 

Everyone’s reactions ranged from horrified to incredulous to genuine astonishment and they all spoke at the same time.

“Hive couldn’t possibly have reached Alisha and Joey by now,” Deke said.

“Oh my God, all those humans turned into Primitives…,” Jemma began.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Lincoln said. “Charles’ vision -”

“How?” Daisy demanded. “How could that have possibly -”

Price’s face was grim. “That’s why I said it was good news and bad news,” she said. “I can’t pretend to understand everything, but maybe you lot might. The Quinjet that Joey Gutirrez and Alisha Whitley stole was sent to space and the bomb detonated up there. The two Inhumans are dead.”

“What?!”

That prompted another series of incredulous reactions.

“How did that even happen?” Deke demanded.

“Why would he have done that?” Sousa asked.

“He killed two of his own Inhumans?” Mack asked. “What for?”

“But why -” Trip began, utterly confused.

“Is his brain so scrambled now that he’s ordering his Inhumans to kill themselves?” Miles asked, but Deke was now looking at Daisy and Lincoln, who were communicating wordlessly again, staring at one another.

“What do you three know?” Deke asked, his gaze switching to Jemma, cutting off Miles. 

Everyone subsided to listen to what they had to say, although they were figuring it out by voicing their thoughts aloud.

“He got Alisha to shoot herself in the original timeline,” Lincoln said slowly. “She killed herself for him. A clone, yes, but she felt it all the same.”

“Joey was on the team,” Daisy said. “Technically. The original team. He left S.H.I.E.L.D. after we were accused of being swayed, but he was still technically on the team. He  _ could _ have been the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the Quinjet with Hive and the bomb.”

“He created the duplicate necklaces,” Jemma supplied, causing both Daisy and Lincoln to look at her. “If he could create replicas for us, he could have created a replica for himself.”

“And all he would have needed was a S.H.I.E.L.D. jacket,” Lincoln said finally. “And it would have fulfilled Charles’ prophecy.”

“Fill us in, you three,” Deke ordered. “ _ Now _ .”

The stress in his voice was eminent; all three turned to look at Deke.

“Hive has Kora,” Daisy said, her voice uneven as she spoke. “Kora knows the exact vision of what Lincoln and I saw. We saw a Quinjet exploding in space, with the cross necklace of death, with a member of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. The only thing we saw about that S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was a bit of a jacket. Just the emblem on the shoulder.”

“In the original timeline, Joey was a member of our team,” Lincoln continued for her, picking up where she had left off. “Admittedly, he left the team after he, Daisy, Yo-Yo and I were accused of being swayed by Hive, but he was still technically a member of the team.”

“If Hive got the knowledge from Kora about someone on the team being able to kill him in space, with a bomb in the Quinjet, then he might have tried to prevent it,” Jemma said. “He can get more than one bomb and get more than one cross necklace, but in order to try and cheat fate, he could have sent Joey up there to top himself to protect Hive. By sort of fulfilling the prophecy earlier, he could have been trying to save himself from death.”

“Oh my God.” Sousa’s face was pale as he spoke. “Raina knew this was going to happen. Deke, when we were in her room with her, she said ‘ _ I’m _ not going to top myself’. ‘ _ I’m _ ’. We thought she was talking about Judas, what with all the biblical references, but what if she meant Joey?” 

These were two massive bombshells; everyone stared at one another in a series of confusion and stress. 

“Wait, what biblical references?” Daisy asked. “Sousa, what are you talking about?”

“Raina and her metaphors,” Sousa said. “She called Lincoln’s return ‘the resurrection’; she called Afterlife ‘the Garden of Eden’, stuff like that. When I accused her of being Judas, the one who betrays the team, she said she wasn’t going to commit suicide, with emphasis on her. She knew that Joey was going to blow himself up.”

This resulted in a series of huffs and sighs from everyone standing around in a circle. 

“So...this is good, right?” Mack said. “Hive now needs another bomb?”

Daisy sighed. “Joey was a good guy, Mack,” she said. “He didn’t deserve this. He saved Lincoln’s life from Lucio once. And he took a bunch of bullets for me before Lincoln fried the guy who shot at me.”

“Oh.” 

There was silence for a moment. Lincoln rubbed the back of Daisy’s neck gently with one hand; she leaned into his touch, needing to feel his presence. At last, Jemma spoke again. 

“So now that Hive needs another bomb, do we know where he could get such missiles?” she asked.

Deke’s brow was furrowed. “Miles -”

“On it,” Miles said, turning and running up the ramp, heading back into the plane. The others followed him, even Price, who was looking supremely confused; Deke and Sousa dragged an unconscious Raina between them.

“Do you need my help?” Daisy asked, reaching for one of his computers.

“No,” Miles said, even as he typed rapidly into his flat-screen. “I’ve got this. I’m setting up an algorithm to search for possible bomb locations. You go change.”

“What?” Daisy asked, even as hope began to rise inside her again. “But Hive -”

“Daisy.” Deke’s voice was serious. “Price and I will lock down the locations that have the bombs that Hive could try to steal. We have even more time now because Hive has to try to steal another bomb. Go. Change.”

Tears came to Daisy’s eyes. Hive might have tried to circumvent the prophecy by cheating, with his duplicate necklace and sending Joey, a technical member of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to space with the bomb from the ATCU base in Indiana, and that would pose a whole other can of worms, but they  _ did _ have time. They had a whole lot more time now that Lincoln had already tried frying his memories. Hive was likely very confused. And that would render it more difficult for him to focus on a single task. Deke was right. They had time.

“I….” Daisy was speechless. “Thank you.”

Deke nodded in response; Daisy turned to Lincoln.

“I love you,” she said softly. “And I’ll see you soon. I promise.”

Lincoln kissed her softly, gently. “The next time I kiss you, it’ll be when we’re married,” he promised, trailing one finger down her cheek. 

Daisy smiled. “I’m looking forward to that.” After one last quick peck, she turned to Lexi. “Coming, Lex?”

Lexi smirked. “I told you you two are cute together,” she said, referring to their conversation in the Quinjet on the way back from the Retreat. “I can’t wait till I get to babysit your kids!”

“Lex!” Daisy, Lincoln and May protested at the same time.

“What?” Lexi asked innocently. “Lincoln babysat for me! By the time they want to have date night and they have babies, I’ll be nine! Or maybe ten! Plenty old enough to babysit for their kids!”

None of them could help laughing at Lexi’s comment. 

“Okay,” Daisy said, taking Lexi’s hand in her own. “Come on, Lex. Let’s go and,  _ after _ I get pregnant, we can talk about you babysitting our kids, okay?” 

Lexi beamed and she and Daisy left the room. May watched them go fondly, a faint smile on her face. Then she glared down at Raina. 

“I’m throwing her in containment,” she said. “Or do you want to just chain her and keep her unconscious? Because Flint and Yo-Yo are in containment.”

Deke looked at Raina disdainfully. “Feel free to shoot her with an ICER again. If anyone deserves that, it’s her.”




“You look beautiful,” Lexi said, staring at Daisy in the mirror. “Lincoln is going to be blown away.”

Daisy laughed. As young and innocent as Lexi was, there were definitely times when she showed her maturity and this was one of those times. Daisy smoothed the front of her wedding dress nervously, trying to calm her nerves, anticipation and excitement all at once. At that moment, there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Daisy called, expecting Jemma and possibly the other members of her old S.H.I.E.L.D. team in holographic form.

The door opened and Daisy’s smile dropped. It was the last person she had expected to see. 

It was Sousa.

“Oh,” Daisy said, taking a step back. “Um...hi.”

“Hi,” Sousa said. He looked incredibly uncomfortable. “Um, I’m sorry to barge in like this, but I, um….” 

Lexi was looking back and forth between them. Her eyes were narrowed between them. 

“Do you want me to stay, Daisy?” she asked, breaking the tension in the room. “I will, if you want me to, but I’ll also go if you want me to. As long as he doesn’t do anything stupid.” Her eyes were accusatory as she addressed this last sentence to Sousa. 

In a flash, both Daisy and Sousa realized that she knew about their history. Earlier, she hadn’t, but now...Daisy knew perfectly well that she eavesdropped on conversations sometimes, hence how she had found out a lot about S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. 

“Lex…,” Daisy sighed. “Eavesdropping is a bad habit.”

Lexi looked at her with raised eyebrows. “You’ve never done it before.” 

Of course Daisy had. In fact, she had eavesdropped on Lexi’s conversation with Lincoln, Jemma and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when they had been talking about Terrigenesis. 

Daisy shook her head at her. “Lex, nothing is going to happen,” she said. “I know you love Lincoln; I do too. More than anything. He’s the only one for me. Nothing is going to change that.” 

Daisy was well aware that her words might hurt Sousa, but at this point, he had to know that she wasn’t going to go back to him. She was marrying Lincoln, she had told Lincoln multiple times that she loved him; Sousa had to know by now that her love for Lincoln would never die. 

Lexi gave Sousa a pointed look. 

“I’m leaving the door open,” she decided. “Not because I don’t trust Daisy, because I do. Because I don’t want anyone to think anything is about to happen.”

“ _ Nothing _ is going to happen,” Daisy stressed and Sousa nodded; Lexi was intimidating, even in an eight-year old body.

Lexi backed out of the door, leaving it open behind her and then disappeared down the hall.




“This is insane,” Ward said to Jemma as they shuffled into the arena where Inhumans fought to the death. They had covered their faces with hoods and were doing their best to appear inconspicuous, but there was only so much they could do. “Why do so many people watch this?” 

Jemma glanced at him. “Betting,” she said quietly. “People bet on the winner. And Hydra likes to enforce control over the regular people. The more people get behind the Inhumans killing one another for sport, the more control Hydra has.”

Ward shook his head in exasperation. “This is...terrible.”

Jemma nodded grimly. “Welcome to the worst hell we have yet to experience,” she said. Then she paused. “Well, maybe not the worst hell, but certainly the end of the world.”

Ward shook his head. “Okay, he said quietly. “Where do we watch?”

Jemma pulled him over to the side of the arena so that they were leaning against a wall.

“We have to appear enthusiastic,” she muttered in a low voice. “Or at least appear...somewhat involved in the outcome of the match. Or we’ll be thrown out.”

Ward nodded. As they did so, an announcer’s voice started ringing out; his voice was amplified louder than the cheering from all the spectators in the audience.

“ARE YOU READY?” he bellowed and there was a loud roar of enthusiasm from the audience.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” he shouted and once again, there was a massive roar that made Ward’s ears hurt.

“This is...nauseating,” Ward said to Jemma, who nodded grimly. 

“I’ve never watched one before,” she said. “Never wanted to. I really hope we’re wrong and it’s not going to be them.”

The thought of watching Lincoln and Daisy fight to the death was awful. Ward could only imagine how hard it must be for Jemma, who was closer to Daisy than almost anyone else on the planet. 

“Tonight, we have a special surprise for you,” the announcer said. “One of our Inhumans tonight, not only has electricity running through his veins, but he can also teleport! Two for the price of one!”

The audience screamed in approval and enthusiasm; Ward glanced at Jemma. 

“I guess it worked,” he muttered in a low voice, referring to the experiments that the Hydra doctors had done on Lincoln.

Jemma fidgeted. “Oh God,” she replied. 

“I give you...the almighty Sparks!” the announcer shouted and Lincoln stepped out of the tunnel. He was shirtless and thankfully appeared to be uninjured and unharmed from his torture treatment, but why and how, Jemma wasn’t sure. Her only theory was that his Hydra torturer wanted him to win the fight, which was logical, but also terrible. He had been groomed like a pig for potential slaughter. 

Lincoln glanced up at the audience as if bored; his gaze flitted over Ward and Jemma with zero recognition in his eyes. 

“Did...did you see that?” Jemma asked Ward uneasily, who nodded. 

“Either he doesn’t remember us or maybe he just didn’t see us,” Ward said. “I’m hoping for the second.”

Jemma glanced at him. “Me too.”

The announcer continued speaking. “And to cap off our main event, one of the galaxy’s deadliest forces, yet tonight she fights for your entertainment, Quake, the Destroyer of Worlds!”

The tunnel door opened and Daisy stepped out. She was wearing a sort of hooded cloak over her shoulders; she lowered the hood as she walked out. There was no sign of love or even recognition on her face either when her eyes met Lincoln’s; she tossed her cloak aside when she saw that he was shirtless. Underneath, she was wearing a black tank top and leggings, not that it would be of any help, now that they were about to fight to the death.

“This is bad,” Ward said, his gaze roving back and forth between the two Inhumans. “Very bad.”

“As always, there are no rules!” The announcer shouted. “Except for the obvious one: kill or be killed! Let the fighting commence!”

There was silence for a moment as Daisy and Lincoln started circling each other. Jemma gulped.

“I can’t watch,” she muttered. “We have to get them out of here.”

“What?” Ward was stunned. “How are we supposed to do that? They’re brainwashed! Plus, this isn’t real, remember?”

“Daisy saved me,” Jemma said, her voice shaking. “When I couldn’t remember who Fitz was. She rescued me and Deke and saved our lives! And now I’m just supposed to sit here while she and Lincoln try to kill each other? I can’t!”

As she said that, Daisy’s circle brought her closer to them and both Ward and Jemma heard her say, “Who are you?” to Lincoln. Her words were clearly directed towards him; she was staring at him quizzically.

Lincoln didn’t respond, but the next second, he had teleported closer to her to attack. Daisy retaliated and then they were punching and hitting each other with as much force as they could muster, to the point that Lincoln was bending and manipulating her body in an attempt to kill her. 

The audience gasped audibly when Daisy threw a quake pulse at Lincoln; he teleported out of the way, rolling into her, sending them both crashing to the floor. As they did so, rolling away and each scrambling to their feet, Jemma noted the slight exasperation, slight confusion on both of their faces. She sat up straight.

“They’re starting to remember,” she whispered.

“What?” Ward asked.

“This goes against their very nature,” she said. “Back in the original timeline, one day when they both had free time, they ended up training in the gym. Lincoln refused to fight Daisy at first; she had to convince him by telling him it was just training.” 

“How does that help?” Ward asked.

“Because,” Jemma said, hope rising in her voice, “I was there. I interrupted their makeout session on the floor. I can make them remember. I can!  _ I  _ can.”

Ward stared at her in confusion as Lincoln channeled electricity from both hands and Daisy caught them both in a makeshift quake shield, deflecting the bolts of electricity. 

“I walked in on them last time,” Jemma explained. “If anyone could remind them of that, it’s me.”

“Jemma, if Hydra catches you….” Ward began.

“This isn’t real, remember?” Jemma reminded him. “We just need to get you out of here alive and none of this will have happened in the real world - yet. You can prevent it from happening.”

“If this isn’t real, then it shouldn’t matter!” Ward protested, but even as he spoke, he glanced back over at the fight and winced.

Both Lincoln and Daisy were delivering incredibly hard blows towards one another. Lincoln had teleported inside her quake pulse shield and they were wrestling again; he flipped her over his head, but she landed on her feet, turning back to face him. 

“I’m not watching this,” Jemma insisted. “We have to do something!”

The audience was cheering incredibly loudly and gasping when a particularly painful blow was struck. The fight had been going on for a few minutes now, but to Jemma, it felt like hours.

“You need to remember!” she shouted, but neither Daisy nor Lincoln paid her any attention whatsoever.

At that moment, Daisy flung a quake pulse directly at Lincoln, causing him to slam back up against a metal grill. It was a painful landing and Jemma screamed, “NO!”

It was a good thing that no one could hear what she was shouting, especially because of what happened next. 

Lincoln had brought both hands up, summoning a retaliation of electricity. This time, instead of letting either power dissipate, the two Inhumans let it build. As the quake force grew stronger and the electricity grew bigger, sparks of electricity started scattering everywhere.

The audience started backing away as the powers swelled to a massive height; Jemma gasped aloud.

“This is one lovers’ quarrel I would hate to be part of,” someone said beside them and both Ward and Jemma turned to look. 

The woman who was standing there was wearing a hood over her face; neither of them could see who she really was. However, it was clear from her word choice that she knew who Daisy and Lincoln were and what they meant to each other.

“Bobbi?” Jemma asked uncertainly, even though the voice had sounded nothing like Bobbi’s nor was she the type to ever wear cloaks or capes or hoods.

The woman laughed. “Agent Morse is indisposed right now,” she said. “But good guess, Jemma Simmons.”

Jemma glanced at her quickly, but at that moment, there was a loud explosion from the centre of the room. 

“Get down!” Ward shouted, forcing Jemma to crouch into a ball.

Too late.

Their powers went flying in every direction as the combination of the electricity and the quake pulse caused a massive explosion. Even though Ward and Jemma tried to get out of the way, the explosion flung them - and everyone else in the room - in every single direction. Both of them blacked out. 




“Hi,” Daisy said tentatively, her palms sweating as she stared at Sousa. His expression was unreadable; he glanced quickly up and down her frame, taking in her wedding dress that was beautiful, but clearly wasn’t for him. 

“You look beautiful,” he offered and Daisy gave him a small smile in response.

“Thanks,” she said. “I hope Lincoln will like it too.” She traced the engagement ring on her finger, rubbing the Terrigen crystal gently. While she hadn’t been wearing it for all too long, she couldn’t imagine ever taking it off.

“Of course he will,” Sousa said. “You look amazing. Deke is a lot of things, but he has great taste in clothes.”

Daisy swallowed. “You...you don’t have to be there if you don’t want to,” she said, turning back to her reflection and starting to tug a brush through her long hair, knowing that it would hurt him. “I understand.”

“Daisy.” The seriousness in Sousa’s voice made her look at his reflection in the mirror.

“Of course I’ll be there,” he said. “I just want you to be happy and Lincoln clearly makes you very happy.”

Daisy pressed her fingers to her temple. “You don’t have to be okay with this just because Deke is,” she said, recognizing what he was saying, even as he spoke. “I never dated Deke. I dated  _ you _ .”

“Deke had been in love with you for over two years,” Sousa countered. “When he let you go.”

“And it’s been 33 years for him since we last saw each other,” Daisy said, putting down the brush on the dresser. “And he’s known Lincoln since Lincoln was nine. That’s over two decades of caring for someone like a son. The situations are different, Sousa -”

“Don’t try to argue about this,” Sousa said, raising a hand in exasperation. “I’ll be there. Unless….” He paused. “Unless you don’t want me there.” 

While he did not say it, Daisy knew that her response might cause him to hope. There were two reasons why she might not want him there, the first being to spare his feelings, the second, because she would not be able to go through with the wedding if he was present. The time had come to be brutally honest with Sousa.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy said. “I want you there, but only if you want to be there. I love Lincoln, Sousa. And I’m marrying him. Nothing you say or do will change that. I’m sorry for hurting you; I’m so sorry because you don’t deserve this, but I’m not sorry that I’m marrying Lincoln. I love him. Don’t be at the wedding if it won’t bring you any benefit. I don’t want you there if you’re going to just be using it to prove to me that you’re as good as Deke is. Only go to the wedding if it’s what  _ you _ want to do.”

There was silence for a moment and then Sousa nodded. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have...I shouldn’t have pushed.”

Daisy didn’t say anything for a moment. 

“I hope you find someone much better than me,” she said. “You deserve someone who loves you for who you truly are, Sousa. We all do.”

At that moment, Jemma appeared in the doorway. Jemma, alongside the hologram versions of Fitz, Mack, Yo-Yo and Coulson. All five of them froze when they saw Sousa standing there.

“I’ll just leave you six,” Sousa said, backing away. “I was just telling Daisy she needs to borrow something from Jemma. You know the saying: ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue’. Her Terrigen crystal engagement ring is both blue and undoubtedly old, her dress is new; she just needs something borrowed.”

The others started laughing in an attempt to lighten the situation, which had been, as they knew, quite tense. 

“I doubt Daisy has even heard this saying, Sousa,” Mack said. “These millennials know nothing about old traditions and superstitions.”

“Hey!” Daisy protested. “I do know the one about the groom not seeing the bride in her wedding dress before the actual day!” 

“Because Deke mentioned it to you!” Jemma countered, but she was smiling. She dug around in her pocket for something. “Here.” 

She handed Daisy a dried flower. 

“What is this?” Daisy asked. 

“A flower from my bouquet at my wedding,” Jemma said. “I thought you might want it for today.”

Daisy lit up in happiness and she immediately crushed Jemma in a tight hug. 

“You are amazing,” she said. “Thank you.”

It meant a lot to her that Jemma was being so supportive. And Jemma had gotten her happy ending; she had hope that she and Lincoln would get theirs. Before anyone else could say anything, however, Lexi reappeared. She wove her way through the holograms and beamed at Daisy.

“The guys are going out to the hill now,” she said cheerfully. “Are we good to go?”

“Oh gosh,” Daisy said, nerves immediately rising in her stomach. “Yes. Just...give me a minute. To like...breathe.”

“You’ve got this, Tremors,” Mack said. “You can hack the Pentagon and shake the earth. You going to let nerves get the better of you now when this is what you’ve wanted for six years?” 

Daisy laughed. “You sound like Bobbi,” she said. 

“We’ve been catching up,” Mack admitted. “She’s rubbing off on me.”

Daisy grinned as she took Lexi’s hand. “Come on, Lex,” she said. “Jemma?”

Jemma grinned at her. “Let’s go, oh-sister-of-mine-from-a-different-mister.” 

Daisy, Jemma and Lexi left the room, followed by the holograms of the original team. Sousa had disappeared before Lexi had shown up; Daisy was not sure if he was going to be present at the wedding. She didn’t want him to be hurting anymore, but this was not something she could protect him from. 




Ward’s ears were ringing. He crawled to his feet, but his head was spinning as he moved. The explosion had knocked him completely off-kilter and he was feeling incredibly nauseous and uneasy. There were pieces of rubble all over the room, people were groaning and in serious pain and he had no idea where anyone was. 

“Jemma? Jemma!” 

His own voice sounded strange to him, thanks to his ringing ears. All around the room, people were coughing and choking as they attempted to get upright as well. He had no idea where Jemma was, but the next second, he heard her voice from somewhere in the centre of the room. 

“Ward! Help me!” she gasped.

Ward had no idea what Daisy and Lincoln had been trying to do, but the explosion they had caused was massive. Maybe they had just lost control or their powers had become too much for the room to contain. Either way, they had caused such a big explosion that parts of the ceiling had come crashing down; Jemma’s face was a bloody mess, Daisy was looking dazed and confused, and Ward had no idea where Lincoln even was.

“What happened?” Ward asked, staggering over towards them. He stumbled and caught himself on a massive rock. 

Jemma’s face was as white as a sheet and for a second, Ward thought she was injured, in shock, or about to faint. But then he saw Lincoln on the ground between Daisy and Jemma and knew that something else was the problem.

“I love you,” Lincoln whispered, his voice barely audible; he was struggling to swallow.

Daisy gasped, her hand coming to her mouth in shock and Ward realized, with a wave of horror, that both of them remembered. It had been bad enough when neither of them remembered, but now...now they were both remembering what they meant to each other. He knew exactly what kind of pain Daisy was in; it was how he had felt when he had learned that Kara was dead and never coming back.

“You can’t just die like this,” Daisy cried; Ward could hear the pain in her voice as tears started streaming down her cheeks. “It’s wrong.”

“Daisy, don’t do this -” Jemma began, but Daisy cut her off. 

“Help me,” she begged. “You have to, you have to.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jemma said, her own voice shaking. “We can’t.”

“No!” The despair in Daisy’s voice was worse than any sound Ward had ever heard. He staggered over to Lincoln’s body, but Daisy clutching his hand tightly in her own, even as his eyes slipped shut. “We have to at least try!”

Jemma reached out, with shaking hands and touched Lincoln’s neck, searching for a pulse. From what Ward could see, part of his chest was crushed, thanks to the rocks having fallen during the explosion. Ward was no physician, but he could tell that Lincoln’s injuries were irreparable. Jemma looked up at Daisy, shaking her head, and Daisy broke down completely, sobbing into Jemma’s shoulder, her entire frame shaking. 

“He’s paying for my mistake,” she whispered, her voice a little more than a whisper. 

At that moment, a gunshot rang out and Ward looked up. Hydra guards were spilling into the room.

“Run!” Jemma shouted, turning to Ward. “Daisy, come on -”

“I’m not leaving him!” Daisy wrenched herself away from Jemma and flung out both hands. A massive quake pulse threw the guards back, but even more were coming. She flung herself protectively over Lincoln’s still body; Jemma turned to Ward.

“Go!” she shouted.

“What about you?” Ward demanded.

“This isn’t real for me!” Jemma reminded him. “It is for you! I can’t leave Daisy. Go!”

Ward shook his head. “I can’t -”

“You have to!” she shouted. “Go!” 

At that moment, a door started glowing, the door that led to the tunnel. Jemma caught sight of it. 

“Ward, that’s your exit!” she shouted. “Your time is up!”

“What?” Ward spluttered. “I don’t know enough -”

“It doesn’t matter!” Jemma snapped. “You have to go. Now!”

Cursing inwardly, Ward ran for the door. He felt something puncture his upper back, just barely grazing the skin; it was probably a flesh wound, nothing else. As he dove through the door, the last thing he saw was the complete and utter devastation on Daisy’s face as she tried to protect the shell of the man she loved. 


	83. Chapter 83

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THE LONG-AWAITED WEDDING IS HERE EEEEKKKK!!! 😍😍😍 A fan asked if someone could do fanart of this wedding and while I am good at writing (I think) and editing videos (I also think), I am RUBBISH at drawing, but if someone wants to draw this wedding, I am MORE THAN HAPPY for you to do so and share it with the rest of us. No pressure or anything, but just throwing the question and possibility out there! 😊😊😊
> 
> And as always, happy reading and I REALLY REALLY hope I did and you think I did the wedding justice!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 83**

Sousa had gone to Daisy, not to talk her out of the wedding or even to profess his love for her again. He had gone because he’d wanted to see if she wanted him at the wedding. Now that he knew she did, Sousa was definitely going to be there. It might be among the most painful things that he had ever done, but he was still going to do it. They were so close to the endgame; he was not going to be taking any chances with Raina and her possible lies. He might hate Raina and wish that she had never once seen Daisy in her visions of the future, but if there was even the slightest chance that Raina was right, he was going to try to let Daisy go. No matter how painful it was. And being at the wedding was a big indication to everyone that he was letting her go. 

“You okay?” Trip asked him; he had been decorating the arch at the top of the hill. The other members of Deke’s team were all with Lincoln, including Hunter and Bobbi. They were the only ones on the hill; Jemma and the hologram versions of the original team were with Daisy. 

“Are you?” Sousa countered.

Trip shrugged. He knew that opening up to Sousa would cause Sousa to open up to him as well, so he spewed a little information. 

“Kora hasn’t spoken to me in a while,” he admitted. “Not since the attack.” 

Sousa sighed. “I went to speak to Daisy,” he said.

Trip raised an eyebrow. “Oh, man, that can’t have gone down well,” he said. “Why did you do that?” 

Sousa shrugged. “I want us to be...friends at least when all this is over. Or at least leave things on a good note. I don’t want her to feel like I’m a wounded puppy.”

He still couldn’t tell Trip about what Raina had told him. He didn’t want to risk it. Maybe it was stupid to trust Raina, but still...he didn’t want to risk Daisy’s life on the off-chance that Raina was telling the truth.

Trip eyed him. “That’s big of you.” He paused. “You did the right thing, breaking up with her. At least...well, it’s no good hanging on to something or someone that you’ve lost.”

Trip was right and Sousa had told himself that more than once before. It was just harder hearing it from someone else other than himself. It reminded him a little of what Jemma had told him about the endings people thought they wanted weren’t always the ones they needed. Clearly Daisy wasn’t his happy ending. But that didn’t mean that his own happy ending wasn’t out there somewhere.

He wasn’t sure if returning to the past was the right thing for him to do. Could he ever return to the man he was before finding out about time-travel and Inhumans and Chronicoms? He didn’t think so. If there was ever a time to call himself a man out of time, it felt like now. He was never going to be able to fit seamlessly back into the time that he had come from, not now that he knew about so many more insane things. But did that mean that he wanted to stay in this timeline? He wasn’t sure. The only thing he was sure of, though, was that if he stayed in this timeline, he was going to seriously have to learn how technology worked and a lot faster. He would need a major crash course in all things tech, ranging from computers to cell phones to the complicated tablets that Daisy and Miles could use to do almost anything. 

“When this is over, we’re going to get drinks,” Trip decided. “I’m pretty sure you don’t want to go with Miles because that guy just has a polluted brain, but I will introduce you to the land of alcohol and drunkenness. Because if anyone deserves to forget about this last week, even for a short while, it’s you.”

Sousa sighed. “I can’t believe I’m even considering taking you up on that.”

He couldn’t even believe that he was saying that out loud. 

Trip shrugged. “This week has been a complicated mess for everyone,” he said. He paused. “I know it’s challenging to think about right now, but...contrary to Daisy and Lincoln, and Jemma and Fitz, there isn’t always just one. You can fall in love more than once.”

Sousa shook his head at him in slight amusement; he knew Trip was just trying to help him feel better. “I know that, actually. I’ve fallen in love more than once. More than twice, actually. But I think the real question is if you can find that one person who is your true love, your other half, the person who loves you back as much as you love them. Now _that_ is the challenge.”

As long as one found that other special person, that other half, Sousa had to believe that all the heartbreak along the way was worth it. In all honesty, he wasn’t sure if it was, but he had to believe it. At this point, it was one of the few things he had left going for him.

Trip sighed. “Sometimes it takes more than one or two or three tries to find your one true love. I mean, the very fact that Daisy has technically five ex-love interests/ex-boyfriends/ex-flings on the team is a sure sign that she’s tried more than once. Besides, I think you can have more than one other half. In the other timeline, Mack’s with Yo-Yo, but in this one, he’s still with Nicole. May was with Andrew in this timeline, but in the other one, she was with Coulson. Technically was with both Andrew and Coulson at different times, but well, you know what I mean. Love is complicated. But just because you didn’t have luck in the past doesn’t mean that it won’t happen in the future.”

Sousa grimaced, not wanting to think about it anymore. “Let’s talk about something else. Why are you decorating the arch with lilies? Are they Lincoln’s favourite flower?”

Trip gave him a sceptical look, but he accepted the change in subject. “Obviously daisies are his favourite flower. And I don’t know why I’m decorating the arch with lilies. Kora told me to. I guess they both like the flower?”

Sousa shrugged. “Or Kora knows something we don’t,” he said. “Although I doubt there’s anything very dangerous about lilies. They’re just flowers. And flowers aren’t dangerous.” He paused. “Well, _Daisy_ is dangerous, but you know what I mean. She’s dangerous, Lincoln’s dangerous, Kora’s dangerous. It’s not who they _are_.” 

Trip nodded, although he was smiling. “Of course not,” he agreed. “It’s what they choose to do with their powers that makes them who they are.” He shrugged as he adjusted the vine that he was draping over the red arch. “I’m pretty sure you’re right about Kora knowing something we both don’t. She knows more about the future than Daisy and Jemma and _that’s_ saying something.”

Both fortunately and unfortunately, Trip was right. 




“Are you nervous?” Mack asked as he, Lincoln, Deke, Miles, Hunter and Bobbi walked towards the red arch at the top of the hill where Trip had laboriously arranged all the flowers and other wedding decorations. “Because it’s normal to be nervous.”

“Why would he be nervous?” Miles demanded. “He loves her!”

“Miles, if/when you get married, you’ll understand how you can be nervous before the wedding,” Hunter said. “Even if you love them.”

Hunter and Bobbi were walking at a slightly slower pace than normal, thanks to the ordeal that they had both been through, but both had refused help from the others. As a result, everyone else had slowed their pace to match theirs and were trying to ignore the fact that Bobbi was being quieter than she usually was and her fingers were twitching as they walked. While Jemma had given her a quick check-up after her ordeal and had declared her physically fine, Bobbi was still feeling the aftereffects of the power transference. She hadn’t wanted to miss the wedding though; she had insisted on being present, even though she was still recovering.

“Okay, Miles would seriously have a Vegas wedding,” Deke decided.

“No, he would have a _Kitson_ wedding,” Lincoln corrected with a grin. He addressed his last sentence to Miles. “If you end up going to Kitson in either timeline, you would need a serious chaperone.”

“You’d come with me, of course,” Miles said cheerfully. “You’re the only one who can be counted on to stay sober and make sure I don’t end up taking home an alien who can kill me with her bare hands.” He paused. “Actually that sounds too much like you or Daisy. Both of you can kill me with your bare hands. But anyway, you’re still going to go with me. Or maybe if you’re too invested in being a _dad_ , I’ll get Sousa to go with me.”

Lincoln eyed him and not because he was considering replacing him with Sousa in his Kitson adventures. “You do realize that Fitz and Simmons ended up almost being decapitated as well, right?” he asked. “It wasn’t just gambling and alien puffs and brothels.”

“Brothels?” Miles repeated.

Of course Miles had latched onto that part of the sentence and not the near-decapitation. 

Hunter grinned wryly. “Lincoln, mate, you did not make things any better.”

“Clearly not,” Lincoln said, but he was smiling as they reached Trip and Sousa at the top of the hill. “Wow. Guys...thank you.” 

Trip had done _great_ with the decorations. There was a long vine of flowers decorating the arch; Lincoln had no idea how he had managed to string a vine over the top of the arch. Of all people, Trip definitely couldn’t fly. In addition to the daisies and lilies he had arranged, Trip had even found some white chairs and had arranged them in a somewhat aesthetically pleasing fashion.

“These are for you two,” Trip said, gesturing to Hunter and Bobbi. “Because you two insisted on being here even though you just got liberated from Hive. How are you two feeling?”

“Been better,” Bobbi admitted, which was a clear indicator that she was not doing too well, especially since she did not like admitting her weaknesses. “Thank you.”

She sat down in one of the chairs, gripping her fingers tightly to prevent them from twitching. The others exchanged concerned glances, but Bobbi caught their looks.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “I don’t want to miss the wedding. This is a monumental occasion!”

The others couldn’t help smiling at Bobbi’s insistence but Deke spoke up anyway.

“Gran, are you sure?” he asked. “Maybe Lincoln or Jemma should run some more tests or something -”

“God, this is weird,” Mack decided; he hadn’t been around when Deke had first told the others that Hunter and Bobbi were his paternal grandparents. “Deke’s grandparents are like...half his age. And they’re more-or-less the same age as _Lincoln_ . Who is more-or-less the same age as Jemma and Fitz who are his other grandparents. Time-travel is _weird_.”

“We established that a _long_ time ago,” Deke said. “It’s even weirder than you think when you consider I’m from an apocalyptic hellscape that doesn’t exist anymore.” He paused. “Or doesn’t exist in the original timeline. Does it still exist in this timeline? I have no idea.”

Lincoln eyed him. “I hope it doesn’t,” he said. “Clearly we don’t need that end of the world to have you born because both Alya and Owen have been born and really, for that world to come about, Daisy would end up being swallowed by Gravitonium, so I really hope that doesn’t happen.” 

“Very good point,” Deke agreed. “And Mack dies, so that would definitely not be ideal.”

Mack gave them both a side-eye. “You two know way too much about the future,” he decided.

“Wait till you meet Kora,” Trip said, his lips twitching at the thought of his and Sousa’s previous conversation about Kora knowing the future all too well. “She _really_ knows too much about the future.”

Mack shook his head in mild amusement. “At least the rest of you don’t have doppelgangers from the other timeline! When the others get here, there’ll be two of me and two Hunters and two Bobbis! _And_ another version of Yo-Yo, who is supposedly a good person! Now _that_ is weird.”

At that moment, May came walking up the hill, carrying a device that connected them to the other timeline; with her were the hologram versions of Hunter and Bobbi, evidenced by the fact that Bobbi was carrying Owen and Hunter was holding Alya’s hand.

“Oh God,” Bobbi said, taking in the sight; she immediately turned away. “I can’t do this.”

It was a jarring reminder that in addition to having been tortured recently, Bobbi had not seen her son in what felt like eternity, but was, in reality, days. The biggest part of the problem was that a woman who looked exactly like her, but was not actually her, was carrying him. 

Hunter put his hand on her shoulder, his lips pressed together in a thin line. Hunter hadn’t even seen his kid before and now there were two people who looked just like them caring for him.

“Is this him?” Hunter asked the original timeline version of Bobbi when the holograms and May reached them. “He looks...incredible.”

Owen was a year old, something that irked Hunter more than a little. In that whole year, he hadn’t been able to raise his son, simply because Bobbi had accidentally gotten trapped in another timeline and hadn’t been able to find a way to come back home. The worst part was that they couldn’t ever bring Owen back to this timeline. Unless someone figured out a way to ‘untether’ him from being the anchor connecting the two timelines. 

“He _is_ incredible,” the original timeline version of Bobbi said. She addressed the other Bobbi, whose face was understandably quite distraught. “I’m sorry. I know this can’t be...easy to see. But Fitz and the others needed to see Daisy and they didn’t feel it was suitable for the kids -”

“No, it’s good, actually,” the other Bobbi said, turning to look at her. “I’m glad...well, I’m glad that if Hunter and I don’t make it...well, he has you two.” 

“God, _that’s_ weird,” the other timeline version of Hunter said, still staring at Owen. “But yes...that’s better than nothing, I guess.” 

The original timeline version of Hunter looked at him. “You must be...me?”

Before the other Hunter could respond, Miles spoke up, looking back and forth between the two Hunters and Bobbis with a fascinated expression on his face. 

“Okay,” Miles said. “This gives a totally different meaning to ‘identical twin’.”

Everyone turned to look at him. 

“Shut up, Miles,” all four Bobbis and Hunters said at the same time. 

Miles suppressed a snicker of laughter; Lincoln, Deke, Mack, Trip and Sousa were trying not to openly laugh as well. 

“At least a crazy alien didn’t steal your girlfriend’s corpse,” May said. “Complete with a nanomask to steal _my_ face!”

That took the debacle to a whole other level. 

“Very fair,” Miles decided. 

May turned back to the others. “The others are on their way,” she said. “Daisy and Jemma have Lexi. Price is staying on board the Zephyr and keeping an eye on Coulson, Radcliffe and the three Inhumans in lock-up.” She paused. “At least this way she won’t find out about the other timeline.” 

She glanced at Lincoln. “Unless you changed your mind and you want her here?” 

That was...something Lincoln honestly wasn’t sure about yet. He _did_ appreciate that she had encouraged him to go with Daisy in order to protect her and he was aware that she was trying, but she had still abandoned him and Amanda as children. He wasn’t sure how much her current actions made up for her past ones. 

Lincoln hesitated. “I didn’t...I don’t...I don’t know,” he admitted, looking torn. “But she doesn’t need to find out about the other timeline. Things are messy enough as it is.” 

“We could always livestream the wedding to her in the Zephyr,” Deke offered, putting his personal feelings about Lincoln’s biological mother aside for Lincoln’s sake, not wanting him to make a decision that he might come to regret. “And avoid shooting the half of the audience that are holograms. If you want.” 

Lincoln hesitated for a second. “I...I don’t know,” he repeated. “I mean...I don’t know.” He sighed, running his fingers through his dark blonde hair, wishing that Daisy was there for him to ask about it; he knew that she would be down for whatever he wanted to do. Despite that, she was still the one with the flawless logic; she would know what he wanted to do deep down, even if he didn’t yet know it himself. 

“I think you should stream the video to her,” Sousa said, causing everyone to look at him. “Your mother might have abandoned you as a child, but she cares about you now. And if you’re okay with me being at the wedding, you should be okay with her seeing the wedding. You might regret it later if you don’t take the chance to try to connect to her now.” 

“He has a point,” Deke said. “People can change. If Ward was awake, you’d be fine with him being here and while I don’t know all the details, I do know that in the other timeline, he’s the last person you’d want here. Ward’s different in this timeline and Price is, at the very least, trying.” 

Lincoln sighed again. “Okay,” he said finally. “Miles, you can patch the video through to the Zephyr,” he said. “But...Dad?” 

“Yeah?” Deke looked over as Miles pulled his tablet out and started tapping the screen to try to connect to the Zephyr. 

“Would you...would you be my best man?” Lincoln asked. “You’ve been like a father to me for years and you made this wedding happen. I don’t just mean bringing us together; you literally bought Daisy’s dress and my suit, you enabled us to come to Afterlife, you’ve done so much to make sure that we can have the wedding of our dreams -”

“Of course,” Deke said, hugging him so that Lincoln wouldn’t see how emotional his face looked at the moment. “I’d like nothing more.”

Miles grinned cheerfully. “Even I can’t complain about that,” he said, referring to his previous claims of wanting to be Lincoln’s best man. Mack rolled his eyes at him and Miles grinned cheekily back. Miles almost always had to have the last word. 




A minute or two after May set up the hologram machine and Miles connected his tablet to the Zephyr, the hologram versions of Fitz, Coulson, Mack and Yo-Yo came over the hill. A short way behind them were Daisy, Jemma and Lexi; everyone stopped talking when they came into view. Fitz, Mack and Yo-Yo joined the rest of the audience and Coulson headed over to Lincoln and Deke who were under the red arch. 

“You ready?” Coulson asked Lincoln, who smiled. 

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes now watching Daisy walk towards him; even from the distance, he could tell that she was smiling. “She’s amazing, beautiful, perfect….”

Coulson raised a slightly amused eyebrow. “Save it for the vows,” he told him, making Lincoln laugh a little, although he was smiling as well. As Daisy, Jemma and Lexi came closer, the hologram version of Alya headed over to the tail end of the aisle; the wedding was about to start.




“Can you believe we’re doing this?” Daisy asked as Alya started down the aisle, tossing disappearing flower petals in every direction.

“No,” Jemma admitted as Lexi followed her; her petals remained on the ground, since they were real and not illusions. “But then again, I don’t think any of us saw this coming when we all got on the Bus all those years ago. We were the kids...and now we’re the ones getting married and having kids of our own.”

Daisy laughed as the girls reached the end of the aisle. 

“They’ll bring a new meaning to the word ‘penpal’ for sure,” she said, eyes following Alya and Lexi, although her train of thought was also going to her and Lincoln’s soon-to-be conceived babies.

Jemma grinned. “I’m glad you have him back,” she said softly. “You’ve been without him for too long.”

Daisy smiled, squeezing her hand as they started down the aisle.

“Me too,” she said equally softly. “Me too.”

They reached the head of the aisle and Jemma smiled at Lincoln, taking Daisy’s hand and placing it in his. While all of them knew that Daisy was not an object to be handed around like she was owned by someone, it was a sign of acceptance, a sign of recognition that Jemma, and the rest of Daisy’s team, fully accepted her marriage to Lincoln. Lincoln smiled at Jemma in response, whose smile got wider as he did so. Then Jemma took Daisy’s bouquet of flowers from her and stepped back, standing slightly in front of hologram Fitz. Although she had given Daisy away, in Kora’s absence, Jemma was also acting as Daisy’s maid of honour and had one of the wedding rings; Deke had the other. 

Coulson smiled at all of them. 

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today for the union of two people whom we all love and, most importantly, love each other,” he said. “Against all odds, including death and time-travel and aliens and spacetime and memory loss, Daisy and Lincoln have found one another again. So without further ado, all in favour say ‘Aye’.”

“Aye!” The rousing chorus came from everyone on the hill; even though Daisy was looking at Lincoln, she caught a glimpse of Deke’s beaming face behind his son-figure. Lincoln caught Jemma’s gaze; she was wiping happy tears off her cheeks as she watched them. Everyone else in the audience was smiling widely, even Sousa; anyone looking at him would be hard-pressed to realize that he was going through a complicated myriad of emotions underneath his happy exterior. 

“Great,” Coulson said, smiling at them. “So, now let’s start with the exchanging of the vows.”

Daisy smiled at Coulson, before shifting her gaze back to Lincoln. His smile was gentle and kind and she was bowled over once again with how much she loved him. Her vows came to her lips as easily as breathing; it was amazing how comfortable she had quickly come to telling Lincoln how she felt. After the first time she’d told him she’d loved him, she couldn’t imagine never saying it again; it had become as natural as breathing to her. It still scared her, how much she loved him and it scared her that she might still lose him, but regardless...she loved him and she wasn’t afraid to admit it anymore. 

“I love you,” she said, causing him to smile at her choice of starting words. “Lincoln Campbell, I love you. It’s as simple as that and quite as not simple as that as well. You know how hard it is for me to open up and admit that I care about someone, but here I am, in front of almost everyone we know and care about, saying that I love you. And that I will always love you. I was once told that one sentence can change someone’s life. One sentence. And telling you that I love you did change my life. It’s changed both of our lives. You’re the first man I’ve ever fallen in love with and you’re the last one I will ever fall in love with because no one will ever, ever, hold my heart the way you do. You gave me hope, a place in the world. You convinced me that my life wasn’t over, but just...getting somewhere. I told you that many years ago and to this day, it will always be true. You mean everything to me. We’ve been through so much together and you’ve been amazing through it all: finding out about a whole other life, dealing with all kinds of crazy, almost getting blown to bits, _actually_ getting blown to bits...and you’ve still managed to always be here for me. And I will always be here for you because I love you. Forever. And always.”

Lincoln smiled at her and the love and understanding in his eyes was so overwhelming, she wanted to kiss him senseless right there and then. Then he spoke and his words took her breath away.

“I love you,” he said softly. “ _You’re_ everything to me. And whatever future I have, I want it to be with you. Even when I was gone, you protected me, my secrets, my family...you’ve always been here for me. And even when I was confused and unsure about who I was and who you were, you were there for me through it all, even though you didn’t know what you felt either. You even offered to stay in this timeline with me because of my family, even though it means you aren’t going to be in the same timeline as your family. You are an amazing woman, an incredible kick-ass superhero, and the most self-sacrificing and beautiful person inside and out. Inhumans have this feeling where nothing feels right, just empty. From the very first moment we met, that emptiness filled. You make me complete, make me whole, make me a better person, a better man. Last time, I died for you because I love you and I would do it again if I had to, but it’s not going to come to that. We’re going to have our happily-ever-after. I will follow you to another timeline and back if that’s what it takes, into the past and into the future, wherever life takes us, whatever it decides to throw at us next. I promised once that I would never hurt you and I never will. I will never leave you again. I love you more than anything. You are my future. And together...with you...sky’s the limit.”

Daisy almost laughed at the private joke he inserted at the end of his vows, but it was the most perfect ending to the most perfect vow. They were on the hill where he had first told her that and well...some things were meant to be. She leaned in to kiss him and Coulson cleared his throat when their lips had barely touched.

“Not yet,” he said, making everyone in the audience laugh.

“Sorry,” Lincoln said, leaning back; Daisy’s lips twitched.

“Actually not sorry,” she said; the others laughed even harder. 

“Okay,” Coulson said, amused and smiling, even though he was attempting to look serious. “Jemma, Deke, rings please.”

Both Jemma and Deke fished in their pockets to produce the rings. Daisy couldn’t help smiling when she saw them, pure gold bands of love, even though hers was studded with miniature pure Terrigen crystals and Lincoln’s had a matching Terrigen crystal band around it. She glanced up at Lincoln and saw that he was smiling just as widely as she was; he took her hand in his.

“Lincoln, repeat after me,” Coulson said. “With this ring….”

“With this ring,” Lincoln repeated. 

“I thee wed,” Coulson said.

“I thee wed,” Lincoln repeated, sliding the ring onto Daisy’s finger. 

“Your turn, Daisy,” Coulson said. “With this ring….”

“With this ring,” Daisy said, unable to stop her smile, not that she wanted to.

“I thee wed,” Coulson said.

“I thee wed,” Daisy repeated, sliding the ring onto Lincoln’s finger.

“Now, by the powers invested in me,” Coulson said, “By you two and the rest of all of our families here, I am so happy to pronounce you two husband and wife. _Now_ you may kiss the bride.”

Lincoln took Daisy in his arms and kissed her. Softly, gently. Daisy closed her eyes, fingers lingering on his cheeks, a whirlwind of happy emotions bubbling up everywhere inside her. Everyone started clapping and once it was acceptable for the others to move, they did so. With a very straight face, Deke said to Jemma and Fitz, “I got those rings too. And so this time I get to say I’m related, non-biologically, to...both of them?”

Jemma shook her head, but she was laughing. “Oh, Deke, you are the most lovable and also incredibly ridiculous grandson anyone has ever had.”

She hugged him and then, as everyone started mingling, slid her arm into his when others approached them, the way a mother would to her son, or, in this case, grandson. Coulson started speaking to Daisy; Lincoln released her, knowing that she should have a little private time to talk to her father figure. Both Deke and Jemma stepped forward to hug Lincoln, even as the other timeline version of Mack, Miles and Trip came forward to hug him as well.

Meanwhile, Coulson was speaking to Daisy.

“I am so proud of you,” he said. “I wish I was there in-person so I could hug you and I wish I - the real Coulson - was alive to see this, but I am so very proud of you and the person you've become. I know now that Lincoln is the man for you. I lost you - or rather, the real Coulson lost you - after Lincoln died...and we're not going to let you lose him again. He's the perfect man for you and I’m so proud and happy for both of you. You deserve your happy ending.”

Daisy smiled. “Thank you. Coulson...thank you.”

At that moment, Lexi came running up to Daisy and hugged her. Daisy laughed, catching her and hugging her back, even as May came up to her and gave her a smile.

“I’m so happy for both of you,” she said. 

As Lincoln turned, Lexi hugged him as well. May smiled fondly, watching her daughter.

“I’m glad she’s bonded with both of you,” May said softly to Daisy as both women watched Lincoln lift and spin Lexi playfully. “After I told her that her father was Lash...she lost so much of her youth and happiness. But now...she’s become so much more like her old self. I think knowing that you both are fairly normal despite being Inhuman has helped her tremendously. I’m glad she has both of you. Even if you decide to go back to your old timeline.”

There was silence for a moment as Daisy watched Lincoln put Lexi down. 

“I don’t mean to make you feel guilty,” May said quickly. “Or guilt-trip you to stay. But I want to thank you for what you’ve done for Lexi as it is. Even if you leave, she will understand that she’s not a monster, that she’s just - Inhuman.” 

Daisy smiled. “She’s a beautiful child.” 

May nodded, but at that moment, Deke came up and crushed her in a hug. Laughing, Daisy hugged him back. 

“Last year, I never imagined this would happen,” Daisy said, laughing. “You were like an annoying sibling, but now...things have seriously changed, Deke.”

Deke grinned as he released her. “Me neither,” he admitted. “I’m just glad you’re finally happy.”

Daisy smiled, her gaze flitting to where Mack and Miles were now commandeering Lincoln’s attention. 

“I’m very happy,” she said softly. 

As if sensing her gaze on him, Lincoln turned to look at her. Their eyes met and it was like the rest of the world faded away. Time seemed to still, but in reality, time was still passing; the others noticed their preoccupation.

“Daisy.” 

It took her a moment to focus on Trip. Trip was standing in front of her, having replaced Deke in the never-ending circle of their friends. 

“I have a message for you,” he said. “From Kora. I think now is a good time to tell you the message...if you want to hear it.”

Daisy paused. “Is it just for me, or can Lincoln hear it too?” she asked as Lincoln wove his way to her side, pressing his lips to the side of her head; she leaned happily into his embrace, sliding an arm around his waist.

“Lincoln can hear it,” Trip said. He cleared his throat. “Okay, bear in mind this is all Kora, so it might sound weird coming from me, but...anyway. Here goes. ‘Daisy, I’m sorry I can’t be here today. I know you want me here as much as I want to be there, which is obviously saying a lot. But know that I’ve seen the wedding in my head; this version of it. The one that takes place a few hours from when I tell Trip what to tell you. I am so happy for you. I know Lincoln is everything you’ve ever wanted; I knew that even before he came back into our lives. I didn’t tell you about the possibility of him living back in 1983 because I knew that you would do whatever it took to save him and even when I was on Nathaniel’s side, I didn’t want to hurt you that way. May and Coulson had accepted Andrew and Rosalind’s deaths; they had moved forward with each other but you...I knew that Lincoln was still everything to you. Don’t take this as me knowing that he was going to return to us in Zephyr Three; I hadn’t predicted that. But do take this as me knowing how much you mean to each other, knowing how much you love each other, knowing how much you two are meant to be. I am so happy for both of you and I am so happy to have Lincoln as my brother-in-law. I know you both will do everything you can to protect each other. Lincoln, if you die for Daisy in space, provided that your body isn’t blown to bits, I will personally bring you back to life like I did Daisy and _then_ kill you again for all the pain that you will put her through. And then I’ll bring you back to life again. Because she can’t live without you. But yes...I am fully threatening you right now and Trip is probably feeling really awkward while he says this, but still. It’s me.’” 

Trip paused for breath and both Daisy and Lincoln laughed at the last few sentences from Kora. It was such a Kora thing to say. Trip smiled, allowing them a moment to enjoy what he had told them, and then continued speaking.

“‘I’m sorry I can’t be there,’” he continued. “‘But I do have a wedding present for you. It’s in Daisy’s old transition room. Happy honeymoon, both of you. I love you. Kora.’”

Deke caught the tail end of Trip’s speech. “Did you mention ‘honeymoon’ and ‘Kora’?” he asked Trip.

Trip nodded. “She gave me a message for Daisy and Lincoln,” he said. “She couldn’t be here, but she wanted them to know that she’s seen the wedding. And she has a honeymoon present for them.”

Deke smiled widely. “She does,” he admitted. “Go on, you two. It’s in Daisy’s old transition room.”

Daisy glanced at Lincoln; she could practically feel the tingles of static through the fabric of her dress from his fingertips from where his arm was looped around her waist. She was no better; she could tell that vibrations were bubbling under her skin. Lincoln could sense that as well, seeing as she was holding his hand. 

“But the others -” Daisy began, her gaze shifting from Lincoln to the other members of her team, all of whom were still gathered around them, talking either to each other or to the members of Lincoln’s team.

“We’ll still be here when you get back,” Fitz promised. “There’s enough power to sustain us for quite a while.” He paused. “How long are you giving them, Deke?”

Daisy hadn’t realized that Fitz had overheard their conversation as well. 

Deke shrugged. “An hour?” He glanced at Jemma. “Can we give them two?” 

Jemma looked at Fitz. “How fast do you think we can figure out how Lincoln and Gordon’s DNA work?” 

“An hour, give or take,” Fitz agreed. “Seeing as it’s been a while since we were in that wretched Framework and you know Lincoln’s biology pretty well now. Sounds about right.” 

Deke turned back to Daisy and Lincoln. “Sorry it can’t be longer,” he said. 

Daisy smiled. “It’s perfect,” she said. “Don’t apologize.”

As they turned to go, Lincoln caught Jemma’s arm and spoke in a low voice, low enough that no one else could hear him speak aside from Jemma, Daisy, Fitz and Deke; Fitz and Deke could only hear him because they were in extremely close proximity to them. 

“Jemma, just promise me,” Lincoln said, “Whatever you do, do not come looking for us before the hour is up. Regardless of whether or not you need a doctor who knows Inhuman biology.”

Jemma shook her head in slight amusement, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “I promise,” she said. “Whole-heartedly and sincerely promise not to interrupt you two.” 

“Thank you,” Daisy said, even though she was blushing slightly, not because she was embarrassed about what she and Lincoln were about to do, but because once again, Jemma knew way too much about her sex life. 

The others let them go without saying a word, although Mack was glaring at Miles the entire time to ensure that the latter was not about to make any sex jokes. It was impossible for them to unobtrusively slip away; there was only one path to the top of the hill anyway. As the others started to pick up decorations and make their way back to the Zephyr, Price, who had been silent the entire time, watching the wedding from Miles’ tablet, caught their attention.

“Ward’s awake.”




Daisy opened the door to her old transition room and gasped. Kora had outdone herself. The room was beautiful; the sheets freshly pressed and turned down, daisies and lilies were in a vase of flowers beside the bed, petals were on the sheets. There were even candles lit, which Daisy suspected Trip had done at some point. She stepped into the room, turning to take it all in. 

Lincoln closed the door behind him and smiled at her. “I think Kora didn’t want to take any chances with the lightbulbs,” he said.

Daisy laughed; indeed, there were only candles around the room. 

“Well,” she said softly as she walked back towards him, fingers toying with the collar of his suit jacket. “I don’t think Kora could do anything if I accidentally cause an avalanche because I lose control.”

“Hmm,” Lincoln said, pressing his lips to her ear softly, causing her breath to hitch and become uneven as he kissed down her neck, tracing a line down to her collarbone. “I would agree that an avalanche is definitely a good thing this time round.”

His fingers tugged at the zipper at the back of her dress, before moving up to her shoulders to push the straps of her dress aside. The dress fell to the floor, leaving Daisy clad only in her white lace undergarments.

“God, you’re beautiful,” Lincoln whispered as he pulled back slightly to take in the sight of her. “You’re perfect.”

“And you’re wearing too many clothes,” Daisy whispered in response, her hands going to his shoulders to push his jacket off. “Strip. Now.”

Lincoln smiled. “Already bossing me around,” he teased. “Guess we know who wears the pants in this relationship.”

“You’re the one wearing the pants right now,” Daisy said, fingers going to his belt buckle and tugging it open. “And you really shouldn’t be.” 

Lincoln leaned in to kiss her again. “Whatever you want,” he whispered, his lips leaving a trail of static electricity on her skin, causing her to tilt her head back, her breathing uneven. “My beautiful wife.”

Daisy smiled at the sound of the words, pausing her fingers in their task of undressing him. 

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips. “My handsome husband. And I always will.”

With that, Lincoln lifted her very gently off the floor, but not the way he usually did, which was with her legs around his waist. Instead, he lifted her into his arms bridal-style; she laughed against his lips, twining her arms around his neck. He carried her over to the bed before setting her gently down on it as she reached up to pull him towards her.


	84. Chapter 84

**Chapter 84**

Everyone from the wedding was back in the lab of the Zephyr, staring at Ward, who was sitting up in his Framework seat, fiddling with his headset, looking more than a little disoriented, but alive. 

“Ward, are you okay?” Jemma asked tentatively; he was staring at the wall with dazed and confused eyes.

He snapped to attention when she spoke. “Yes,” he said hoarsely. “Sorry. That was...that was crazy.”

“Who died?” Jemma asked, drawing all their attention to the most important question of all. “Who died in the Quinjet, Ward?”

Ward stared at her and then laughed harshly, although there was nothing humorous about the situation at all. He was amused because in the Framework, Jemma had been the one answering almost all of his questions and now, here he was, answering hers. 

“No one,” Ward said, causing everyone to stare at one another with wide eyes. “No one...but that wasn’t the Framework. That wasn’t even a future that we want to consider living. That was _hell_ . Someone on the team _has_ to die to prevent that future from happening.”

Everyone exchanged concerned looks, but they let Jemma take point in the interrogation. While Ward physically appeared well, in reality, he was still recovering from his ordeal. The Framework felt like a whole other life and he was still coming to terms with the fact that everything that had happened in there wasn’t real. Jemma was the best person to speak to him, seeing as she was the doctor and knew how hard she could push him, not to mention that she had been through the Framework and, in comparison to LMD Coulson, the other timeline versions of Mack and Yo-Yo, and Fitz, Ward trusted her most of all. 

Jemma grimaced. “How bad was it really?” she asked. “Start at the beginning, Ward.”

Ward exhaled slowly. “It was pretty bad,” he said grimly. “It was...an apocalyptic hellscape.”

Deke raised his eyebrows at him. “You travelled to 2091?” he asked.

So much for letting Jemma take point. 

“What?” Ward asked, confused. “No. I travelled 10 months into the future.”

“Oh,” Deke said. “Sorry. I just...I called the timeline that I’m from an apocalyptic hellscape, but...anyway. Yeah. Sorry. Keep going.”

Ward grimaced. “I...I don’t want to alarm anyone,” he said. “But, well...I know the future. And it was terrible. Inhumans were being hunted and in the process of trying to find answers, Deke died. Well, he was dead, very dead, but we didn’t have to be sad about it because it was the Framework and it wasn’t real, but well, we were trying to take out implants, and Deke died, and she was devastated, and she had no idea who he was, and she was remembering and forgetting at the same time, and um, cuttlefish and chromatophores and stars and -”

Now that he had started speaking, the words were coming out like verbal vomit. 

“What?” Coulson asked, staring at him like he had grown two heads. “Did you travel to the future or the past? Because it sounds like you went 33 years into the past!”

Everyone looked at Coulson. “What?” he asked. “The time loops! I remember those, even if the rest of you don’t and only know what Daisy and I told you. Deke was dead, very dead, and we did not have to be sad about it! And the implants and being devastated and -”

“He has a point,” the original timeline version of Mack said. “Did you go to Zephyr One, Ward?” 

“Did you wake up in a machine?” Yo-Yo asked. “The healing pod or LMD Coulson’s storage station -”

“Why were _you_ trying to take out Diana?” Deke asked. 

“Did you meet Enoch?” Jemma asked. “But if you went to Zephyr One, then who were you? Did you wake up in your own body or were you one of us?” 

“That’s not even possible,” Fitz said. “He’d have to wake up as himself in the Framework; you and Daisy woke up as yourselves. Ward was nowhere near Zephyr One 33 years ago -” 

“I didn’t go into the past!” Ward protested, speaking up above all of them, all of whom were intensely confused. “I went 10 months into the future! And yes, Deke died because we were trying to remove an implant, but it wasn’t Jemma’s! I mean, she did have an implant, but hers wasn’t the only one. He had one too. And so did Daisy and Lincoln. And _Daisy_ was the one who was devastated and _she_ was the one who had no idea who Lincoln was and _she_ was the one who was remembering and forgetting at the same time - speaking of, where _are_ Daisy and Lincoln?”

Jemma looked at him strangely. “Why in the world did _they_ have implants?” she asked. “And how could they possibly - why was Daisy -”

“Oh my God,” Fitz and Deke said at the same time as realization dawned.

They looked at each other. 

“Alya,” Deke said. “ _Mum_.”

“Our everything,” Fitz said.

Jemma gasped as she put two and two together. “The stars in their skies,” she said. “Oh my God.”

Ward glanced at them and then at the kids on the floor; Alya was holding Owen since the adults were all preoccupied with the serious conversation and Lexi was sitting with them, even though two of them were holograms. Apparently none of them were listening to the adults’ conversation, but knowing Lexi, she was pretending to be a child and was, in reality, eavesdropping intensely. 

“Yes,” he said. “Where _are_ they? This is going to hurt them both, but I need to tell them; if this future comes to pass, it’s going to be _hell_ for both of them and not because they have kids, but because of everything the world changes to become, and because they get captured by Hydra and tortured, and they have to fight to the death, and they give up their children to be kept secret and safe in the foster care system because Inhumans are being hunted, and -”

Once again, Ward was rambling, but Deke cut him off by swearing worse than a drunk truck driver. 

“What?” Ward asked, as Deke interrupted his tirade. “Where _are_ they, Deke?”

“Oh God,” Jemma said, pressing her hands together. “How much time has passed, Deke?”

Deke shook his head, even as he looked at his watch. “Do you want to go and get them? When there’s a possibility of one of them still dying in the Quinjet with the warhead? Ward just said that in order to prevent this disastrous future from happening, someone on the team has to die. And I really don’t want to ruin what could be one of their last days together when there’s still a chance one of them could die. Do you?”

No one spoke; that was the last thing any of them wanted. 

“I can’t,” Jemma said at last. “I promised I wouldn’t go, not for anything -”

“What happens?” Sousa asked Ward, his tone harsh. “Because even if Jemma and Deke can’t make themselves go to them right now, Miles would go or I could, to save their lives. What happens?”

While it would be the worst thing in the world for Sousa, of all people, to interrupt Daisy and Lincoln’s honeymoon, he would do it, if it meant saving their lives. Miles, on the other hand, was one of the few who had less of a filter for personal boundaries and while he cared about both Lincoln and Daisy, he would definitely have less qualms about walking in on them having sex. The very fact that he did not object to Sousa’s statement was evidence that he would do it. 

“Where are they?” Ward demanded, not answering Sousa’s question. “What aren’t you telling me?” 

Jemma turned to look at him bleakly. “It’s their honeymoon, Ward,” she said. “Ten months from now they have their kids? She’s probably already pregnant. Or she will become pregnant very soon, possibly even from their...actions tonight.”

Ward swore violently. 

“How bad was it really?” Deke asked. “Seriously, Ward -”

“It was _hell_ ,” Ward said bitterly. “This story is going to make all of the disasters that you’ve lived through look like Tahiti.”




“I love you,” Daisy whispered, twining her arms around Lincoln’s neck; he hovered above her, having just come up to meet her lips. She gasped as his bare skin brushed against hers; she arched towards him, desperate and aching for him. “Please, Lincoln -”

Lincoln smiled, happy with the effect that he was having on her. He kissed her again, hard, feverishly, just as desperate for her as she was for him; she could feel his desire for her pressing against her own body. 

“No more teasing,” Daisy whispered, pulling at him to bring him closer, if that was even possible. “Please, Linc, I need you -”

“I love you,” Lincoln whispered, his lips leaving a trail of electricity down her skin that burned in the best way possible. Daisy gasped as he pulled away, wondering what had caused his distraction. It was when he appeared over her again, holding a condom in his hand, that she realized. 

Daisy caught his hand in hers, stopping him before he could tear it open.

“Don’t,” she said softly.

Lincoln froze, the condom in his hand. “Daisy….”

“I don’t want anything between us tonight,” Daisy whispered. “Not even a rubber condom. Not tonight. This is our honeymoon, we’re married, we’re going to start a family eventually...and I want to be close to you. We’ve never had sex without protection before and tonight...I want you. All of you. I’m not going to let something like Hive stop us from having the honeymoon we want. This is for us.” She paused, eyes searching his. “What do you want to do?”

Lincoln hesitated, the condom still in his hand. “I want you,” he said. “All of you. Everything. I don’t want anything between us either...but I don’t want you to be afraid of what might happen in case you get pregnant from our actions tonight.”

“It ends tomorrow,” Daisy whispered. “You know that. Hive already has his pathogen; he’s going to try to steal a warhead when he recovers from whatever brain scrambling you gave him…and tonight is ours. And if I end up pregnant tomorrow, then I end up pregnant. Hive’s taken enough from us already. Kora, Flint, Joey, Hunter and Bobbi...not anymore. Tomorrow is the Absolution mission; it’s almost over. And we have Flint back. Even if I get pregnant from this, it’ll be okay. It all ends tomorrow, you know that.”

Lincoln still looked hesitant, his hand on the condom. 

“I love you,” Daisy whispered. “But if you’re worried about it, about Hive...we can use the condom.” She hesitated, but Lincoln kissed her, his whole body pressed against hers; she could feel his desire for her pressing against her own sensitive body and she shuddered, desperate for him, her body tingling, heat rising like a volcano inside her. 

“I love you,” Lincoln whispered back. “If you’re sure, then I’m sure.”

Daisy smiled. “I’m sure.”

Lincoln hesitated for a moment longer, searching for any doubts in her eyes, but there were none. She knew what she wanted; it was up to him to make the move. And then he nodded, leaning down to kiss her, their bodies tangled up with one another, joining and becoming one. 




“Oh...that’s not good,” Deke said, staring at Ward. “That is...really bad.”

Ward had just finished telling them everything he knew about the future, everything from Daisy and Lincoln’s babies; to them giving them up; to the implants in Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma and Deke; to the rise of Hydra and the hunting of Inhumans; to Kora and Flint’s deaths; to Bobbi’s brainwashing; to Jemma being trapped in the wrong timeline; to the LMD Doctor. 

That was a serious understatement right there and then. 

“Mistakes were made,” Ward said. “We all made mistakes.” He looked at the others, all of whom looked grim and worried. 

Deke’s mind was still on Lincoln’s death in the Framework. “We’re going to find a way to save him,” he said. “We have to. We have to save everyone. We can’t just let someone die.”

Ward looked at him. “It’s this mistake that destroys the world,” Ward said. “Trying to save everyone on the team is what creates the world with Inhumans being hunted and an LMD Doctor and some crazy Hydra leader whose identity is still a mystery.”

“That can’t happen,” Jemma said, twisting her hands together. “I won’t let it.” She glanced at Fitz, but there was nothing that he could do to comfort her, especially since he was an intangible hologram. 

“What now?” the other timeline version of Mack asked. “What are we going to do? Hive tried to prevent the future by blowing Joey and Alisha up; does that mean that we can’t destroy him the way we did in the original timeline? Are we even able to? Considering that he just tried to prevent that future from happening by killing Joey in space with a bomb and a cross necklace in a Quinjet.”

“I don’t know anything about the Quinjet in space,” Ward said slowly. “But I do know that the reason that dystopian disaster came about was because Deke told Talbot and he brought in the U.S. government for help in killing Hive. Maybe we can still prevent the dystopian disaster of a future and save someone on the team...as long as we don’t contact Talbot for help.”

Ward sounded both anxious and doubtful at the same time; he was worried that all scenarios with everyone on the team surviving would lead to that dystopian hell. The others exchanged anxious glances. 

Deke was looking thoughtful. “Daisy told us the times,” he said slowly. “She and Lincoln told us how long it took for the Quinjet to get to space and how long it took for the rest of the team to reach her. Nana, how long was it before the rest of you found Daisy?”

Jemma exchanged concerned glances with Fitz. 

“It wasn’t exactly like that, Deke,” she said. “After Coulson outlined his plan to us, we were ambushed by Primitives. I had noticed that Daisy was gone, but by the time we discovered that Lincoln was gone as well and we ran upstairs to the communications centre...Daisy was talking to Lincoln over the coms. None of us knows _exactly_ what went down in the Quinjet; all Daisy would tell me was that he saved her, he shorted the manual controls and had blasted her out of the Quinjet with electricity. All of us heard their goodbye...but there was nothing that any of us could do.”

“Okay,” Deke said, clearly thinking hard now. “So the reason why you couldn’t save them was because of the Primitives, yes?”

“Technically yes,” Fitz said.

“Okay,” Deke said. He turned to LMD Coulson. “You have perfect recollection because you’re a machine, right? Tell us where the Primitives went, what they did exactly and how to stop them. We can do this. There are literally twice as many of us as there were you guys last time. Tell us what to do.”

Coulson grimaced. “I don’t know if it works that way, Deke….”

“It’s spacetime,” Fitz interrupted. “It’s inevitable. We’ve had this discussion.”

“That’s what the rest of you said about my apocalyptic hellscape,” Deke countered. “And we changed that.”

“Yes, by switching the timelines we were in!” Fitz said.

“And we did that by going into the past as well,” Deke said. “What’s the difference?”

“The difference is this is Charles Hinton we’re talking about!” Fitz said. “Not Robin! Robin sees the different possibilities, but Charles only ever sees the inevitable death!”

“Different timeline, different rules,” Deke said. “Take Ward, for example. Take Coulson. Take Mack!”

“Whoa,” both Macks said at the same time.

“Leave us out of it,” the original timeline version of Mack said and his doppelganger nodded.

“The timeline is screwed,” Deke said. He waved a hand at Sousa. “Ripples, not waves, Fitz! This guy is standing here. We changed time! I swear, if you say that we can go into the past and save Sousa and we can’t save Lincoln -”

“I’m not saying we can’t save Lincoln!” Fitz argued. “Do you think any of us will be able to look Daisy in the eye if she loses him again? She’ll never forgive herself or _any_ of us. If we thought she ran away the first time, we’ll probably _never_ find her again if he dies. She won’t be able to survive without him. I know it, Jemma knows it, everyone here knows it. What I am saying is that _someone_ on the team is going to die and _that_ is the thing that we can’t change.” He pointed at Ward. “That’s what Ward said as well! If we try to save everyone the team, we end up with a combination of the original Framework hell and your disastrous 2091!”

“We’re not going to just accept it as fate,” Deke argued. “We have to try _something_. Besides, that was one possible future out of…I don’t know hundreds! And it was just an approximation! There are undoubtedly very many more possible futures that the one that Ward ended up in!”

“Quit it!” the Bobbi from Deke’s timeline snapped. “Just stop it, both of you!”

All of them looked at her; she had been sitting silently, drawing on various pieces of paper. She shoved some of the papers towards Deke and Fitz.

“It’s going to happen,” she said. “The explosion in the Quinjet, the fighting of the Primitives on the Zephyr, Daisy’s pregnancy...and don’t ask me when because I don’t know.”

There was silence for a moment as everyone stared at the sheets of paper with crude pencil stick figures on them.

“Oh my God,” Fitz said. “The Seer.”

“Robin,” Deke said. “Holy Kree, Bobbi, what did they _do_ to you?”

He was staring at Bobbi now, as if she had grown two heads. She didn’t appear that much worse for the wear after her torture, but now he knew better. Something about her very DNA had already been changed.

“Wait, we’re talking about that little girl?” the original timeline Hunter asked. “The one we went to find with Enoch?” He addressed this last statement to Fitz.

“Yes,” Fitz said, staring at the papers that Bobbi was holding out. “What did they -”

“Nathaniel,” Jemma said. “Oh my God. Kora taught Hive how to steal powers, didn’t she? And you’ve got...Robin’s powers?”

Bobbi’s fingers were twitching again. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t control it; I don’t know what’s happening; all I know is that that’s going to happen.”

“Bob, it’s okay,” her Hunter said, rubbing her back gently. “It’s not your fault; all we know is that this is going to happen -”

“Oh my God,” Jemma whispered, even as she knelt at Bobbi’s side. “Bobbi, I should run more tests, we should make sure you’re okay -”

“I’m fine,” Bobbi insisted. “You already ran some tests and we need to figure out how we’re supposed to save whoever ends up in the Quinjet with the warhead because it’s not over. It’s going to happen. I know it.” 

Everyone exchanged worried glances. While most of them had not interacted with Robin before, all the original team members and Deke had. They knew that the drawings meant and that unless they did something drastic to change the timeline, the events in them were going to pass. 

Deke rubbed his face with one hand. “Okay then,” he said. “We’re going to figure out exactly who went where and do our best to prevent someone from dying in the Quinjet with the warhead. Walk us through the fight, Coulson.” 

The revelation that Bobbi had seen that the fight with the Primitives would be happening on the Zephyr was enough to take the fight out of Fitz. He didn’t argue; Coulson spoke up.

“Okay,” he said. “Five of us - me, May, Fitzsimmons and Mack - fought the Primitives. Pick your players. There are more than double that number here.”

“Jemma is Jemma,” Deke said immediately. “And I’m pretty sure May is May and Mack is Mack.”

“Fair,” Coulson said. “And you’re probably me. Who’s Fitz?”

“Miles,” Jemma and Deke said simultaneously, causing Fitz to eye Miles suspiciously. 

“Really?” he asked.

“Don’t worry,” Miles said cheerfully. “I’m much better looking than you.”

“Miles, shut up,” the other timeline version of Mack warned. “Or Fitz is going to kill you.”

Now was not the time to be stirring up trouble, especially not with Fitz; Miles subsided for once in his life. Coulson turned to the others.

“Seeing as there are literally twice as many of you as there were of us,” he said, “everyone, pick a partner. You’re going to learn what they do, but for now, you’re first going to be the Primitive that they’re facing. Then we’ll switch. And we also need a body for Hive. He appeared on the balcony when we were fighting the Primitives and we’re going to try and take him out before he gets to - whoever ends up in the Quinjet.”

“Okay,” Deke said, counting off people on his fingers. “Me, May, Mack, Jemma and Miles - that leaves Gran and Gramps, Trip, Ward and Sousa. We can just pretend that Hive appears on the balcony, or one of the holograms can do it -”

“You forgot about me,” Lexi said, standing up. “I’ll be a Primitive.”

“No!” May’s voice was sharp and adamant even as she stared at her daughter. “You’re not part of this fight, Lex -”

“I am,” Lexi said quietly. “Momma, Hive’s Inhumans deliberately didn’t use the Absolution virus on me because they knew that I am eventually going to go through Terrigenesis and be influential in this war against Hive. Even if you don’t want to let me go through Terrigenesis because I’m too young, at least let me learn how we’re supposed to be able to defeat the Primitives. It’ll be more dangerous if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. You know I can take care of myself.”

“You’re just a kid,” May said, the emotions in her voice causing it to fluctuate a little. “Lex -”

“Please, Momma,” Lexi pleaded. “Please.”

May sighed. When she nodded her assent, it was because she feared her daughter was already involved in this battle more than she wanted her to be and the more Lexi knew, the safer she would be. And May had trained Lexi how to fight; she knew how to take care of herself. May drew her daughter into a hug. 

“Okay,” she said quietly. “But whatever role you’re practising with the rest of us...you’re not going to be Hive. Okay?’

“Deal,” Lexi said, her face set with a stubborn tilt to her chin that reminded all of them of May. 

“I’ll be Hive,” Ward volunteered. “The last thing I want to do is make you worry about that wretched Inhuman wearing the face of one of your friends.”

“Oh God,” Jemma muttered as Ward climbed up the staircase. “This is like a really really bad case of deja vu.”

Coulson exhaled visibly as well when Ward reached the balcony. “Okay,” he said wearily. “Ward, I’ll give you a separate cue to come in. The rest of you, pick a partner.” 

“Dibs on Lexi,” Miles decided. “Or else I’m going to be handed my face on a platter.”

May raised an eyebrow at him. “She’s a much better fighter than you, Miles,” she said. “She could put anyone here in the room on their butt, including me and Ward. Probably the only people who could take her out are Daisy and Lincoln and that’s because they’d cheat with their powers.”

“Really?” Miles asked, almost fearfully. 

And then, without realizing how, Miles ended up flat on his back on the ground, Lexi standing over him.

“Really,” she said, holding her fist at his head.




The alarm on Lincoln’s phone went off and both Daisy and Lincoln halted mid-kiss, tangled up in one another and in the blankets. 

“Nope, nope, nope, ignore it,” Daisy said as Lincoln rolled off her to switch off the alarm. “Lincoln….”

Lincoln hit the button on his phone to turn off the alarm and then turned back, in time for her to climb on top of him, trapping him in place. 

“We’re not going anywhere,” she said, trailing kisses from his mouth down his chest. “Nowhere.”

Lincoln laughed and then stopped mid-laugh as she worked her way lower. 

“Daisy….” He tried to sound normal, but his voice was rougher than usual and the desire in his voice was apparent.

Daisy smirked at him. “Yes?” she asked innocently from where she was. “Do you still want to leave? Maybe we should just go.” She sat up. “Wouldn’t want to give the impression that newlyweds can be late when we promised we’d just be an hour.” She pulled away, tugging one of the sheets off the bed with her, before turning back to him. “I think this is a better look than my wedding dress. What do you think?”

Considering the only thing covering her bare skin was one of the long white semi-transparent bedsheets, Daisy was well aware that she was seriously teasing Lincoln. He groaned and then beckoned towards her with one hand. 

“Come here,” he said. “Please.” 

Daisy laughed. “You’re the one who got distracted first,” she teased, but she walked back over to the bed and crawled on top of him, kissing him senseless.

It wasn’t like Daisy to be so light-hearted and happy, but Lincoln was just glad she was. She was way too worried too much of the time and if he could give her just one second of happiness without the worries of the end of the world or losing someone she loved, he would do anything to give her that. 

“I love you,” she whispered, the playfulness gone from her voice. “I can’t lose you.”

“Hey,” Lincoln’s voice was gentle as he pushed her hair out of her face. “You aren’t going to lose me. I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”

It was not something that he could promise her. If love was enough, they would both survive, but in cases like this...love might not be enough. Because an ancient Inhuman alien might come out of nowhere to tear them apart. But if he could give her just a moment’s reassurance, he would.

Daisy looked at him, their faces inches apart. 

“Okay,” she whispered and then kissed him again; he rolled on top of her, both of them losing all coherent thoughts as they got caught up in the moment and in each other. 




In the end, Daisy wasn’t sure how long had passed between Lincoln’s alarm going off and them finally deciding that enough was enough and they had to head back to the Zephyr. As they finally got dressed in the clothes that either Kora or Trip had laid out for them, Daisy discovered a letter from Kora sitting on the dresser. She tucked it into the pocket of her jacket, not wanting to read it yet. She wasn’t so much afraid of what it would say, as she was of it being a goodbye and she didn’t want it to come to that. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her sister. 

They walked back to the Zephyr, hand-in-hand. Lincoln carried her wedding dress and his suit in one hand; Daisy carried the flowers from the bedside table. She wanted at least a small reminder of what Kora had given her on their wedding day and the flowers were beautiful. They, along with her wedding bouquet that Jemma still had, would be kept along with her hula girl forever. 

When they reached the ramp of the Zephyr, however, it sounded like a million people were talking at once.

“I’m telling you, May and Mack attack first,” the hologram of Mack complained. “You take on the ones in the front.”

“Okay, okay,” the other timeline version of Mack said. “So we take on the ones in front. But -”

“Two jump over the balcony and attack you from behind,” Fitz said in exasperation. “Miles, that’s on you.”

“And me,” Jemma agreed. 

“The one coming over the staircase is Deke’s,” Coulson said. “He’ll come after the ones on the balcony. Right after them.”

“Right after?” Deke asked.

“ _Right_ after,” Coulson stressed.

“Okay, I attack the Primitive _right_ after the ones jump down from the balcony,” Deke said.

“He sounds like you,” Jemma said to Fitz. 

“On the heels of Doug,” Fitz said, sighing as Daisy and Lincoln came into view. 

“What in the world is going on?” Lincoln asked. 

Everyone in the room looked up, all looking surprised to see Daisy and Lincoln there. 

“Have we been at it for an hour already?” Miles asked.

Deke checked his watch. “Longer than an hour.”

Miles snickered. “Oh. They’re late -”

“Miles,” May said warningly. “If you complete that sentence, I’m going to personally throw you into a wall.” 

Daisy ignored Miles’ teasing. “What are you guys...doing?” she asked as Lincoln set their clothes down on a trunk of S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment; she put the flowers on top.

Everyone looked at each other.

“Reset,” Coulson said, sighing, and Daisy buried her face in her hands as she realized what they were doing. 

“Oh my God,” she said, stepping backwards; Lincoln put his arm around her. “Tell me you’re not doing what I think you’re doing.”

“We’re not doing what you think we’re doing,” Lexi said promptly and Daisy turned to stare at Deke. 

“You included Lexi?” she demanded. “What were you thinking?”

“We don’t have a choice,” May said. “It’s better if she learns where the Primitives are going now than later.”

“Oh God,” Daisy repeated and Lincoln rubbed her shoulder gently in response. 

Coulson looked at where they were standing at the far end of the Zephyr.

“Deke, give them the stopwatch,” he said.

Deke looked up in confusion. “Um, sure -”

“It doesn’t work that way, Coulson,” Fitz said and Jemma elbowed him, to no avail, since he was a hologram; her elbow passed right through his body. 

In actuality, only five people in the room knew exactly what they were reliving and only three of them had actually _lived_ it before, seeing as Lincoln was a different timeline version of himself and Coulson was now an LMD. Back when they had been rehearsing for May to go to the Transia Corporation instead of Daisy, she, Lincoln, Fitzsimmons, May and Coulson had been the only ones there; Mack had been recovering from the Watchdog attack. Coulson had had the stopwatch and by asking Deke to give it to them, he was trying to keep them safe because he survived the war with Hive. 

“Just give it to them,” Coulson said and Deke handed the stopwatch to Lincoln, who in turn offered it to Daisy.

“You keep it,” she said. “Linc….”

He pressed his lips to her temple in response, just a soft gentle gesture. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed, the anxiety in her expression obvious. 

“Right when Bobbi and Hunter attack May and Mack,” Deke told them. “Ready whenever you two are, Gran, Gramps.”

Daisy blew out a long breath, but didn’t say anything. Lincoln nodded at Bobbi and Hunter and when they moved, he clicked the stopwatch. 

In all fairness, Daisy and Lincoln had never seen Fitzsimmons, May, Coulson and Mack fight the Primitives. Neither had been there for that attack. So when they saw Miles, Jemma, May, Deke and Mack fight Lexi, Trip, Bobbi, Sousa and Hunter respectively, it was a first for both of them to see and understand what had happened while they had been running up to the Quinjet. It was only when Coulson said, “Now,” that both of them completely freaked out.

Ward appeared on the balcony above them and both Daisy and Lincoln reacted instinctively, shouting in fear. A quake pulse and a bolt of electricity flew straight at Ward at the same time as Jemma shouted, “Don’t!” and Deke shouted, “That’s Ward!” 

Ward got hit in the face with both powers, even though Daisy and Lincoln both tried to stop them after they realized who he was. 

“Oh God, I didn’t mean to…,” Daisy stammered. 

Jemma rushed for the stairs. “Ward, are you alright?” she asked, even as Lincoln shook his hand out, his own face apologetic. 

“Sorry, Ward,” he called up to the balcony, but his immediate preoccupation was Daisy, who had wrapped her arms around him, without showing any sign of letting go any time soon. 

“I’m fine,” Ward said as Bobbi and Hunter joined him and Jemma on the balcony. “It’s all good. Sorry. I should have warned you both that I was awake.”

Daisy glanced up from where Lincoln was stroking her hair soothingly, a task and a half since it was slightly tangled from sex. Kora had remembered a lot of things, but a hairbrush had not been one of them.

“What happened?” she asked. “In the future.”

Before anyone could speak, Deke said smoothly, “Ward found out that someone on the team _has_ to die. The future was pretty...bad to say the least. But we all survived the Quinjet explosion with Hive which is why that future came about.” 

He did not elaborate beyond that, not wanting to alert them to the danger of them having children; unbeknownst to him, they had already had unprotected sex. 

“Speaking of what happens in the future,” Coulson said, jumping in, also not wanting to worry them unnecessarily, seeing as they had already decided that asking for help from the U.S. military was not something they were going to do. “We should reset.” 

Daisy didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Lincoln pulled her over to the side of the Zephyr and drew her into his lap. She leaned her head against his shoulder, holding his hand with one of hers, her other arm wrapped around his neck. He circled his arm around her waist, the other hand holding the stopwatch.

“Ready whenever Bobbi and Hunter are,” he said, both of whom, and Jemma, had come back down the staircase.

“Is Ward okay?” Lincoln asked guiltily; Ward nodded from where he was up on the balcony. 

“They take turns coming up with a way to take me out,” he explained. “Usually someone throws a makeshift knife at me or shoots me. Seeing as Hive is impervious to both, it doesn’t work. But if they take turns doing a lot of damage, I get ‘taken out’. Your guys’ attack was just an unpredicted extra attack.”

And a real one. For someone who had just gotten blasted non-lethally with both a quake pulse and a bolt of electricity, Ward was taking it extremely well. Unbeknownst to Daisy and Lincoln, Ward was just glad that they were both alive, hence why he was coping so well with having been attacked. 

Daisy exhaled slowly. Her eyes went back to the agents standing around; Lincoln caught Hunter’s gaze and then he clicked the stopwatch.

This time, the fight went more smoothly. Bobbi and Hunter attacked May and Mack first, then Lexi and Trip jumped over the balcony after Miles and Jemma. Sousa attacked Deke next and while it was just painful watching them fight, at least they had a better idea of where everyone was going this time round. The worst part of watching the team fight the ‘Primitives’ was knowing that if any of them got exposed to the Absolution virus, this could very well happen. Well, aside from Lexi becoming a Primitive, because she wouldn’t become one. She’d just undergo Terrigenesis. But it was nonetheless horrible and nauseating to watch.

Lincoln clicked the stopwatch to stop the time when the last ‘Primitive’ was taken out by May. Ward had evaded most of the knives and bullets aimed at him, but seeing as he was ‘Hive’, that was pretty much to be expected. 

“How long did we take?” Deke asked.

Lincoln looked at the stopwatch. “Two minutes and fifteen seconds,” he said.

“We could be faster,” Deke muttered.

“You have to be,” Daisy said quietly, from where she was resting her head on Lincoln’s shoulder. “When I reached the nuke upstairs, I had four minutes and thirty-five seconds on the clock. Twenty seconds gone for me to push the nuke to the Quinjet. I spoke with Hive for roughly a minute and a half, that’s two minutes and forty-five seconds on the clock. Unless you’ve figured out how to give Lincoln teleportation, that’s the point of no return. Because we spoke for roughly two minutes before the Quinjet entered space and when it did, there was one minute left on the clock. You need to defeat the Primitives _and_ get upstairs in less than one minute and fifty seconds if you want to have a chance at saving whoever is in the Quinjet.”

There was dead silence following Daisy’s speech. The original team members hadn’t been around when Daisy had confessed to having memorized every single possible method of saving Lincoln from the Quinjet and now, to hear that she had memorized all the times...it was sickening. Obviously they knew how much she loved him, but to hear how desperately she had wanted to save him both then and now...it was a horrifying reminder that he might soon die. 

Fitz grimaced. “Jemma, let’s go work on Gordon’s DNA,” he said. 

Jemma nodded. “Our research is going well, Daisy, and Ward confirmed that there’s a way to safely give Lincoln teleportation,” she said. “It’ll be fine.” 

Daisy didn’t say anything. 

“Do you need my help?” Lincoln asked.

“No,” Jemma and Fitz said simultaneously, glancing at Daisy, who was silently caressing the hair at the back of his neck, her face distraught and fearful. When they spoke, Daisy glanced up.

“Yes,” she said immediately. “If it’ll save you, Linc, you should work with them. You know your biology better than anyone does. You learned under my father and Raina in this timeline, the world’s experts on Inhumans. You should help them.” She stood up, intertwining her hand with his. 

Lincoln cupped her face with both hands, resting his forehead against hers, thumbs caressing her cheeks gently. 

“Go with them,” Deke suggested to Daisy. “It won’t do any harm.” 

Fitz frowned as Deke spoke. “Speaking of harm,” he said, “Price and Coulson will be coming down soon. We should dissipate the holograms now before they find out about the other timeline.”

Coulson nodded. “Good point,” he said. “You already know all you need from the rest of us to be able to defeat Hive. There’s nothing really more the rest of us - Fitz, aside - can do to help.” 

Daisy looked up, her eyes even more worried than before. 

“Sparks will be fine, Tremors,” the original timeline version of Mack said. “Absolutely fine. We’ll do our best to make sure he’s safe.” 

It was not something that they could promise her, nor was it something they even had much influence on, seeing as they were in another timeline. But Daisy appreciated the support, even as, one by one, they started disappearing from view, even Alya and Owen - after a bittersweet farewell from Bobbi and Hunter - until Fitz was the only one left.

“Let’s go,” Fitz said; he, Jemma, Daisy and Lincoln left the room.

Once they were gone, Ward turned to Deke. 

“You didn’t tell them,” he said quietly. “About their children, about their memory loss -”

“If it doesn’t happen, then they don’t need to know,” Deke said. “She’s worried enough as it is. Do you want to tell her that she could possibly kill Lincoln 10 months from now when she’s already worried about losing her husband in a few hours _and_ she’s possibly already carrying his children? Because I don’t.”

There was silence for a moment as everyone gathered into a worried clump, watching them in the lab.

“Do you think she’s pregnant?” Miles asked. “Because -”

“She could be,” Trip said. “Why else would Kora have made me decorate the arch with lilies? Look at the flowers that Daisy brought in. Kora knew. Kora knows.” 

“That’s three for three,” Sousa said. “Technically four, if you count Bobbi. Raina predicted it, Kora knows the truth, Robin and Bobbi….”

All eyes turned to Bobbi, who shrugged. 

“I’ll try and figure it out,” she said, fiddling with a pencil. “While the rest of you do...something.”

“It’s time to interrogate the Thorn in our side,” Deke said grimly. “It’s time Raina gave us some answers.”


	85. Episode 22: The Thorn in Their Side - Chapter 85

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, I am so sorry for the delay in the update! I was editing a new video which I am so excited to say is finally out!!! I'm SOOOOOO excited to share it with you guys!!! Feel free to like it, comment on it and share it with anyone who you think will enjoy it!!! ❤️❤️❤️
> 
> The video is called "The Future Holds the Answers"! 
> 
> Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh756Nqd7xo
> 
> ALSO, important thing: at the end of the video is the final line-up of who could die. I would LOVE to hear your guys' thoughts on who you think the final person in the Quinjet is going to be!!!! Please comment your guesses!!! I want to know what they are!!! 😍😍😍
> 
> As always, happy reading!!! 😊😊😊

**Episode 22: The Thorn in Their Side**

**Chapter 85**

“May, would you get us out of here?” Deke asked. “We should get back to the States.”

“If you’re interrogating Raina, I’m going to be there,” May said flatly. “Ward can fly.”

May stared stubbornly at Deke and after a momentary stare-down, Deke nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Ward, are you alright to fly?” 

Ward nodded. “Can someone come with me and catch me up on what I missed?” he asked. 

“I don’t think anyone knows everything that’s happened,” Miles muttered darkly. “Everyone’s missed out on something.”

“You want to go with him?” Deke asked.

Miles shook his head. “Tracking Hive,” he said. “Provided Daisy isn’t too upset, I’ll get her to help me.” 

It was a method that they had used before. Seeing as Daisy and Lincoln hated splitting up, the result of the matter was that Daisy and Miles worked as hacktivists together in the same room as Lincoln, Jemma and Fitz worked on something else, be it the antitoxin, Lexi’s blood, or, in this case, Lincoln and Gordon’s DNA. 

Deke nodded at Miles; the latter headed towards the lab after Bobbi and Hunter. 

“I’ll do it,” Trip offered. “Unless you have another task for me.”

“Take an earpiece,” Deke said. “In case Kora decides to contact you again.”

Trip nodded and he and Ward disappeared upstairs; even as they went, Ward was speaking confusedly to Trip, asking what he had missed regarding Kora. Deke did not envy Trip’s task, although admittedly, he had had to catch up Mack before as well. He was well accustomed to the catch-up game. 

“What do you want us to do?” Mack asked. “Do you have a task for Sousa and me?”

Deke glanced at them; they and Lexi were the only three aside from him and May remaining. 

“Mack, speak to Coulson and Price,” Deke said. “Or at least pacify them to make sure that they aren’t going to lose their heads about the most recent fight with Hive. And see if there are any messages from Hand. Check in with her regarding the Pacific Missile Silo.” 

Mack nodded. “Done,” he said, turning. He paused. “What if Price asks about Lincoln? How much should I tell her?”

Deke winced. “Just tell her to talk to him or me,” he said. “If she asks about Daisy...I think their cover is that they’ve been together for six years or something like that...just say something like it’s their business and you don’t want to talk about them unless he wants to tell her about them. Something along those lines. Just make sure she doesn’t find out about the other timeline.”

Mack nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Miles has created an identity for Daisy here, right?”

“Yes,” Deke said. “For both her and Sousa. I don’t know if he’s created any for Kora yet, though.” He sighed. “Guess that’s next on the agenda.” He paused. “If she’s staying. Do either of you know if she’s planning to stay?”

“It’ll depend on what Daisy’s doing,” Sousa replied. “Kora would do anything for Daisy. If Daisy stays, Kora will too.” 

Deke sighed. “Okay. What are your plans?” 

That was something that Sousa was entirely confused about. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to his past life; he didn’t think he could, knowing what he did now about Chronicoms and time-travel and alternate timelines. But he did know that if he stayed in the timeline that he was currently in, he wanted a break from S.H.I.E.L.D.. A break from watching Daisy and Lincoln be in love. Time and space were what he needed to get over Daisy and that was extremely hard because it felt like they had lived through a whole year in less than two weeks. 

“I don’t know,” Sousa said finally and Mack gave him an appraising look.

“We’d be happy to have you on the team, Sousa,” he said. 

Sousa glanced at Mack. It was kind of Mack to say that, especially since he was well aware that Mack was quite close with Lincoln. Trip had mentioned to him that they had met before Lincoln had joined S.H.I.E.L.D., not to mention that Mack was in contact with Amanda, Lincoln’s sister, and, likewise, Lincoln knew Ruben. Sousa knew perfectly well that each and every member on the team was on Lincoln’s side, not that it even mattered anymore. Daisy and Lincoln were married! And Sousa was not about to get in between a married couple. It was unheard of, at least from the time that he came from. 

Deke glanced at Sousa. “Stay here for a moment,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

Once May, Lexi and Mack had gone upstairs, Deke turned to Sousa.

“You need to tell me everything that Raina told you,” he said. “Everything.”

Sousa met Deke’s gaze evenly. “I already did,” he lied.

That was a blatant lie. Sousa had not told Deke everything. How could he, when Raina had explicitly told him that he could not tell S.H.I.E.L.D. about how he was the only one who could save Daisy? It was confusing. How was he going to save her? Or had it been something he’d already done in letting her go? Had his lack of a fuss about her and Lincoln’s engagement and marriage have anything to do with her survival? Or had Raina been lying in order to ensure that Lincoln got his happily-ever-after? Sousa had no idea, but would not put that past the manipulative Inhuman. The one thing he still believed about her was that she genuinely cared about Lincoln, even though Daisy had tried to kill her. 

“Fine,” Deke said. He turned on his heel and headed towards the door to the lab. Sousa caught up with him before he could enter.

“What are you doing?” Sousa asked.

“What do you think?” Deke asked. “Reminding Daisy that she is capable of saving Lincoln. I don’t want her worrying unnecessarily when she can save his life.”

Sousa frowned at him. “I know what you’re doing,” he said.

“What?” Deke asked.

“You think that by having her ask me what Raina told me will get me to ‘spill’,” Sousa said, anger flaring up inside him. “You think I’ll do whatever she asks.”

“I don’t think that,” Deke countered. “I didn’t do everything she asked me to; I’m pretty sure Lincoln doesn’t do everything she asks him to.” 

What Deke was saying was true, but Sousa knew, if anyone could persuade him to spill what Raina had told him, it was Daisy. She was his weakness, even though he knew perfectly well that Lincoln was hers. She would choose Lincoln over anyone and everything; she might deny it, but it was true. It also went the other way though. Lincoln would choose Daisy over anyone and everything. Sousa was glad though. Daisy deserved someone putting her above everyone else. She had been alone for far too long. 

Sousa clenched his jaw. 

“Deke, don’t go to her,” he said. 

“Why not?” Deke asked. “After the events of today, she’ll probably be grateful for a reminder that she can save him.” 

Sousa was well aware that they had put Daisy and Lincoln through the ringer earlier with the practising of defeating the Primitives. The very fact that both of them had attacked Ward was proof that they were terrified of losing each other to Hive. Both of them had faced Hive in both timelines and while Hive had a different face in this one, the majority of their interactions with him had been while he had been wearing Ward’s face. It was a miracle that neither of them had attacked May after they had fought Hive/Kara with May’s face. 

“Because Raina told me that I couldn’t tell anyone,” Sousa said, caving a little. “Especially not anyone in S.H.I.E.L.D..”

Deke looked at him. “You can’t trust what Raina says,” he said.

“Daisy and Lincoln seemed to believe her earlier when she spoke to them,” Sousa countered. “And so did you.”

Deke grimaced. “That’s different,” he said. “Kora showed them their children already and Kora would never hurt either of them. Raina was just confirming something that they already know.”

“Well, Raina didn’t have to tell me Daisy is capable of saving Lincoln,” Sousa said. “But she did. She didn’t need to tell me that in order to convince me that the only reason Daisy ever had any sort of feelings for me was because I reminded her of Lincoln.”

At this point, everyone knew of the parallels between Daisy’s relationship with Lincoln and hers with Sousa. It hadn’t been as obvious to everyone then, but everyone knew about it now. Deke frowned at Sousa.

“So you believe her?” he asked. “After she killed Andrew in cold blood? And has been working with Hive all along? After May proved that she hasn’t been swayed?”

“That’s  _ exactly _ why I believe her,” Sousa said. “Hive never swayed her. And she cares about Lincoln. She would  _ want _ Daisy to be able to save his life! Why would she lie to me about not being able to tell the rest of the team if everything else she told me was true?”

Deke looked at him. “Was everything she told you true? Everything?”

No. She had lied to him about the Primitives. She had said that they would become Inhumans, not the so-called ‘ugly overcooked muffins’ as Miles described them. But everything else….

“See?” Deke said. “You can’t trust what she says.”

“Do you want to take that chance?” Sousa asked. “Take the chance that she was lying and risk losing them both? Lincoln’s as good as your son. As much as Daisy can’t lose him, you don’t want to lose him either. Do you want to take that risk?” 

Deke didn’t say anything for a moment. 

“Dammit,” he said. “God dammit.”

Sousa met his gaze. “I’m sorry, Deke,” he said. “But for all of their sakes, I can’t tell you anything more than I already have.”

Both men turned to look at Daisy and Lincoln in the lab. As they watched, Daisy hopped off the counter from where she was sitting next to Miles, working on a tracking program for Hive. She stepped up behind Lincoln and said something softly in his ear, rising on her tiptoes to reach his height. He laughed at whatever she said, turning around to face her. Their eyes met, so much passing between them without the necessity of words, faces inches apart. Before either could make a move to do or say anything else, Miles cleared his throat loudly, causing all six occupants of the room aside from him to object to his protest. 

“What?” Miles asked, loud enough that Deke and Sousa could hear him, although the seven in the lab weren’t aware that Deke and Sousa were now eavesdropping. “I’m the seventh wheel here, guys! With  _ three  _ married couples!” 

“They’re on their honeymoon, you idiot,” Hunter said, rolling his eyes at him. “Cut them some slack.”

“You guys and your S.H.I.E.L.D. weddings,” Miles said. “Ninja attacks, disappearing forests with futuristic grandsons, holograms from another timeline. Has anyone ever had a normal wedding here?”

Daisy raised an eyebrow at him. “I think the uniqueness of each wedding is what makes them normal,” she said. “Knowing you, Miles, you’d end up getting married on Kitson.” 

That caused Lincoln, Hunter and even Miles to laugh out loud.

“That’s what your husband said,” Miles said. “Are you sure telepathy isn’t one of your Inhuman powers? Because I could swear that you two are psychically linked.” 

Jemma and Fitz traded glances and burst out laughing.

“What?” Miles asked. “Did I say something?”

“If I didn’t know better,” Jemma said. “I would say that you had been eavesdropping on the conversation Daisy, Lincoln, Ward and I had over the coms when they were going to the Retreat.”

Miles raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. “As you well know, I am not above eavesdropping,” he said. “I’m not even above lip-reading to find out how our resident aliens have such a long and jaded history. But I wasn’t listening that time.” 

“Never mind,” Daisy said, laughing, not even bothered by the fact that Miles had eavesdropped on her conversation with Lincoln back when they had been in the containment module. She was still riding a slight high from her and Lincoln’s wedding earlier, not to mention their honeymoon, which had been incredible, short as it had been. “Miles, if you do go to Kitson, just watch out for dolphin sounds and miniature Fitzes in monkey suits. And alien puffs.” 

“Daisy,” Lincoln said, causing her to look at him. “You forget Miles survived Hunter’s second bachelor party. Kitson is  _ cake _ in comparison.”

“And I haven’t finished killing you for what happened that night,” Bobbi warned Lincoln. “You were the designated chaperone!”

“Alien puffs aren’t alcoholic, are they?” Hunter asked, glancing at Daisy and Jemma. “Because if they aren’t, Bob, you have your perfect revenge. Lincoln can’t say he can’t have them because they aren’t alcoholic beverages.”

“I will kill you if you bring him to Kitson and get him high for his bachelor party,” Daisy warned. “Even if it’s more like a post-wedding bachelor party.”

“I had a post-wedding bachelor party,” Fitz reminded her. “On Kitson. Kinda sorta. With Enoch. While you and Jemma had ladies’ night.” 

“Whose side are you on?” Daisy asked, making everyone laugh. 

Miles grinned lavisciously. “Ladies and gentlemen, when this is all over, we are all going to Kitson. The Totally Excellent Adventures of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team on the Planet of Kitson.” He paused. “Lexi can babysit the kids.”

“Which timeline do you think we’ll be in?” Jemma asked. “Because our kids are back in our timeline, not to mention that Lexi is in this one! And a hologram can’t babysit a six-year old and a one-year old very well!” 

“Not to mention that Lexi is eight years old,” Lincoln reminded Miles. “ _ I _ still babysit for Lexi!” 

Miles grinned. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not predicting we do this for another...oh, I don’t know, year or something. I don’t think alien puffs are good when you’re pregnant.”

Time seemed to stop as everyone realized Miles’ slip-up. Daisy blanched, Lincoln dropped a sample of blood on the floor and all the smiles on everyone’s faces dropped. 

“Miles…,” Daisy said slowly. “What do you know?” 

“Oh no,” Deke said and Sousa shook his head. “Dammit, Miles. That dude has no filter.”

Deke and Sousa hurried into the lab, in time for Miles to shake his head, back-pedalling hastily.

“I was speaking metaphorically,” he said. “We all know that you’re going to have baby aliens at some point. I was just assuming.” 

“You weren’t,” Lincoln said, shaking his head. “You spoke like you knew that she’s pregnant. And that’s not possible to know unless Kora or Raina or Robin or Bobbi predicted something with a definitive timeframe.” He glanced at Bobbi, who shook her head.

“My drawings don’t confirm when she gets pregnant, just that she does,” Bobbi said. “Honest, Lincoln. I would tell you if I knew.” She paused. “Besides, you of all people would be able to tell if she’s pregnant. You’re the doctor who knows Inhuman biology. Jemma’s not as experienced as you are with Inhuman biology, Trip’s a medic and I have a biology degree. And this new strange soothsayer ability, but still. You’d know before anyone else.”

“Did Kora tell Trip that I’m pregnant?” Daisy asked, sitting down on a chair. “I mean...she saw the wedding and she practically planned our honeymoon so….”

Lincoln sat down next to her. “Daisy….”

She met his gaze and managed a smile. “I meant what I said earlier,” she said softly, speaking directly to him this time. “It’s okay if I get pregnant within the next few hours. We have Flint back so it’s not like Hive can jump between timelines and get our kids when they’re older, post-Terrigenesis. I don’t regret what we did earlier. I’d do it again if I could.” 

Lincoln’s concerned expression faded and he leaned into her ear so that only she could hear what he said.

“You do realize we  _ can _ do it again, right?” he asked, his eyes teasing and his tone slightly seductive. “Have sex with or without a condom.” He paused. “Although you  _ are _ right; sex without a condom is  _ definitely _ better.”

Daisy pulled back to look at him, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of desire and flirtatiousness. 

“I think I prefer the term ‘making love with my husband’,” she whispered in his ear, lingering there for a moment to let the words sink in, before standing and going over to Jemma, her very posture teasing. Lincoln had to focus very hard on the fact that he was in a room not only with Daisy, but his father figure, Daisy’s sister figure and a whole bunch of his father figure’s grandparents. He didn’t want to make his desire for her  _ too _ obvious. 

“I think your husband is going to jump your bones,” Miles decided, deliberately changing the subject in the hopes of making her forget his slip-up. “Just don’t bring the plane down if you guys decide to have sex in Lincoln’s bunk.” He paused. “Actually, use Lincoln’s old bunk if you want to do the nasty. It’s got the walls made of the same material as the containment module. And is soundproof.”

Daisy walloped him on the head without speaking. Her relaxed posture made Jemma realize that Daisy wasn’t actually concerned if she was pregnant. The last few times they had addressed it, she had been incredibly worried, but now...now she seemed happy. She had been flirting with Lincoln, she was smiling...and Jemma now suspected she knew what had transpired. 

They’d already had sex without a condom. And she knew perfectly well that since coming back onto the plane, Daisy had not taken the morning-after pill. All it took was one time. Unprotected sex didn’t always result in a pregnancy, but in this case, after what Ward had told them...she wouldn’t be surprised if Daisy did end up pregnant. Jemma hesitated, torn on what to do or say, when Sousa spoke up.

“Tell them,” he said, addressing Deke. “About what Ward told us. About what happens in the next 10 months. They need to know. They deserve to know.”

Everyone fell silent as both Daisy and Lincoln turned to look at Sousa.

“What did Ward tell you?” Daisy asked, her smile vanishing faster than Gordon could teleport. “What happens in the next 10 months? Do I….” Her hand went to her stomach automatically.

Jemma glared at Sousa. “You shouldn’t have -” She began.

“They have a right to know,” Sousa said. “They aren’t children, Jemma. All of you want to protect them and I get that, but they are adults. They have a right to know what the future holds.  _ Lexi _ knows more than they do and she’s eight!”

“That was one possibility,” Deke reminded him. “One possibility that’s not even going to happen because we are not bringing the U.S. military into the war against Hive!” 

By now, all the concern was back on Daisy’s face. She crossed the room back to Lincoln’s side and sat down next to him, interlacing her fingers with his. He put his arm around her, kissing the side of her head. 

“What happens?” Lincoln asked. “What do the rest of you know? What did Ward tell you?” 

“The truth will only hurt you,” Deke said. “You don’t need to know because this future isn’t going to happen.”

“But if it saves everyone on the team…,” Daisy began.

“No,” Jemma cut her off. “It’s a terrible future.  _ Terrible _ . And not just for the both of you. For everyone.”

Daisy took a deep breath, squeezing Lincoln’s hand tightly. The concern on his face was palpable, but he rubbed her shoulder with his free hand comfortingly; it was just like him to comfort her when he was equally worried about the future that Ward knew. 

“Okay,” she said. “Tell us the truth. All of it. Everything.”




While the others downstairs were tasked with the horrible job of breaking the news to Daisy and Lincoln about their incredibly dangerous future, May, Lexi and Mack were upstairs. Once upstairs, May turned to Lexi.

“Stay in my bunk,” she said. “Okay?” 

Lexi looked at her mother. “I don’t get a babysitter?” she asked. 

May eyed her. “Do you want one?”

“No,” Lexi admitted. “But then why -” She cut herself off. “You’re giving Lincoln and Daisy as much alone time as you possibly can.”

May smiled faintly at her daughter. “Observant as always, Lex.”

Technically, May could give her any babysitter on the plane. But she knew that all of them were busy and the only one who might be free was Sousa. She didn’t want to make Sousa babysit Lexi when she knew how firmly Lexi was on Team Lincoln. May was definitely on Lincoln’s side too, but she still didn’t want to hurt Sousa and he was going through enough of a rough time as it was. 

Lexi smiled back and then gave her a quick squeeze around the waist. May hugged her back, stroking her dark hair.

“Be careful, Lex,” May warned. “There are rogue Inhumans on board in containment, not just Raina in the holding cell.”

“I know,” Lexi said. “You’re the one who should be careful, Momma. You’re the one interrogating a rogue Inhuman! The one who killed Daddy!” 

May looked at her. “Are you alright?” she asked quietly. “I know I don’t always...open up as much as Daddy does. But you can always talk to me. Or talk to Lincoln or Daisy if it’s about your Inhuman heritage.”

“I know,” Lexi said, squeezing her mother into a hug again. “You’re the best mother I could ever have, Momma. I just want you to be safe. And to come home. I don’t want to lose you too.”

“You aren’t going to lose me, honey,” May said softly, holding her close. “I promise, you aren’t going to lose both your parents.” 

Lexi didn’t say anything for a moment. “You can’t promise me that, can you, Momma,” she said, her voice slightly fearful. 

May hated that Lexi was now old enough to know that not all promises could be kept and that they were broken sometimes for good reasons. 

May knelt down to face her, cupping her daughter’s face in both hands. “Maybe not,” she said softly. “But I don’t want you to worry about it. No matter what happens, I promise, you’ll be okay. You will be looked after. You aren’t going to be alone.”

Lexi didn’t say anything for a long moment and then hugged her mother again. It was a sad reminder that everyone was vulnerable in this war against Hive; it wasn’t just Daisy who was worried about losing Lincoln. Everyone was worried about losing the people they loved. And as mature as Lexi was, she was still an eight-year old girl who was afraid of losing her mother. 

“I love you,” May said, kissing the top of her head. “And that will never change, Lex.”

Lexi hugged her fiercely one more time and then disappeared into May’s bunk. Once she was gone, May turned and headed towards the holding cell/interrogation room that they had stored the unconscious Raina in. Deke might want her to wait for him, but May needed to get answers as soon as possible. Especially when Lexi’s life was in danger. May was not about to lose her daughter. 




May stormed into Raina’s holding cell. The thorn-covered Inhuman was sitting, handcuffed to the table, with the audacity to look bored and unconcerned. 

“Agent May,” Raina said. “How is your daughter? Alexis, correct?”

May glared at her. “Don’t you dare talk about her,” she snapped. “You don’t have a right to even say her name.”

Raina laughed, leaning away from the table. “Of course, Agent May,” she said. “You’re such a hypocrite. You like Lincoln well enough and even have him babysit for your daughter, but the second your husband turns out to be an Inhuman too, one who does not look human, you run away from S.H.I.E.L.D.. Hypocrite!”

May drew back from her, angry at the venom in Raina’s voice. “I did what I had to do to protect my daughter,” she snapped. “And there’s a big difference. Lash killed Inhumans - as did you! Lincoln hasn’t hurt anyone.”

As much as Raina said that May had abandoned Andrew, that hadn’t been entirely true. Raina was twisting the truth the way she always did; May hadn’t left him. She had only left with Lexi when he’d known that it was going to be his last transformation and he had  _ wanted _ her to protect Lexi. He hadn’t wanted his daughter to see him as a monster and know that he had passed the Inhuman gene on to her as well. He had chosen to protect Lexi and that was what May had done. 

“You didn’t know what I had done when you chose Lincoln to babysit for your daughter,” Raina said. “But you still chose him.”

“And you isolated yourself from everyone on the team,” May countered. “Lincoln was the only person you let in and that’s because he’s an Inhuman like you. You secluded  _ yourself _ which was why you felt that we isolated you!” 

Raina laughed, ignoring May’s words. “The joke’s on you, Agent May,” she said. “Because your daughter is like me, like your husband. You hope that she’ll turn out like Lincoln and Daisy, but in reality, she’s more like the rest of us monsters.”

“If you touch one hair on her head, I will kill you,” May said, her voice harsh. “And I mean it.”

Raina smiled. “You won’t,” she said confidently. “Us psychics always know when we’re going to die.” She paused, smiling even as May opened her mouth to speak. “Don’t worry, Agent May. The war against Hive...it isn’t finished yet.”

May glared at her, but Raina leaned forward, her expression enticing and eager.

“I had a vision today and it revealed the truth. Your daughter will go through the Mist,” she said.

A wave of horrifying nausea threatened to overwhelm May. As mature as Lexi was, she was still an eight-year old girl who didn’t want to lose her mother, who enjoyed being a flower girl at Daisy and Lincoln’s wedding, who hated the crusts on her sandwiches and had a sweet tooth. She might be a stronger fighter than almost everyone on the team, but she was still a child. A child who deserved to grow up and fall in love and not have to worry about the end of the world at the age of eight. The very idea that Lexi would undergo Terrigenesis so young was a terrifying thought, especially if she was more like Lash than May had previously realized. 

“She’s just a kid,” May whispered.

“Beautiful...dangerous,” Raina said. “Her true nature will reveal itself. I’ve seen it.”

May took a step backwards at the same time as the door flew open and Deke rushed into the room, his face overwhelmingly concerned. Even though May was a seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, she was still one of Deke’s team and he didn’t want anything bad happening to her. It had been bad enough watching Daisy freak out about possibly ending up killing Lincoln 10 months from now; he didn’t want the future tormenting May either and Lexi, of all people, deserved to be protected. She was merely eight years old, just two years older than Alya; she was an innocent child who had done nothing wrong whatsoever. 

“He deserves to die, not her!” May snapped, her expression livid. 

“Leave her alone!” Deke snapped, referring both to May and Lexi; there were only two people in the world who Raina could threaten that would cause May to react in such a way and one of them was already dead. Raina threatening Lexi was way below the belt.

Raina turned to smile at Deke. “I can’t believe you would sacrifice one of your own agents,” she said. 

Both May and Deke turned to glare at Raina, but before either of them could say anything, Raina tilted her head to the side, eyes widening in an attempt to give herself a more innocent look, but in reality, just raising their suspicions. 

“She’s here…,” Raina said. “Listening.” 

May and Deke looked at each other. Lexi eavesdropped...they all knew that she did that; it was a habit she had, especially since her father had turned out to be an Inhuman. But now...there was nothing worse that she could hear. She already knew that she had similar Inhuman genes to her father and was adamant that she could help in the war against Hive, but now...to hear that her going through the Mist was inevitable…. It could tip the scales in the wrong way. 

May sprinted out the door, but the corridor was empty.

“Alexis Garner!” she shouted, turning right and left, to see where Lexi had gone. But May was greeted with silence; Lexi was nowhere to be seen. 




After Deke, Sousa and Jemma had broken the truth to them, Daisy had freaked out. Lincoln didn’t blame her; to hear that she was at least partly responsible for his demise had been more than she could handle. Deke had left, after Miles realized that May had breached the containment room that Raina was in, but Lincoln focused on Daisy, whose face was pale with shock.

“I want you to know,” Lincoln said softly, squeezing her hand through their interlaced fingers. “No matter what happens, I still love you.”

Daisy met his gaze. “I know,” she said softly. “I love you too. But...I’m responsible for your…. I can’t watch you...I can’t...can’t kill you!”

Tears were starting in her eyes. “I can’t lose you. Our children...this is my fault. This is all my fault. I was the one who -”

“No,” Lincoln said firmly, taking her shoulders and turning her to face him. “I’m just as responsible as you are. It’s not your fault. You getting pregnant is as much on me as it is on you.” 

He didn’t say the exact words, but the meaning was clear and it  _ was _ true. There was no way that Daisy would be pregnant without his active participation. 

“I never anticipated…,” Daisy whispered. “When we had sex earlier, I  _ never _ , never thought that this future might happen because of it -”

“This future isn’t going to happen, Daisy,” Jemma said, interrupting their conversation. “I know you’re scared, but it’s the Framework. It’s programming. It’s an approximation of the future, even less accurate than Kora’s glimpses of the timestream. Kora never showed you any of this, did she? And Kora is rarely wrong.”

“Kora was wrong about the wedding,” Daisy whispered. “She predicted -”

“She predicted a later one, yes,” Sousa interrupted. “But she saw this one too. She prepared your honeymoon, for goodness’ sake. She would never have done that if she thought that the Framework future was going to happen. She would never ever do anything to hurt either of you. Even if you’re pregnant now, Daisy, the Framework future isn’t going to happen because Kora would have seen it. She would have taken steps to prevent it from happening. Your honeymoon; that was a gift that Kora gave you, not a curse. Lincoln is going to be fine. You’re going to be fine. You two will get to raise your children and have your happily-ever-after.”

Daisy was too overwhelmed to register that Sousa, of all people, was trying to reassure them that Lincoln was going to be fine. She rested her head against Lincoln’s shoulder, desperate to be close to him, wanting to feel above everything, his touch as a reminder that he was still alive and that they were together and safe. 

“Besides,” Miles said, looking up from his computer. “Ward saw that Lincoln was going to gain teleportation like 10 months from now. Jemma and Fitz are working on it now. I have a pretty good feeling that if they figure it out in the next hour or so like they said they would, we’re going to be changing that future.”

That was both reassuring and not reassuring at the same time. Bobbi, who had been drawing on a piece of paper for the last few minutes, also looked up. 

“I haven’t drawn anything from the Framework future,” she said. “Only that you get pregnant, Daisy. I haven’t drawn Lincoln’s death, Inhumans being hunted, none of it. You two will be fine.”

Daisy didn’t say anything for a moment and then stood up, taking Lincoln’s hand and pulling him from the room. He followed without question; she drew him into the lab next door, wanting some time alone with him to talk. The others watched them go. 

“Are they going to be okay?” Hunter asked. “Cuz I mean, I thought finding out that my son is like a year-old now was something, but them...they’re dealing with the complete opposite end of the baby spectrum.”

Jemma grimaced. “I’ll give them a minute or two to talk and then I’ll go to them,” she said. 

“How’s the teleportation stuff going?” Sousa asked. 

Fitz glanced over. “It’s...going,” he said. “We’re making progress, but we need to build the machine. It’ll take a few hours at least. But I think we might even be able to do it here on the Zephyr. Before we get back to the States.”

“That’s...fast,” Sousa said.

Fitz didn’t say anything for a moment. “In the Framework, the original Framework, I experimented a lot on Inhumans,” he said quietly. “I know how Lincoln’s powers work and how to combine them with Gordon’s because I’ve done it before. Admittedly, that was with a different host, but I know what to do to keep him alive. He’ll be fine.”

Fitz was sounding more confident than he really was feeling. While he was pretty sure that he would not harm Lincoln, he also knew that no experiment was ever foolproof or 100% safe. There were variables and there were always risks. Simulations on a computer could only tell him so much.




Daisy pulled Lincoln into the secondary lab next door that all of Deke’s Zephyrs had. There was no one in the room, just the two of them; Lincoln squeezed her hands softly.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “The others are right. Kora would never have let us have our honeymoon if she thought that there was a possibility that the Framework future might happen. There’s no way she would run the risk of us becoming pregnant if she thought that that future might come to pass.”

“Why does this always happen to us?” Daisy whispered, her voice breaking. “Why does something always have to come between us? Why can’t we just get our happy ending?”

Lincoln folded her into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his waist, relishing the feeling of him just being there.

“I love you,” he said softly. “And I promise, one way or another, we’ll get our happy ending.” 

Daisy pulled back to look at him. She smiled faintly at him and then, putting on a brave face, said softly, “You’re right. Kora wouldn’t let anything happen to us. As weird as it is to say that my sister has seen us having sex, she had to have seen what we were going to do before we did it. There’s no way she’d let us get pregnant with that possibility of that future hanging over us.”

Lincoln smiled, even though he could still see the tension on her face. Before he could speak, however, something caught his attention in the corridor. Seeing his distraction, Daisy turned to look at what he was seeing. Lexi was walking past, a peculiar expression on her face. Even as they turned, she kept going, not paying either of them any attention. 

Daisy exhaled slowly, turning back to look at Lincoln. There was a line of concern on her forehead again and Lincoln wanted to spare her her concern. Wanting her to think of something better, for her to feel confident that he believed they would both survive the war with Hive, he stepped back into her personal space, eyes meeting hers. 

“The next time I kiss you, it won’t be because the world is ending,” he said softly. 

Daisy smiled, grateful for his confidence in them, in their future together, that they and their children would be safe. 

“You promise?” she asked, her smile growing wider as he stepped into her personal space.

“Trust me,” Lincoln said. “I promise.”

He leaned in to kiss her, but Daisy was still speaking.

“I was hoping you would say that,” she whispered and then she kissed him, soft and lingering, wrapping her arms around his neck. While she was kissing him, all her worries melted away and it was just them in their little bubble. When they stopped kissing, she would have to worry about their future and their children and if she was pregnant, but for now, she could just enjoy him and relish in their tiny stolen moment. 




Lexi moved down the hallway, struggling to control her emotions. She had left the second Raina had detected her presence, but she knew what she had to do. Raina’s visions always came true; they knew that. If Lexi was going to go through Terrigenesis at some point, she might as well go through it now. She had to protect her mother; May was her responsibility now that her father was gone. Family always looked out for one another and her mother was all she had left. When Raina had mentioned that someone on the S.H.I.E.L.D. team was going to die if they continued down the future that they were going down, she had to do something to change it. She couldn’t lose her mother. 

Even if it meant unleashing the beast within.

The only people who would be able to stop her were Lincoln or Daisy; they were the only ones who could touch the diviner-laced Terrigen crystals. But when she had passed them in the corridor, she had noticed how concerned and preoccupied they were; she suspected that someone had spilled to them about the Framework future. They did not have time to worry about her and what she was about to do. By the time they figured it out, it would be too late. 

Carefully, Lexi opened the case that stored the Terrigen crystals. She picked out one carefully, wrapping it in a handkerchief. Closing the case, she shoved it back into place and then left the room, heading for one of the bunk rooms. While Flint and Yo-Yo were in the module at the moment and Raina was in the holding cell, she knew of one other place where she could safely undergo Terrigenesis without endangering any of the humans on board, especially if she turned into a monster. Lincoln had shown it to her before; it was the bunk room that he had stayed in before he’d fully been able to control his powers. Since gaining control, he had moved out, but the walls were still lined with the same materials that made up the containment modules and the holding cell. It was the safest place on the plane where she could undergo Terrigenesis.

Once inside the room, Lexi unwrapped the crystal. She was well aware that she only had so long to safely undergo Terrigenesis; her mother would be after her soon, especially since Raina knew she had been listening. She closed her eyes, taking one more deep breath and fearful breath. She had to do what she had to do.

Taking another deep breath, she clenched her hand over the Terrigen crystal and shattered it on the floor. 


	86. Chapter 86

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys, so I realized I might have confused you guys in the previous chapter notes when I said that in the video, the final line-up of people in the plane were going to be the final line-up. The final line-up includes everyone from after Deke asks, "So what's the plan now?" AND Kora. So...please guess! I would LOVE to know what your guys' thoughts are of who my victim in the Quinjet is going to be!!! 
> 
> And as always, happy reading!!! 😍😍😍

**Chapter 86**

While chaos was reigning in the Zephyr, the Quinjet was also extremely chaotic and crowded. Giyera was flying the plane and James sat with him in the cockpit. Doctor Johnson had Robin in his lap in the corner of the aircraft; Alisha sat opposite them, staring at them with piercing eyes. Hive was gripping his head in his hands, staring at the console in an attempt to clarify his thoughts. Thanks to his recent brain scrambling, Kora was sitting perfectly still, her eyes closed. While she appeared to be asleep, in reality, she really wasn’t; she was searching the future for possibilities.

And the future was terrifying. She had seen what was going on with Lexi and it terrified her. In a good way and a bad way. She was more scared _for_ Lexi than of her. While Lexi was an extremely mature eight-year old, she was still a little girl and Kora knew better than almost anyone how dangerous going through the Mist could be. 

“Wake up,” James snapped at her; Kora opened her eyes to stare at the explosive Inhuman. “Fix the boss.”

“I can’t do anything,” Kora said coldly, pushing thoughts of Lexi out of her head. “It’s his head, not mine.” 

“Can’t do anything, my ass,” James said. “You healed that human; you can fix the boss.”

“I can restore life energy,” Kora corrected. “I can’t do anything about actual physical injuries. The doctors stitched Hunter up after I healed him; I didn’t heal or fix the bullet hole in his lung.” 

“You can unscramble his brain, at the very least!” James snapped.

“No, I can’t,” Kora said flatly. “Lincoln could, but I’m not him. He can direct neurons to the brain with his powers, but I’m not him. So, sorry, but I can’t do anything to fix Hive.”

Kora was not lying. There were a lot of things that she couldn’t fix and unscrambling brains was one of them. She had been able to save Daisy because it had been minutes max since her death in space, but she had been unable to save her mother hours after her death. It was partly because Nathaniel had snapped Jiaying’s neck, but also because of the time. Maybe if someone had set her spine or preserved her, Kora might have been able to save her, but her powers alone were not capable of healing someone. There was only so much she could do. 

James glared at Kora, looking like he was itching to hit her. Kora stared back stubbornly, her jaw clenched. Then he slapped her hard; Kora spat blood out of her mouth and glared back at him.

“Hit an unarmed girl, go ahead, James,” she said. “You were a coward then and you’re a coward now.”

Kora was referring to when he had first captured her along with Sousa back in the Badlands. Back then, Katya had been alive, but now she was gone and with Hive’s brain scrambled, Kora had more liberty than she had previously had. Despite that, thanks to the small Quinjet that allowed zero privacy, she could not speak to Trip or Daisy or Lincoln the way she wanted to and it was gnawing at her on the inside.

“Ask the boss if you want to kill her,” Giyera said dismissively from the cockpit. “You’d better not do it without his permission. We already lost Flint and Yo-Yo today, not to mention the boss blew up Joey today.” 

James raised an eyebrow at Kora.

“Does that scare you?” he asked her.

“Of course not,” Kora said dismissively. “Death does not scare me.”

James laughed. “Death scares everyone.”

Kora raised a sceptical eyebrow at him in response. “Not when you’ve already died more than once.”

James looked at her. 

“I’ve seen the timestream,” Kora said, tapping the side of her head. “I’ve died. So many times. In here. So don’t for one second think that the threat of real death scares me.”

Kora was telling the truth, but she was simultaneously lying. Yes, she had seen death many times in her head. But once someone died, be it Lincoln or Coulson or Fitz or even Trip, their memories and lives went dark in her head. She didn’t know what went beyond the emptiness. And it did scare her. It would scare anyone. 

“But you’ve never experienced death for real,” James said scoffingly, correctly interpreting the extent of Kora’s knowledge. “So how do you know what awaits you?”

Kora shrugged. “Why don’t you tell me?”

She punched him in the face with a glowing fist and he staggered back from her, his face burned from the exposure to her powers. 

“Stop!” Giyera leapt to his feet, but the glow had already faded from Kora’s hand.

“He attacked me first,” she said simply.

“And you used powers first!” Giyera snapped at her. 

“And I’m trying to prove a point,” Kora replied. She extended her hand towards James and she touched his face before he could stop her. He howled in pain when she came in contact with his charred flesh, but nothing happened beyond his yells. Her palm was glowing, but it had no effect on his burns; they didn’t get better or worse. 

“See?” she said. “I can’t heal him. I can only restore life energy within a short period of time of someone dying. So there’s nothing I can do about these burns.”

James glared at her, wincing as he felt the burns on his face.

“You bitch,” he spat.

Kora shrugged. “I hate you too,” she said. 

Alisha stepped in between before either of them could cause the Quinjet to explode with their powers; of all Inhumans in the Quinjet, they were clearly the most volatile at the moment, including Hive.

“That’s enough,” she said flatly. “We have bigger things to worry about.”

Kora, James and Giyera looked at her. She frowned at them.

“We have another warhead to steal.” 




May practically flew back downstairs in pursuit of Lexi. She hurtled down the corridor and almost slammed into Jemma, who was leaving the main lab for the secondary one. 

“May!” 

Jemma almost went flying; May caught her before she could bounce off and smash into the wall.

“Jemma!” May’s face was so panicked, Jemma thought something terrible must have happened.

“Are you alright?” Jemma asked. “What’s wrong?”

“Have you seen Lexi?” May asked. “Where is she?” 

Jemma shook her head. “I haven’t seen her; I thought she went upstairs -”

“Find her,” May said. “Now! She’s in danger.”

“What?” Jemma asked, but even as May was speaking, Bobbi, Hunter and Miles came rushing out of the lab, 

“Did you say Lexi’s in danger?” Bobbi asked.

“Do you need our help?” Hunter asked. “We can look for her.”

“Yes,” May said, the anxiety and desperation obvious on her face. “I don’t know where she’s gone, but Raina was talking about the Mist and Terrigenesis and she was eavesdropping….”

“Say no more,” Bobbi said. There were so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the plane who were parents; they knew what it was like to be afraid for the safety of their children. “We’ll check this floor.”

“I’ll go upstairs,” Jemma said. 

“She might have gone to Lincoln and Daisy,” May said. “They of all people understand Terrigenesis….”

“They’re in the lab next door,” Miles said, his face tense. “I’ll get them. You guys start looking.”

“Go!” May said urgently, sprinting down the corridor; Bobbi and Hunter took off up the corridor in the opposite direction from May, Jemma tore upstairs and Miles hurried off to the secondary lab in pursuit of Daisy and Lincoln.




Miles ducked into the lab next door and was greeted with the sight of Daisy and Lincoln making out in the middle of the lab. That was not what he had been expecting to see or wanting to see, for that matter, but he was too concerned about Lexi to make any jokes.

“Have either of you seen Lexi?” Miles asked. “She’s missing.”

The two Inhumans pulled apart when they realized that Miles was there.

“Wait, Lexi?” Daisy asked. “We saw her pass by here a few minutes ago; what happened?”

“I don’t know,” Miles said. “May just came tearing out of Raina’s interrogation cell and she was freaking out about Lexi. You said you saw her?”

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “She walked past and was looking pretty shaken, but we were dealing with stuff….”

If Miles hadn’t been so concerned about Lexi, he would definitely have made some jokes. But as it was, he also knew that Lincoln and Daisy were struggling with their new knowledge of the future and as much as he made jokes about them, he did have sympathy with them for their plight. It was difficult enough with the current burden of the future that someone on the team was going to die, without the worries of the even further future, that being their children. 

“We’ll help find her,” Daisy said immediately, glancing quickly at Lincoln. “Where is everyone looking?”

“Everywhere!” Miles said, the urgency evident in his voice. “Just find her! Quickly!”

Miles hurried out of the lab; Daisy and Lincoln traded a quick glance and then followed.




Daisy moved to go down the corridor, but Lincoln grabbed her elbow before she had gone too far.

“What is it?” she asked.

Lincoln’s brows were creased with concern. 

“Lexi went past us,” he said. “The only thing in that direction past the lab is the storage room.” 

Daisy followed Lincoln as he hurried down the corridor towards the storage room.

“What’s kept in the storage room?” Daisy asked even as Lincoln pulled open one of the drawers and withdrew a heavy case. “What are you doing?” 

“Just checking it out,” Lincoln said. “I have a hunch.”

“Something went wrong?” Daisy asked, even as Lincoln opened the lid. 

Lincoln shook his head in disbelief. “I didn’t want to be right,” he muttered. “I guessed but….”

Daisy looked down at the chest and closed her eyes.

“The Terrigen,” she said. “Lexi. You don’t think…. Oh God.”

Lincoln slammed the lid of the chest closed. “We have to find her.”

“I know,” Daisy said. “If she undergoes Terrigenesis and the Mist hasn’t settled when any of the others enter where she is, it could kill them.”

Even as Daisy finished her sentence, they were already tearing out of the storage room and up the stairs. They raced past Price and Coulson who were coming out of one of the bunk rooms that Jemma was using as resting places for her patients, and into the communications centre; Lincoln snatched up one of the microphones that would project his voice all over the plane.

“Everyone, do not open any door on the plane,” he ordered. “A diviner-laced Terrigen crystal has gone missing. No one goes into any room without Daisy and me clearing it first. If you want to help us clear rooms, go downstairs and get hazmat suits and oxygen tanks. Do not, on pain of death, open any door without our say-so. Until Daisy or I give the all clear, no one gets to go anywhere. Unless you want to die because the diviner metals in the Terrigen crystal _will_ kill you.”

Lincoln dropped the microphone. “Let’s go,” he said to Daisy, who nodded; they rushed out of the room, past Ward and Trip, both of whom had come out of the cockpit to stare at them, and Mack, who had come up with Price and Coulson.




Both Deke and Raina had overheard Lincoln’s announcement and when he finished speaking, Raina smiled at Deke.

“I was only trying to help,” she said.

Deke glared at her, itching to punch her in the face. 

“You must believe me,” Raina said. “Or else Agent Simmons dies.”

“Leave her alone!” Deke shouted, fear rising inside him. “If you lay one finger on her -”

“You’ll what?” Raina asked, laughing. “Threaten to kill me? I’m too valuable to you, _Director_.” 

“You’re not valuable,” Deke snapped. “You’re a manipulative psychopath who deserves to be dead. I can’t believe I didn’t let Daisy kill you when she had the chance.” 

Raina tilted her head at Deke quizzically, but a smile curved her thin lips.

“You would never let her do that,” she said. “You don’t want her for a second to feel guilty about killing an Inhuman in cold blood. Especially when her mother killed me in the original timeline and she had no idea that I was telling her the truth when I last spoke to her.”

Deke looked at her and then punched her in the face. Raina welcomed the blow, but thanks to the thorns covering her face, Deke could only hope that he had hurt Raina as much as his hand was hurting after the thorns pricked him.

Raina stared at him coldly.

“Is that out of your system yet?” she asked. “Do you want your answers now?”

Deke glared at her, pulling up a chair to sit opposite her. She didn’t appear to be hurt at all from his punch and it made him hate her all the more for it. 

“Okay, Raina,” he said, glaring at her. “Talk to me. What lies are you going to spew this time?” 

Raina turned to look at him. “You don’t believe me,” she said sceptically. “About your precious Nana. But trust me, if Alexis Garner does not undergo Terrigenesis, Agent Simmons will die.”

Deke shook his head. “You don’t see possibilities, you psychopathic psychic!” he retorted. “You only see what’s _going_ to happen, not what _might_ happen.”

Raina shrugged. “You can’t stop the future,” she said. “Events have already been set in motion. The things I’ve seen...you’d never believe half of what I’ve seen.” She turned aside, toying with the handcuffs that were holding her to the table.

“Well, try me,” Deke said, interlacing his fingers and crossing his legs. “Tell me what you’ve seen.”

Raina eyed him. “And why would I be even the slightest bit inclined to help you?” she asked.

“Because of Lincoln,” Deke said. “He’s the only person on this planet, in the world who you care even the slightest for. And he’s hurting right now, because he and Daisy don’t know if they’re going to live for the next 24 hours, much less long enough to have the family that they’ve wanted for years. Tell me for him, if not for anyone else.”

Raina rolled her eyes. “Do you honestly think that I would hurt Lincoln?”

Deke looked at her. “Does this mean he lives?” he asked. “What about Daisy?”

Raina examined the thorns on her hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

Deke gritted his teeth. “You know nothing about love,” he said. “Or even kindness or affection. If you cared about him, you would tell me.”

Raina looked at him properly. “Deke Shaw, what I’m doing is for all Inhumans, not just Lincoln and Daisy.”

Deke glared at her. “You brought Hive back for the rest of Inhumanity?” he demanded. “You only made Lincoln immune, you psychopathic bitch! You want the rest of the world to be turned into Primitives, is that what you want? And Inhumans to rule the world? You killed Lash, for God’s sake!”

Raina turned to him. “Lash killed Inhumans,” she said. “He was judge, jury and executioner. Killing him just balanced the scales.”

“You’re crazy,” Deke decided.

“Did I kill Alexis?” Raina asked. “No.”

Deke stared at her. “What do you know about her?” he asked. “You saw her go through the Mist; what do you know about her powers?” 

Raina’s gaze shifted from Deke to her black fingernails as if she was bored. 

“Raina!” Deke slammed a fist on the table. “Answer me!”

Raina looked up at him as if completely untroubled by his flare of temper. “Do you have any nail clippers?” she asked. “I could do with a manicure.”

Deke growled under his breath. “Raina, I swear if you don’t answer me right now, I’m going to get the memory machine out of storage in the Lighthouse and put you through it faster than you can say ‘help’.”

Raina smirked. “We aren’t going to the Lighthouse,” she said. 

“Raina!” Deke snapped. He was trying not to let her get under his skin, but she had a way of clawing her way in there.

Raina snorted in amusement. “The future,” she said. “It’s like a stream, you know? It flows in one direction and nothing you can do will change the flow of the water.”

Deke glared at her. “Stop talking to me about time,” he growled. “You have no idea what we’ve all done regarding time.”

“Time-travelling from the future?” Raina asked. “Twice? Trust me, Deke, I know more than you know.” She paused. “Although….” She stopped talking and her eyes widened as a vision hit her. “Oh God.”

Deke stood up, recognizing the symptoms of Raina’s visions.

“Raina?” he asked. “What do you see? What’s going on?”

Raina didn’t say anything, her eyes widening in shock. “Death...destruction...she’s going to die.”

“Raina!” Deke grabbed her by the shoulders. “Talk to me! Who’s going to end up in the Quinjet?”

Raina wrenched both hands free from the handcuffs and attacked Deke. She cut three scratches on Deke’s face before the latter could react; he grabbed his chair off the floor and swung it straight at Raina, knocking her to the floor. She whipped back around with a fist, but Deke slammed the chair into her back, causing her to slump onto the floor. Then he was out the door, slamming and locking the door behind him.




“Deke! Are you okay?” It was Mack, his face full of tension and stress. “What happened?”

“The thorn-covered Vrellnexian bitch!” Deke gasped, swiping at the cuts on his face. “She attacked me; I have no idea what vision she saw but she said ‘she is going to die’, I don’t know if it was someone in the Quinjet, or some other death or anything, but -”

Mack’s face was a mess of consternation. 

“‘She’?” he asked. “There are too many ‘shes’. May, Daisy, Jemma, Bobbi, even Kora, Lexi and Robin -”

“I know,” Deke said. “Have Lincoln and Daisy cleared the rooms yet? Has May found Lexi yet? What’s going on?”

“I think Lexi stole the Terrigen crystal,” Mack said. “It’s too much of a coincidence if it wasn’t, especially since it was a diviner-laced crystal; Raina has been in the holding cell, Flint and Yo-Yo have been in the containment module, and Lincoln and Daisy wouldn’t be so worried about the missing Terrigen crystal if they had taken it.”

“ _What_?” Deke demanded. “Has she lost her mind -”

Mack shook his head. “I don’t know. But the plane isn’t _that_ big. They’ll find her soon….”

Deke moved, but Mack grabbed his shoulders. 

“You can’t!” he said. “They told us to stay put; your life is going to be in danger if we encounter the diviner-laced Mist -”

“This is Lexi we’re talking about!” Deke interrupted. “Lexi! She means everything to May! If May loses Lexi -”

“You think I don’t know that?” Mack asked. “May, Andrew and Lexi were the ones who showed Nicole and me that I could still be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and have a daughter. For God’s sake, May is Hope’s godmother! But we can’t lose our heads! Emotions cloud judgement! Lincoln and Daisy will clear the plane soon.” 

All the fight rushed out of Deke and he sagged against the wall. 

“Oh God,” he muttered. “May is probably freaking out right now.”




“Where are we going?” Daisy asked as Lincoln grabbed her hand and pulled her along the corridor.

“Lexi is not stupid,” Lincoln said. “She might have been reckless, but she is not stupid. She is the smartest eight-year old I know. She knows that our tests have shown she will have some sort of powers similar to her father’s. Whether or not that will result in her physical transformation, we don’t know, but either way she’s not an idiot. Containment is full and Raina is in holding. There is one place on the plane where she could undergo Terrigenesis and minimize the risk of harming all the humans on board.”

The pieces fit together in Daisy’s head instantly. Miles had mentioned it as the one place on the plane that they could have sex, lose control of their powers and not bring the plane crashing down in the process. 

“Your old bunk,” she realized.

Lincoln nodded. “I showed it to her before. It’s at the far end of the plane.” 

They took off down the corridor and Lincoln yanked open the door at the end of the hall. Upon entering the room, both of them froze. Jemma was already in there, her face pale as she stared at Lexi. 

“Jemma,” Daisy said, fear in her voice. “What are you doing here?”

Jemma shook her head. “She’d already undergone Terrigenesis when I got here,” she said. “I was about to call you, but then the announcement came and I didn’t want to leave her while she broke out of her cocoon.”

“Jemma, that was risky!” Daisy protested.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jemma said. “I helped Vijay Nadeer get out of his husk; once the Mist has settled, it doesn’t hurt us.”

As Jemma spoke, on the bed, the last of the husk fell off Lexi’s body. She turned to look at them, her dark eyes boring into each of them.

“How are you feeling?” Lincoln asked, his face tense and pale; he stood slightly in front of Daisy and Jemma, bracing himself to defend them, even though all three of them knew that they would not hurt Lexi if they could help it.

“I’m ready to fight,” she said, causing Lincoln to turn in shock to first Jemma and then to Daisy.

While the theory was that the powers that Inhumans received were based on the equilibrium of the species, they were getting more and more proof that at least to some degree, some powers were genetically linked. Charles and Robin Hinton both had the gift of foresight, to a certain degree; Jiaying and Kora’s powers overlapped in the healing spectrum, while Daisy and Kora’s had similar destructive forces with the blasts that they created. It was possible that, like all other species, Inhumans were evolving and it made sense that Lexi would have inherited something similar to Andrew’s powers, although not necessarily the same thing.

“Jemma, go,” Daisy said. “Tell the others that we’ve found her, but make sure they don’t come in here. Quarantine off this side of the plane.” 

“I’m fine,” Lexi insisted. “Daisy, I’m fine.”

“We don’t know that, Lex,” Lincoln said, his voice soothing. “We know you aren’t going to hurt us; we trust you. But you know how unstable I was when I first got my powers. We just need to make sure that you’re okay.”

“Okay,” Lexi said, her eyes a little fearful now; she slid off the bed to stand.

Daisy approached her, holding one hand out. 

“Lex, take my hand,” she said softly. “It’s going to be okay. Just take my hand. I’m not afraid of you; Lincoln’s not afraid of you. We’re here.” Turning her head slightly to Jemma, still approaching Lexi, she said, “Jemma, go.”

Jemma backed away slowly as Lexi reached out towards Daisy. She put her small hand in Daisy’s and Daisy drew her into a hug.

“We’ve got you,” she said softly, holding her close. “We’re going to be here for you every step of the way. I promise. You’re not going to go through this alone.”

As Jemma backed towards the door, Lincoln grabbed her arm.

“Get me a syringe and a needle,” he said. “We need to run some blood tests. Knock before you open the door, do you understand?” 

Jemma nodded. “What about May?” she asked. “There’s no way that she would want to stay outside.”

Lincoln shook his head. “Let us assess the situation first,” he said. “If she’s freaking out, you need to let me know. She has to stay calm.”

Jemma nodded. “Okay. Will you two be okay?’

Lincoln nodded. “We’ve got this under control. Go.”

Jemma backed out of the door, her face tense and overwhelmingly concerned.




“I’m going in!” May insisted. “I don’t care what you say, that’s my _daughter_ you’re talking about!”

Jemma had just broken the news to the others that Daisy and Lincoln had found Lexi. All of them were gathered in the communications centre, but Mack and Ward were blocking the door to keep May from leaving. Even Coulson, Price and Holden Radcliffe were there; when Lincoln had made his announcement over the coms, they had overheard him.

“That child is dangerous,” Coulson said. “She won’t be able to control her powers -”

“Lincoln and Daisy can handle it,” Deke insisted. “They are good at what they do. Let them assess and see what powers she has. Right now, she’s probably more scared than anything.”

“She’s going to be fine,” Jemma insisted. “For the most part, people are terrified when they undergo Terrigenesis because they don’t know what to expect. Lexi has known for a while now that she’s Inhuman. She has lived among them; her father was one, she’s friends with Lincoln, who is one. She’s more prepared to undergo Terrigenesis than most adults. She might physically be a child, but compared to Inhumans like Joey and Yo-Yo who had no idea what Terrigenesis even was, she knew what she was getting into. She voluntarily took that crystal. She even had some inkling of what her powers might be. She’s more prepared than most.”

“She’s still just a child,” May said, her eyes wide and concerned. “When Inhumans undergo Terrigenesis that young -”

“Try not to worry,” Jemma said. “She’s very mature; much more mature than most children her age. And Lincoln and Daisy are very good at helping people through Terrigenesis. Jiaying hand-selected Lincoln out of all Inhuman transitioners in the world to help Daisy; she even chose him over Gordon, whom Daisy already knew. She wanted Daisy to have the best transitioner; Lincoln _is_ the best. Daisy helped transition Joey and even Yo-Yo to some degree. Lexi has the two best transitioners she could possibly have with her right now. They know what they’re doing. And Lexi already trusts them.”

May shook her head. “I have to be with her -”

“May, Lincoln told me only if you’re calm will he let you in,” Jemma said. “If you freak out, it’ll just scare Lexi too and that is the last thing any of us wants. They can handle this.”

May grimaced, shaking her head. “Can we set up video feed to that room?” she asked, glancing at Miles.

“Already on it,” Miles said, pulling out a tablet. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Bobbi, what was it like when you suddenly got powers?” Hunter asked. “I mean….”

“I know what you mean,” Bobbi said, her face tense. “It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world and I still can’t control it. The impulse to draw comes and I draw. But mine is unnatural. It might come more naturally to Lexi.”

May shook her head again, her face pale. “She’s just a child. A little girl….”

“May, it’s going to be okay,” Mack said. “Yes, she’s just a child. But we can help her. Worst come to worst, there’s the ATCU suspension gel. We can temporarily suspend her a medically induced coma until she’s old enough to deal with the enormity of having powers -”

May pressed her hands to her face and then made for the door. It wasn’t the door that led to the bunks, but the one that led to the holding cells. She stormed into Raina’s cell and immediately punched her in the face as hard as she could. She kept beating her until Deke, Mack and Sousa scrambled into the room after her, Deke and Mack pulling May back. 

“May, calm down!” 

Mack managed to get his muscular arms around May, pulling her backwards to the door, even as she struggled to free herself from his grasp. 

“Let me go!” May spat. “Mack, if this was Hope -”

“Calm down, May!” Deke helped Mack wrestle May out the door, even as she tried to wrench herself free. 

“I’m going to kill you,” May hissed at Raina. “Do you hear me? I am going to _kill_ you!”

Mack and Deke managed to get May back out into the corridor; Sousa slammed the door in between them, locking Raina back in the room. Once May, Deke and Mack were far enough away from the holding cell that Raina couldn’t hear them, May broke down. Mack held her and Deke patted her on the back. Even when May had discovered that Andrew was Lash, she hadn’t fallen apart this much; she had held herself together for Lexi’s benefit. But now...now when there was a serious chance of her losing her daughter...she was finally falling apart from the enormity of the entire situation. 

“Lexi is going to be okay, May,” Deke said. “We will do everything, everything we can to make sure that she’ll be okay. I promise.”

They couldn’t reassure May that Lexi was going to come out unharmed. But it was the best that they could do. Knowing that May would not want the rest of the team to see her fall apart, they guided her downstairs to the lab, sitting with her while they waited to hear news from Daisy and Lincoln.




“Lex, you want to tell me how Terrigenesis felt like for you?” Lincoln asked, once Jemma was gone. Daisy was holding Lexi in her lap, knowing that Lexi would want someone to embrace her after Terrigenesis. She knew from Gordon’s story that Jiaying embracing him had done wonders for him; Fitz hugging her in containment had been what she’d needed after discovering that she had caused the temple to come crashing down. Fitz saying that it was okay that she was just different and that being different wasn’t a bad thing had been all that she’d wanted to hear; the way Lexi was holding her was telling her that hugging her was the right thing to do.

“Lincoln,” Lexi said matter-of-factly. “I’m okay. I’m not going to go crazy. I knew what I was doing.”

As brave as Lexi was sounding, both Daisy and Lincoln heard the faint tremble in her voice. Lincoln sat down on the bed next to Daisy and Lexi and took Lexi’s hand in his own.

“Okay,” he said. “You’re smart. You know that your dad did this with me. We talked at length about how I felt, what it was like going through Terrigenesis, how I felt I had changed. And I’m not your father, Lex, I know that. But Daisy and I are here for you. Please talk to us. You don’t need to go through this on your own.”

Daisy and Lincoln’s eyes met. Andrew had helped both of them post-Terrigenesis, even though they had had other transitioners after his initial analysis. He had been a therapist! And now it was up to them to help Lexi.

Lexi sagged back against Daisy, who stroked her hair gently, knowing how soothing it could feel. Lincoln did that to her whenever she was in pain; it felt good. Physical contact just felt good and reassuring and it was a comfort, knowing that there was someone there. 

“Okay,” Lexi said, caving. “It felt...it felt strange. Like...something was crawling over my skin. And then...I don’t know. I just felt calm. Like...peaceful. What does that mean?”

Daisy and Lincoln traded another glance.

“I don’t know, Lex,” Lincoln admitted. “When I went through Terrigenesis, it felt like I was burning from the inside out because of my powers. For Daisy, it was like a ‘hangover made of bees’. It depends on what your powers are. But that’s a good thing; maybe peace and serenity means that your powers will be related to said calmness. I’m not sure. But it’s definitely a good thing.”

Lexi nodded. “Okay,” she said.

They sat there for a moment and then Lexi spoke.

“Am I going to get acupuncture now?” she asked. “And if so, Lincoln, you are going far away, until I’m changed and Daisy gets to help me with the sheets. Then you guys can stick me with needles.”

That made all three of them laugh; it was a definite relief to hear Lexi making jokes. Maybe she was going to be okay. She certainly hadn’t lost her sense of humour after Terrigenesis. 

“Do you _want_ acupuncture?” Lincoln asked. “If so, I will go and find needles - or maybe I’ll get Jemma to - and Daisy can prep you for it. It could help with calming you down, although I must admit, you’re pretty calm as it is. Much calmer than this one here.”

He nudged Daisy with his shoulder, making her laugh.

“The first time we met, she asked me who I was and, like the idiot I was, I assumed she already knew me,” Lincoln said, making Daisy smile at the memory.

Lexi smiled too. “That’s a nice meet-cute,” she decided. “Boy helps girl post-Terrigenesis with healing. From the moment they meet, he knows she’s the one.”

Daisy and Lincoln glanced at each other, but both of them were smiling.

“A fairytale story, Lex?” Daisy asked.

Lexi shrugged. “Your vows were _very_ romantic,” she said. “Lincoln said as much that his Inhuman void was filled the moment he saw you.” 

Daisy smiled at that, reaching for Lincoln’s hand. He squeezed her hand with his free one, his other hand still holding Lexi’s. 

“So, do you want acupuncture, Lex?” Lincoln asked, changing the subject. “I can’t promise we’ll find your soulmate, but Daisy and I will be here.”

Lexi laughed at that. “Oh, I’m glad I haven’t met my eternally destined partner in life yet,” she said. “Imagine meeting your future husband and possibly knowing that he’ll be your future husband at the age of five! Too much knowledge of the future is _rough_.”

Boy, was Lexi right about that one. Daisy wondered when Jemma and Fitz and Bobbi and Hunter were going to tell Alya and Owen about their future together or even if they _were_ going to tell them about that. The future was extremely complicated as it was. 

Lexi’s smile faded after she had finished speaking.

“I did it for Momma,” she whispered. “I can’t lose her. I already lost Daddy; I don’t want to lose -”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” Daisy said, pulling her closer. “We know what it’s like to do whatever you can to save the people that you love. We know why you did it, Lex. It was brave and for the right reasons; stupid, maybe, risky, definitely, but your heart was in the right place.” 

Tears started in Lexi’s eyes. “I can’t lose Momma,” she repeated. “After Daddy...it’s my job to protect her. I can’t lose her too. Raina said that I was going to undergo Terrigenesis eventually and I know, I know that whatever changed when I went through the Mist...it’s going to help. It has to help. I know...I just know it.”

“Okay,” Lincoln said softly, squeezing her hand. “It’s okay, Lex. We’ve got you. We’ve got you, you hear me?”

Lexi nodded miserably, curling up against Daisy, who stroked her hair gently. Lexi might be dangerous, but at that moment, she was just an eight-year old girl who had recently lost her father and was scared for her mother’s life. She needed comfort; she needed someone to hold her; she needed people who cared. 

Before any of them could say anything else, however, there was a tap on the door.

“It’ll be Jemma,” Lincoln said. “I asked her to get some medical stuff so that we could run some tests. Make sure you’re okay.”

Lexi nodded. “Do what you have to do,” she said, her moment of weakness already passing.

Lincoln went over to the door and opened it a crack. Jemma handed him a needle and syringe. 

“How’s it going in there?” she asked.

“Good,” Lincoln said. “Get me 50 acupuncture needles, okay? And a computer.”

“What are you going to do?” Jemma asked.

“Post-Terrigenesis healing ritual,” Lincoln replied. “I’ve done it before, with Daisy. Lexi will be fine. We know what we’re doing.”

“Can May come in?” Jemma asked. “She’s really worried about Lexi.”

“I’ll ask Lexi,” Lincoln said. “She’ll want to see her mother, but if it causes her to become too emotional, it might be best if we wait on that a little. I don’t want her to lose control. But I also don’t want her to push everything down because channelling powers internally never works either.” 

“Okay,” Jemma said. “I’ll get the stuff. You sure she’s okay?”

Lincoln nodded. “We’ll stay with her.” 

When Jemma was gone, Lincoln turned back to look at Daisy and Lexi. Lexi looked up at him. 

“Is Momma mad at me?” she asked, her voice suddenly a little fearful. 

“I think she’s more scared, Lex,” Lincoln said. “Scared _for_ you, not scared _of_ you. Terrigenesis is irreversible -”

“No,” Lexi said suddenly, interrupting him. “It isn’t.”

Daisy and Lincoln both looked at her.

“What do you mean?” Daisy asked.

“I mean...it isn’t,” Lexi said, rolling up her sleeve to look at her hand. “I don’t know why or how...but I think it’s reversible. I think...I think I can reverse it.”


	87. Chapter 87

**Chapter 87**

“What does she mean, reversible?” May asked. “I thought Terrigenesis is permanent.”

“Are Daisy and Lincoln still in there with her?” Deke asked. “Are they in danger?”

“There’s no way they would -” Miles began and cut himself off when he saw Jemma’s face. “They’re still _in_ there?”

Jemma grimaced. “I don’t know how much all of you saw about Lash, but he...well, he hurt people. And well, May was able to talk him down, but, well...I mean...Lexi’s a child. We don’t know how much -”

May rescued her from her difficulties. “You don’t know how much of her father she has in her.”

Jemma nodded. “Yes. When Lincoln last spoke to me, he insisted that he and Daisy weren’t feeling any weakness, any dizziness, anything of the sort. They both demonstrated their powers to me before I left. I want to pull them out of there, but they insisted that it’s more dangerous for me or any of us humans to be in there than them.” 

“Why in the world would they risk it?” Miles began, but Mack cut him off.

“They’re doing what’s best for Lexi,” Mack said. “They’re helping Lexi -”

“We could help Lexi -” Miles began, his brow furrowed, but May shook her head.

“Miles, you don’t understand because you’re not a parent,” she interrupted. “Mack gets it, Jemma, Fitz, Hunter, Bobbi, they all get it. And Daisy and Lincoln are the only two people on the plane who understand Terrigenesis and haven’t been swayed. They’re doing it for her. Because they can help her in ways the rest of us can’t even begin to comprehend.”

Miles subsided. While it was undoubtedly true that Daisy and Lincoln were not Lexi’s biological parents, all of them knew that there was a bond there, a bond that went beyond blood. It was the same way that Jemma was essentially Daisy’s sister and Deke was the closest thing Lincoln had to a father. The bond was there, even though Lexi still had May as her mother; they were the only people who understood what she was going through at the moment. 

May turned to Jemma. “Now that we’ve determined what powers she has, I’m going in. I don’t want her to be alone. If Lincoln and Daisy can be in there, I can too.”

Jemma winced. “We don’t know if that’s all that Lexi’s powers are, May, or if -”

May glared at Jemma. “You can’t stop me.”

She stalked out of the room. Jemma hesitated, glancing at the others, and then took off after her. Bobbi followed; the two women caught up with her when May got to the bunk area of the plane, but not in time to prevent her from opening the door to Lincoln’s old bunk room. Daisy, Lincoln and Lexi all looked up when May opened the door. 

“Momma!” Lexi gasped. 

“Lex!” 

May rushed over to her side. Lexi was lying on the bed, needles sticking out of her skin. Daisy was sitting next to her, holding her hand, and Lincoln sat next to her, his hand on Lexi’s ankle. Jemma wasn’t sure if it was bravery or foolishness that was causing them to still touch her, but whatever it was, they were risking it. 

“I’m sorry,” Lexi said, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m sorry if I scared you, but I did it to protect you -”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” May said, as Daisy scooted backwards to give May space to hold Lexi’s hand. “Well, it’s not okay, because what you did was idiotic and foolish and risky and stupid, but I’m here. I’m _here_.” 

Lexi couldn’t hold back the tears. As she did so, her palms started glowing. Lincoln yelped, letting go of her leg. 

“Lincoln!” Daisy and Lexi spoke at the same time. 

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” Lexi gasped, but Lincoln shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he said, even as Lexi’s palms started glowing even brighter. 

“Get out of the room,” Jemma said, straining to keep the panic in her voice at a minimum. “Daisy, Lincoln, leave now. Now! _Now_!”

As Jemma raised her voice, the glow on Lexi’s palms started getting brighter. Both Jemma and Bobbi shoved their way into the room, Bobbi beckoning towards Daisy and Lincoln with one hand.

“Daisy, Lincoln, you need to leave,” Bobbi said. “Come. _Now_.”

Both Daisy and Lincoln were still standing there, no longer touching Lexi, but still, much too close to her for either Jemma or Bobbi’s liking. 

“Lex, Lex, calm down, breathe,” May said, ignoring Jemma and Bobbi. “Lexi, look at me. Breathe. You can do this. Take a deep breath.”

“What did I do?” Lexi asked, addressing Lincoln this time. “Lincoln? Did I hurt you? Lincoln -”

“I’m fine,” Lincoln said, stepping closer towards her. “I’m _fine_ , you hear me?”

“No, you’re not,” Lexi said, fear creeping into her voice. “I hurt you! I’m hurting you!”

“No, you didn’t,” Daisy said immediately. “Lexi, I know you’re not going to hurt me. I trust you. Lincoln trusts you. We all do. You are _not_ going to hurt us, okay? We know that. You _can_ control this.”

“I can’t!” Lexi protested, her voice high and full of fear and pain. “I can’t!”

“You can,” May said, gripping her hand tightly, even though it was glowing and covering May’s skin with her power. “You can. You hear me?”

“Listen to your mother,” Lincoln said; he and Daisy were now standing just behind May’s shoulder, much too close for Jemma and Bobbi’s liking. “May is right. You can do this. Breathe, Lexi. Take a deep breath.”

“Daisy -” Jemma began, but Daisy cut her off.

“Jemma, stop talking,” she warned. “The more _you_ panic, the more Lexi will panic. Stop talking. Now.” 

“Don’t touch me!” Lexi yanked her hands out of reach of both Daisy and Lincoln, pulling her hand out of May’s grasp. “If you touch me, you’re going to have your powers taken away. You know that! Lincoln, you know that!” 

Daisy glanced at Lincoln in concern, but even as she did so, she turned back to Lexi. 

“Lexi, you aren’t going to hurt us,” she said. “You know how I know? I know because your mother was one of the people who helped me to control my powers. It wasn’t just Lincoln and Jiaying. It was May. She made me into an agent. She taught me breathing techniques; she was convinced that I could control my powers even when I wasn’t sure if I could do it. It was so much so that when Lincoln thought that he was going to lose control, he told me that he wasn’t sure if my control came from my biological mother or from hanging around with May because she’s so calm and Zen. Well, for you, you’ve got both. May is your biological mother _and_ she is Zen. You can do this. Listen to your mother. Listen to _her_.”

May glanced at Daisy briefly and then reached for Lexi’s hand again. Lexi allowed her to take it and May massaged her palm softly in her own hand, easing some of Lexi’s concern and anxiety. 

“Breathe, Lex,” she said softly. “Just breathe. With me. In and out. In and out. In. Out. In. Out.”

Lexi’s breathing gradually slowed down and slowly, painfully slowly her palms stopped glowing. When Daisy and Lincoln stepped towards her again, she shook her head.

“Don’t touch me,” she said. “Please. Just in case. I don’t want to lose control and hurt you. Lincoln, I’m so so sorry -”

“You did nothing wrong,” Lincoln assured her, holding his hands upright. “It’s okay. Trust me, when I first got my powers, I almost burned down Afterlife. And almost burned down a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. What you did was nothing in comparison. You didn’t hurt me.”

“I shattered glass windows and almost hurt Fitz, made a tree explode and almost hurt Bobbi, and made many glasses explode,” Daisy said. “I even almost hurt Lincoln! What you did was nothing.” 

“And their control isn’t perfect,” May said, focusing on her daughter. “Just a few days ago, they were making the base shake and the lights flicker, remember?”

Lexi smiled faintly, but her eyes were still wide and afraid. May turned to Daisy and Lincoln.

“I’ll stay with her,” she said softly. “You two go.”

“We trust Lexi -” Daisy began, but both May and Lexi shook their heads.

“Please go,” Lexi said. “I love you both, but I don’t want to hurt either of you. Please, please go.” 

Daisy and Lincoln traded a glance. 

“Okay,” Daisy said softly, both of them backing towards the door. Jemma and Bobbi ushered both of them out, staring at May and Lexi in concern.

“I’ll stay,” Bobbi said, putting a hand on May’s shoulder. “Just in case. You shouldn’t be alone, May.”

May hesitated, but Lexi nodded. 

“Yes, please,” she said. “I can’t hurt you -”

That wasn’t necessarily true. While Daisy and Lincoln technically had one power, others, like Lash, had more than one. Lash had had enhanced strength, a regenerative healing factor that had enabled him to be more or less bulletproof and some sort of energy blasts. It was possible that Lexi had more than one power, not to mention that she could still physically transform. On the bright side, Bobbi would be able to help protect May, even if she wasn’t able to hurt Lexi in the process. 

“Okay,” Bobbi said, sitting down next to May. “I’ll stay.”

With that, Daisy, Lincoln and Jemma backed out the door, moving slowly to avoid scaring Lexi any further.




“Lincoln, what did she do to you?” Deke demanded.

They were all gathered downstairs in the lab and Jemma was trying to take a blood sample from Lincoln. 

“Nothing,” Lincoln insisted. “She didn’t do anything to me. But if her energy pulse had touched my skin, she would have done something. Something. I don’t know exactly what, but she hadn’t done anything yet when I pulled away.”

“Oh God,” Daisy whispered. “So she could have taken your powers? Or made you human again? Are you okay?”

The concern on her face was palpable, but it wasn’t about his powers. It was worry for him. She took his hand in hers and he let her, allowing her to caress his skin, her touch gentle and soft. 

“I’m fine,” he said softly. “You can test it, if you like.”

Daisy raised her eyebrows at him. “Quake you to make you spark?” she asked.

“That sounds wrong,” Miles muttered under his breath to Hunter, who snickered; everyone ignored them. 

“Try it,” Lincoln offered. 

A small vibrational force formed between Daisy’s fingertips and then a spark jolted out of Lincoln’s hand. Both powers dissipated a second later. 

“See?” Lincoln said. “I’m fine.” In his other hand, he created a ball of electricity; it disappeared when he closed his fist. “We’re both fine. Proximity has nothing to do with Lexi’s powers. It’s the energy that she creates that reverses Terrigenesis. If her powers were to come in contact with our skin, then we’d be in trouble, but as long as it doesn’t, we’re fine.”

Jemma shook her head. “If she loses control -”

“She could endanger us, yes, but not humans,” Lincoln said. “May was holding her hand and it had no effect on her whatsoever. It’s not like Dwight or Lash where Dwight’s was beyond his control and Lash transformed into a...creature. Lexi’s still Lexi.”

“You don’t know that,” Deke said concernedly. “Lash’s transformations were delayed -”

“And Lash didn’t hurt us,” Daisy interrupted. “In the two timelines, Lash spared both our lives. Lexi would never hurt us.”

“She’s clearly dangerous around other Inhumans,” Coulson spoke up. “And seeing as she’s a child, it wouldn’t be fair to pit her against Hive. But she’s still a danger to other Inhumans who have a chance of defeating him.”

Daisy and Lincoln traded a glance, neither of them saying anything. They’d had the discussion before about them being dangerous; it wasn’t who they were. Admittedly, Coulson had a good point about children being more dangerous than adults, especially if they couldn’t control their powers, neither of them even wanted to think about Lexi going up against Hive. She was just a child.

“She’ll be fine,” Lincoln spoke up. “Her mother is the most Zen of all Zen masters of all. She was both Daisy and my S.O. -”

“At some point,” Deke intervened, cutting him off before he could accidentally reveal too much about the original timeline. Coulson knew that Deke had primarily been Lincoln’s S.O. and that his training under May had been primarily fight training. He also wasn’t too sure about the details in Daisy’s cover story that Miles had created for her; he didn’t want them to accidentally let something slip about the other timeline.

“And her father was one of the most volatile Inhumans who ever existed,” Coulson countered. “You don’t know how much of him she got. She’s Inhuman!”

Lincoln spoke up, his voice harsh. “Well, you’re dating my mother, so why don’t you tell me how much I inherited from her?” he asked. “I clearly got my Inhuman genes from my father, but why don’t you tell me how much of him I got and how much of my mother I got?”

Price blanched at Lincoln’s words; Coulson himself looked taken aback. Daisy slipped her hand into Lincoln’s, squeezing his hand comfortingly. 

“You could also ask how much of it I got from Deke,” Lincoln said. “Because he’s been a part of my life since I was nine years old, which is a much bigger influence than anything from Price.” 

“Lincoln…,” Price began, her face still pale. “I’m sorry -”

Lincoln raised his hand. “I’m just making a point,” he said. “We can’t say how much any of us got from our parents, biological or not. Lexi is going to be fine. We’re going to make sure that she’s alright.” 

Deke raked his hands through his hair. “Well, we have to be able to do something in the meantime,” he said. “Figure out a way to stop Hive.”

Lincoln glanced at Jemma and Fitz. “How’s the experimentation going?” he asked.

Fitz grimaced. “The research is going well,” he said. “I need hands to help me build the machine; Deke, Mack and Jemma can do it, but it’s going well.”

“Do you need Jiaying’s healing component?” Daisy asked, her brows pinched together in concern, thinking about the last time she had dug up Jiaying’s body. She tightened her grip on Lincoln’s hand, who squeezed back comfortingly, knowing what she was thinking of.

Jemma shook her head. “No,” she said. “We don’t need you to dig up Jiaying’s body. We’ve been looking into it and Fitz thinks that we can do without it; Lincoln and Gordon’s powers are compatible without her blood. Aida wanted the healing component to be able to heal faster. Although I do think if we tried to add Jiaying’s powers to Lincoln’s, his body would be the perfect host.” She paused. “Or yours.”

“You’ve kind of mentioned this before,” Deke said. “When you were talking about a single body being able to host more than one power -”

“We thought about it some more,” Fitz said. “And then we realized that it could work either way. Well, it would depend, really. On a lot of factors.” 

Lincoln looked at him quizzically. “I could host Jiaying’s powers, Gordon’s and Vijay Nadeer’s,” he said, referring to the powers that Fitz had put in Aida in the Framework.

“But we realized that Daisy can host yours,” Fitz said. “And Jiaying and Kora are related to her; their powers would be even more compatible. Plus, Nathaniel hosted both Daisy’s and Kora’s powers.”

“Wait, hold up,” Daisy said, raising a hand. “How can I host Lincoln’s powers? I mean, I’ve used my powers to activate his before -”

“I didn’t think of it until we looked at cell samples,” Fitz said. “Lincoln, when you emerged from the Mist, you said and I quote, ‘Every cell in your body had a different electrical charge’.” 

“Yes,” Lincoln said slowly. “I told Daisy that. The same would be with her cells. Every single cell in our bodies changed when we underwent Terrigenesis - oh my God.”

Jemma glanced at him. “You get it now?” she asked.

“Yes,” Lincoln said. “Of course. God, why didn’t I think of that before?”

“Um…not understanding anything here,” Daisy said, raising a hand. “Some clarification, doctors, please?”

Of course her husband, her sister and her sister’s husband could speak in medical lingo that confused everyone else. 

“I’m confused too,” Trip assured her. “And I’m a medic.”

“I’m lost,” Miles agreed. “And I’m neither Inhuman or a doctor or a medic.”

Jemma ignored Trip and Miles. 

“Lincoln?” she asked; she figured it would come better from him.

He nodded, turning to Daisy.

“Dais...every cell in our bodies has changed,” he said, taking her hands in his own. “Every cell in our bodies is different post-Terrigenesis. Including reproductive cells.”

“Oh. _Oh_.” 

In order for Daisy to be able to carry Lincoln's children, her body would _have_ to be able to host his powers. Her pregnancy would only be possible if their powers were compatible within the same host body. And all the evidence of their children being born in the future was proof that their powers were definitely combinable, regardless of any other powers thrown in the mix. 

Daisy’s hand twitched within his, automatically going towards her stomach. Their eyes locked, but even as they looked at each other, Price spoke up, reminding the others that she and Coulson were still somewhat ignorant of the different timelines and all the insane visions of the future that they had. 

“Wait...Daisy’s pregnant?” she asked, her gaze going to Daisy’s completely flat stomach.

Now was clearly not the time to explain that Kora had shown them the future. Coulson and Price were already getting too close to knowledge of the other timeline. Raina and Robin’s precognitive powers were already a lot without adding Kora’s into the mix. They couldn’t tell Coulson and Price that Raina had told them about their future children because that would result in Coulson thinking that their children were too dangerous to be born; explaining that Bobbi had gotten Robin’s powers was also another wormhole that none of them wanted to dive into yet. 

Daisy and Lincoln looked at each other, neither knowing what to say. They could always say that she wasn’t, but that would require explanations that neither of them wanted to delve into. If they said she was...well, that wouldn’t be good either, because that would be a lie. Or maybe not a lie. Because in the Framework future, their children would be born ten months from the present. So for all they knew, she was.

Miles, of all people, came to their rescue. He had been the one who had created Daisy’s documents; he knew the best cover story.

“They’ve been together for over six years, it’s not a big deal,” he said dismissively. “Regardless of whether or not she’s knocked up. And they’re married. So it doesn’t matter. Besides, it’s not like you’ve never had kids before. Out of wedlock.” He addressed this last statement to Price, who glared at him. 

“You’re the one who’s been covering it for him,” Price said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Yeah, so?” Miles asked. “I clearly did a better job at that than whoever your hacktivist was. Besides, Daisy’s known as long as Lincoln has. It’s not like he hid it from her, so there’s another whatever moment for you.”

It was at times like this that it was obvious how much Miles cared. He might make a lot of crass jokes and tease them about their sex lives, but he had their backs when it counted.

“Plus Mack and May have kids,” he added, deliberately leaving out Jemma, Fitz, Bobbi and Hunter, not wanting to make the situation even more complicated than it already was, what with the whole other timeline debacle. “So don’t you go being all judge-y.”

“Miles, um, thanks, but I think they get the point,” Lincoln said, his face extremely awkward. 

“Yeah, let’s go,” Daisy said quickly. “Linc -” 

“Absolutely,” Lincoln said, just as quickly. “Let’s go.”

They hurried out of the room, leaving behind an awkward silence. 




After Daisy and Lincoln had left, the others upstairs dispersed as well. Jemma, Fitz, Deke, Mack and Miles headed downstairs as well to the lab to work on the teleportation machine. Once they were gone, Ward and Trip disappeared back into the cockpit and Hunter went to Lincoln’s old bunk, standing outside the door to keep tabs on Bobbi, May and Lexi. In the end, when it was clear they weren’t going to get any more answers, Price and Coulson stayed in the communications centre to talk. Instead of following one of the many teams, Sousa went to Raina’s holding cell.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was going to her. He knew he wasn’t going to get any straight answers out of her, but at the same time, he hoped she might give him some. He doubted she would believe his blackmail threats, but at least he had some sort of leg-up in the situation. He knew more than some of the others did about the future, which was definitely a first. 

He opened the door to Raina’s cell. Raina was sitting on a chair inside the room, despite the room being a mess; she and Deke had fought when Deke had last been in the room, but she hadn’t made any attempt to tidy it up.

“I had a feeling I might see you,” Raina said, without looking at Sousa. “You’re here to ask questions about what happens next.”

At this point, Sousa was not surprised that she had predicted his coming. She was psychic after all.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Get some answers.”

Without turning to look at him, Raina spoke. “So much is at stake.”

“ _Lives_ are at stake!” Sousa snapped.

“He won’t stop until he gets her,” Raina said, dismissively.

There was only one her Raina could be referring to. And after all the earlier questions about whether or not Daisy was currently pregnant...it would make sense if Hive was after her. A whole lot of terrible sense. But at the same time, it wasn’t a clear answer because Raina did not answer like a sane person.

“That’s not good enough!” Sousa was close to losing his temper and that was something that rarely happened.

“Well, that’s the tragedy because even if I were inclined to tell you, you wouldn’t believe me,” Raina said dismissively. She paused and then her thin lips curved into a faint smile. “You’ve only seen the beginning.”

There were a lot of beginnings that Sousa could have seen. He scowled at her. 

“Are you talking about Daisy and Lincoln’s...wedding?” he asked, almost nervously. For the most part, he wasn’t as good at interpreting Raina’s metaphors as they were. It made sense; Lincoln had known her for a long time and Daisy knew her from another timeline, but still...Sousa had been a detective as part of the S.S.R. for years before he’d met Daisy. He knew how to pry information out of people, even if it wasn’t always information he was keen on hearing.

“It’s fascinating, you know,” Raina said. “Aside from the obvious resurrection, there’s also rebirth...and gratitude…. But that wasn’t even their intention.”

Sousa glared at her. “Now you’re just deliberately being cryptic. Give me a straight answer or I swear, I’ll -”

“You what?” Raina asked. “You’ll go to Daisy and profess your undying love for her? You’ll try to ruin their marriage? Good luck with that. It’ll never happen.”

“You’re playing with matches and burning the house down!” Sousa snapped.

“You’re running out of time,” Raina replied, a smirk on her face. “And I’m not talking about with Daisy. That ship has sailed. I’m talking about the warhead. As we speak, events are being set in motion that this S.H.I.E.L.D. team cannot stop. You’ll see.” 

“So you’re screwing with time but you have no idea what you’re doing!” Sousa almost shouted. It wasn’t like him to lose his temper, but he could see why Deke had done so earlier. Raina’s cryptic metaphors were more than frustrating. “You do realize that Lincoln could still die, right? Him and Daisy both could. If you care about him and you care about his...his wife, then stop this madness! Tell us what you know and how to stop it!”

Raina eyed him. “You have no idea what I’ve seen,” she said softly, running her fingers over the table that she had set back up. “I’ve already told you the truth. You’re just not open to receiving the answer. You’re listening for the answer you want to hear.”

“And what would that be?” Sousa demanded.

Raina’s nostrils flared at him. “She’ll never love you, you stupid man,” she said. “Daisy’s heart belongs to Lincoln; it always has and always will. You already know the truth. You just have to accept it. Everyone’s told you countless times about how her love for him will never die. So, hate to break it to you, but no matter what you do, even if you save her life, she will never be yours.”

“‘If’?” Sousa asked. “It’s still an ‘if’?”

Raina rolled her eyes. “Someone else could always save her.”

“You told me I was the only one who could!” Sousa was now getting seriously confused.

“Hasn’t it ever crossed your mind that you already have?” Raina asked.

Sousa was now supremely confused. He stared at Raina, trying to think back over the last few days. The closest he had come to saving Daisy’s life had been when Lincoln had literally shoved her into his arms and told him to put her in the healing pod. But even then, Lexi had been primarily responsible for saving her life; she had been the one to program the pod. Did that even count? Was his role in saving Daisy done? 

“We’re talking about in the Quinjet, with the warhead,” Sousa said. “Do I save Daisy then? Or does someone else? What happens, Raina?”

Raina examined one of her fingernails casually. “My brother’s keeper,” she said softly. “Or, in this case, it’s the sister.”

Sousa might not know a lot, but he knew biblical references when he heard them. “Kora,” he said immediately. “Or Jemma. Which one? What do they do?”

“Hmm, not as stupid as one might think,” Raina said, casting her dismissive eye over him. “Very well, Agent Sousa, riddle me this. How is rebirth a thing, but not really a thing at the same time? Because it’s real.” 

“What?” 

Sousa was now lost. He had a pretty good feeling that Ward had talked about rebirth once, way back when he and Daisy had been on the way to the Retreat, but it made zero sense to him. There was no way that Daisy and Lincoln were actually Peggy and Cap reincarnated. They might have gone through incredibly similar circumstances, but there was no way that they were the others reborn. 

“Even Jesus wasn’t reborn,” Sousa said, trying to come to terms with all the biblical references.

“Of course not,” Raina said dismissively. “He was resurrected and on the third day he rose again. But that’s not the point. I’ve told you everything you need to know. Go bother someone else.”

Sousa glared at her. “Raina, for God’s sake -”

Raina’s lip curled in amusement. “I’ve already told you the truth,” she said. “Anyone else would have put the pieces together already. Goodbye, Agent Sousa.”

Frustrated beyond belief, but well aware that he was not going to get any more answers out of her, Sousa stormed out of the room. Someone else was going to have to try next; he, May and Deke had already tried and failed to pry answers out of her. Someone else was going to have to try next. 




“Have any of you heard anything whatsoever about rebirth?” Sousa asked, entering the lab. 

Everyone looked up. Deke, Mack and Miles were bent over a machine; Fitz was standing over them giving directions. Lincoln and Jemma were conversing over a series of blood samples and Daisy was sitting on the counter next to them, typing away on a computer.

“‘Rebirth’?” Daisy repeated. “Um...Robbie Reyes, maybe?”

“That was the Spirit of Vengeance,” Fitz said. “Um...LMDs? Technically?’

“Sarge,” Jemma said. “Or the Monolith recreation of Flint.”

“Or me,” Deke said. “Because I think in like, I dunno, 20 years, if I’m still alive, there’ll be two of me.”

“Or even earlier than that,” Lincoln pointed out. “If the original timeline Bobbi and Hunter have a son...would that result in two Owens? I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Sousa said, raising his hands. “And...that doesn’t help whatsoever.”

“What does rebirth have to do with anything?” Daisy asked, her brow furrowed. 

“That’s what I said,” Sousa muttered under his breath. Upon seeing their confused gazes, he clarified. “I spoke with Raina. She gave me a riddle: ‘How is rebirth a thing, but not really a thing at the same time?’. And then she said that it’s real.”

Everyone looked at each other. 

“Why in the world did you go to her?” Deke asked. “You should have come to me first -”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Sousa snapped. “Besides, Deke, I clearly got more answers out of her than you did.”

Deke glared at him. “And what else did she tell you?” he demanded. “Do you understand anything, anything at all, of what she said? Because she speaks in more riddles and metaphors than a damn Sphinx.” 

“Walk us through what happened,” Lincoln said, turning away from Jemma and sitting down on the counter next to Daisy, shifting her bouquet of wedding flowers to the side to make room for him. “We might be able to infer what she meant. We know her pretty well and in all honesty, better than most people here.”

Sousa sighed heavily. Telling Daisy and Lincoln about Raina’s mockery of him still being in love with Daisy was _not_ what he wanted. Not only was it humiliating, but they were married! She might even be pregnant! He had no idea. He wasn’t even sure if they had any idea. 

And then Sousa realized. He was staring at the answer in front of him. The answer! 

“Oh my God,” he said. “Daisy...I can Google search stuff, right?”

Daisy nodded. “Yeah. You need to use a computer for that though; has Miles taught you how to use one? Because typewriters don’t have access to the Internet -”

“Miles?” Sousa turned to him.

Miles looked up, frustrated. “Daisy can help you -”

Deke kicked him. 

“Fine,” Miles grimaced. “What do you want me to look up?”

It made sense that Sousa would go to Miles for help instead of her; she had hurt him in more ways than she cared to admit. But still…. Daisy turned to Lincoln instead, wanting to think about something else. As much as she was in love with Lincoln and always would be, Daisy didn’t want to hurt Sousa. She cared about him, even though it was just in a platonic way. 

“Do you want to talk to Raina?” she asked. “I know she betrayed you and I know that it would hurt, but I’ll be there with you. I don’t want to hurt you or let her hurt you - you know I would do anything to protect you - but she might give us straight answers. She cares about you, Linc.”

Lincoln touched her chin, tilting it to make her look at him in the eye. A smile curved her lips as he did so.

“I would do anything to keep _you_ safe,” he said softly. “I’ll do it. Deke?”

He was still looking at Daisy as he spoke; Deke turned to look at him. 

“You want to try your hand with her?” he asked, sighing. “Alright, but I’ll record the conversation. And Daisy, if you go in with him, no quaking her.”

The corner of Daisy’s mouth twitched. She was still looking at Lincoln, their faces inches apart even as they spoke with Deke.

“No quaking her,” she agreed. “We promise we won’t lose control.”

Lincoln laughed at the private joke. “I love you too,” he teased, kissing her quickly, fleetingly, so that the others wouldn’t feel awkward with their public display of affection. “Let’s go.”

Before either of them could say or do anything else, however, Price and Coulson came rushing into the room. 

“There’s a problem,” Coulson said. “Director Shaw, Hand’s reached out. She said the Playground’s gone dark.”

“What?!” Daisy, Lincoln, Jemma and Fitz spoke at the same time.

“The _Playground_?” Daisy repeated, her face pale. “Why the Playground?”

“We’re going in a full circle,” Jemma said. “But what in the world is at the _Playground_?” 

“Centipede serum?” Fitz asked. “Research on the antitoxin?” 

“Why would Hive go to the Playground?” Deke asked aloud. “There’s nothing there. It was damaged in the attack from Raina and Yo-Yo; there were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents there repairing the damage, but still, there’s no warhead there or anything. And there are easier places to get agents from to be made into Primitives.”

“And the Quinjet that Hive’s in can already rise to 100,000 feet,” Lincoln said, frustrated. “He doesn’t need -”

He and Daisy put two and two together at the same time. They, Kora, Trip and Deke had been the last ones at the Playground and while Kora knew what had happened in the original timeline, she wasn’t there at the moment. 

“The Zephyr,” they said in unison. 

“What?” Jemma and Fitz asked at the same time.

“We left a Zephyr there,” Daisy said. “Zephyr One.”

“Because the containment module had been ejected,” Lincoln continued. “Hunter released it with Daisy, Kora and me in it. So we ‘flew’ back to the main Zephyr. And after we left the Playground, we took Zephyrs Two and Three. We left Zephyr One there for repairs.”

“You have got to be kidding,” Fitz said. 

“Deadly serious,” Lincoln said.

“Oh my God,” Jemma said. “What about the Quinjet? Is there still a Quinjet attached to the Zephyr?”

“No,” Daisy said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “The guys took it to the Badlands. But either way, it wouldn’t matter. Hive’s in a Quinjet. The warhead can fit inside a Quinjet. The only reason he would want a Zephyr is to ensure that there isn’t a Quinjet with a second warhead. It’s risky. If he has a Quinjet with a warhead in it, chances of his demise in space are higher. So he’d want a different aircraft that can rise to 100,000 feet.”

Fitz banged his fist into his other palm. 

“We were already on board,” he said. “You and me, Daisy.”

“Yes,” Daisy said. “And May.”

“We came later,” Jemma agreed. “Lincoln, Coulson, Mack and I. In the Quinjet.”

“But none of us or you is on board right now,” Deke began, but Fitz cut him off.

“He reversed the order,” Fitz said. “Zephyr One first, warhead second. Because he knows the future.”

“Right,” Lincoln agreed. “So his next step is the warhead.”

“Not from the ATCU facility in Indiana,” Daisy said. “He already got one from there.”

“Agreed,” Jemma said. “So from somewhere else.”

“Are we still checking the Pacific Missile Silo?” Fitz asked. “Because we might need the codes -”

At that moment, Miles’ tablet pinged. He looked up, grimacing.

“You’re spot on,” he said. “The Silo has just gone dark.”


	88. Chapter 88

**Chapter 88**

Fitz barely waited for Deke to ask Price and Coulson to leave to contact Hand, Piper and Davis with Ward and Trip before speaking again. 

“Wait, this literally makes zero sense,” Fitz said. “They can’t possibly be back in the States yet. Even if an Alisha clone is the one who made the Silo go dark -”

“Maybe it’s Primitives,” Deke said. “Or other Hydra agents?”

“I don’t think it matters what it is,” Jemma said, stressed. “Either way, we’ll be lucky if we have five hours before we can get to the Silo.”

“That’s not enough time,” Deke said. “Not even with the Quinjet. Not even if May takes only Lincoln and Daisy. We’ve been flying for what, three hours, four hours tops? We’re too far away.”

“I know that,” Jemma said. “We have to figure out another solution.”

“Hand, Piper and Davis are already on their way,” Daisy pointed out. “They won’t be there yet, but they are a whole lot closer -”

“You think they could stop Hive’s Inhumans?” Fitz asked. “Last time, Lincoln, May, Mack and Yo-Yo couldn’t stop them and that was only with James and Giyera helping Hive. Now he’s got his brain scrambled and it might not even be him at the Silo, but if it is, he’ll have not only James and Giyera, but also Kora, Alisha, Robin even….”

“Do they even have a missile yet?” Sousa asked. “And if they do, well, I don’t think Daisy or Lincoln should go. Hive still wants them.”

“We can’t be afraid of that vision!” Lincoln said. “We’ve got to do something.” He hesitated and then glanced at Jemma and Fitz. “Teleport -”

Jemma shook her head. “It could kill you. We haven’t perfected everything yet; we need to run more tests; it’s too risky, Lincoln.”

“From what we’ve seen of the future, I’ll get teleportation anyway,” Lincoln said. “So from what I can tell, the risks aren’t as high as what you’re saying.”

“No, Lincoln, what -” Daisy began.

“Don’t pretend that’s really your medical opinion,” Jemma interrupted.

“I studied this!” Lincoln protested. “You’re not the only doctor here.” His gaze shifted to Fitz, the other doctor in the room.

“I agree with Simmons that could be dangerous,” Fitz said, sighing. “But I also think there’s a chance that it could work.”

“Fitz!” Jemma’s voice rose as she turned to stare at him. “You remember what happened last time! The antitoxin didn’t work!”

“Yes, and I also remember what happened last time when we didn’t help him!” Fitz retorted. “He took it anyway! At least this way, if we help, he won’t fry half the computers in the lab!” He paused. “You know he’ll do it! We’ve done just as bad, if not worse. You took Daisy, Piper and Davis to Naro-Atzia even though all of them wanted to return to Earth; I dove through a portal, forcing Daisy to suffer headaches and nosebleeds while she kept it open; we even invented time-travel for Alya!” 

Fitz’s gaze went to Lincoln. “I’m on his side,” Fitz said. “Last time I told him I wasn’t on his side, but this time, I am. You weren’t the only one who made mistakes with Lincoln last time, Jemma. I did understand. I still do. About how he would do anything to save Daisy. Even though he was disobeying Coulson’s direct orders. I told him I didn’t because you were already upset about me taking his side about the antitoxin. Disagreeing with you in the lab when we were newly in a relationship...I didn’t want to push. You aren’t the only one who regrets the way they handled things in the past. But things are different now. For both us and them. And I’m going to help Lincoln, insubstantial hologram or not. Following Deke’s orders or not.”

There was a long silence following Fitz’s speech. Lincoln spoke up. 

“Fitz, you don’t have to feel guilty -” he began.

“I do actually,” Fitz said. “As much as Jemma feels bad about never realizing how Daisy felt about you for all those years, I feel just as bad because I pushed you away when I, of all people, should have understood why you were doing what you were doing. I went crazy when Jemma was missing; those six months searching for a means to open the Monolith.... I wasn’t obeying Coulson’s orders; I was supposed to be back in the lab with Bobbi, but no, I did what I thought was right anyway. I did everything I could to try to save her. And I was wrong when I got mad at you for doing whatever it took to save Daisy. This time...I’ll do whatever I can to help you. Even though I’m a hologram.”

Lincoln exhaled a breath. Even though Daisy was worried about the risks of Lincoln trying to get Gordon’s teleportation powers, she was incredibly relieved to know that Fitz would be helping him. Fitz, like Jemma, was being incredibly supportive of their relationship and now marriage; even if the primary motivation was guilt, it still meant a lot that they understood and they were there to help them. 

“Fitz…,” Daisy began, hardly knowing what to say.

Fitz gave her a wry smile. “You remember how crazy I went when Jemma was missing,” he said. “Lincoln was no better. He wasn’t lying when he told you that he’d lost his mind over you.” Fitz exhaled. “I’ll make sure you don’t lose your husband. Whatever it takes.” 

Daisy had no words. She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose; Lincoln pressed his lips softly to the top of her head in a comforting gesture. Jemma grimaced, not at the actions, but in concern, knowing that both Lincoln and Fitz were right. 

“Okay,” she said, worriedly. “We can run a few more tests and simulations; make it as safe as possible for Lincoln. We have time to run the tests; we’ll make time if we have to. And I don’t mean via time-travel. But anyway, yes, we’ll figure out the safest way to give Lincoln teleportation. We’re almost done building the machine and when that’s done, we’ll do it. Lincoln, I’ll be here the entire time, just in case anything goes wrong. We’ll make sure you’re okay. We’ll run the tests, work out the kinks...maybe work with rats...you’ll be fine. I will make sure that no matter what happens, whatever we do on you will be as foolproof as possible.”

Lincoln nodded. “I’ll help,” he said. “We can figure it out. Fitz has the knowledge from the Framework; you figured out how to extract Jiaying’s DNA from her corpse to infuse it in the Centipede serum; I’ve studied under Doctor Johnson and Raina. We can figure this out. There’s even the healing pods; we have some knowledge of how Nathaniel extracted Daisy and Kora’s powers from them. We’ve got this.”

In all fairness, it did sound like the safest it could possibly get. Daisy twisted her wedding ring around her finger; Lincoln saw her doing so.

“I promise, it’ll be okay,” he said softly, brushing her cheek gently with one hand. “If Nathaniel was able to host your and Kora’s powers at the same time, I can safely get Gordon’s.” He paused. “And I’ll still have my eyes, so you don’t need to worry about that. Garrett didn’t lose his eyes when he got Gordon’s powers.”

“I don’t care about that,” Daisy said. “I love you for _you_ , Lincoln, not for your looks.” She paused. “Although you are incredibly handsome.” Despite her concern, she managed to smile at him when she said the last sentence, a slightly teasing look in her eyes. “I just want you to be safe. And alive.”

Lincoln smiled. “I love you too,” he said softly. “It’ll be okay. I promise.” He was close enough to kiss, but Daisy couldn’t resist teasing him.

“You told me that the next time you kissed me, it wouldn’t be because the world’s ending,” she reminded him. 

Lincoln laughed. “How about it’s simply because I want to?”

“Hmm, I would be down with that.” Daisy smiled, even as he invaded her personal space. 

For once in his life, Miles didn’t tease when they kissed. Of course Jemma, Fitz and Deke held their tongues; Mack even smiled, also averting his gaze to give them what privacy he could. Sousa remained focused on the tablet that Miles had handed him, even though he didn’t know anything about making it work. 

When Daisy reluctantly pulled away, she gently traced Lincoln’s brow with one finger. 

“I trust you,” she said softly. “If you and Jemma and Fitz believe it can happen...I’ll support it. I know you would never willingly leave me...if you and Jemma and Fitz can minimize the risks, I’ll be okay with it. I’ll be okay. Just...just let me be here with you when they put you in the machine, okay? I might be able to help. Or...I don’t know. I just want to be here.”

Lincoln nodded. “I wouldn’t have you anywhere else,” he said, fingers brushing her cheek softly. “It’s Fitzsimmons, Daisy. They invented time-travel. They helped create LMDs and figured out ways to bring May back from the brink of death. They can do this.”

Jemma’s face had taken on a determined set. “We _can_ do this,” she said. “We’ll figure it out. The safest possible way to give him teleportation. And the worst thing that will happen is that Miles will harass you guys to bring him to Kitson.”

That made all of them, including Miles, burst out laughing.

“Okay then,” Deke said, glancing between Daisy and Lincoln; and Jemma and Fitz. “Let’s figure this out.”




“Momma, is Raina still not talking?” Lexi asked.

May glanced at Bobbi. The two women were sitting at Lexi’s bedside, watching her. She had been silent for a while, trying to sleep, but now her eyes were open and she was curled up on her side, staring at her mother.

“I don’t want you to worry about that, honey,” May said. “Just rest.”

“Momma, please,” Lexi said. “I can make her talk. You know I can.”

“Are you trying to threaten her?” May asked. “By taking away her powers? Or offer her something by making her normal? Is it blackmail or bribery?”

Lexi shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Either/or?” She paused. “Does it matter?”

May looked at her. “Lex, of course it matters -”

“She killed Daddy,” Lexi insisted, sitting upright, still holding the blanket close to her chest. “I’d do anything to get answers out of her.”

“Yes, she killed Daddy,” May said. “But she doesn’t get to take you too. She doesn’t get to take your childhood, your innocence, your happiness. She doesn’t get anything more than what she’s already taken.” 

Lexi wrapped the blanket around her upper body. “But what about you, Momma?” she asked. “Does Raina or Hive, for that matter, get to take you? If what I can do to her will force her to help us, then it’s worth it.”

“That’s not your call to make,” May insisted. “You’re a child, Lex -”

“One who grew up a long time ago,” Lexi said. “Even before Terrigenesis.” She took her mother’s hand in her own, her tiny face sad as she held her mother’s hand. “Momma, we both know that I’m in this battle. I fought the Primitives back in Afterlife, you and Deke allowed me to learn one of the roles earlier; this is as much my fight as yours. I can practise on Raina. There’s even a chance that I could use my powers against Hive. And if I want even a chance of being able to do that, I have to practise. And there’s no one else I’d rather practise against than that thorn-covered Inhuman bi-”

“Language, Lex,” May warned.

“I was going to say ‘biatch’,” Lexi said, making Bobbi laugh.

“Lex.” May’s voice was stern.

“Okay, okay,” Lexi said. “That thorn-covered Inhuman pain-in-the-”

“Lex!”

Lexi subsided, but she was smiling. May shook her head at her.

“Is Lincoln teaching you all these words?” May asked. “Because if so -”

“Not Lincoln,” Lexi said. “Eavesdropping on the others. Deke and Ward swear. And Miles has a filthy sense of humour.”

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. “You get Miles’ jokes?” she asked.

“No,” Lexi said. “But I can tell from the others’ reactions. He likes teasing Daisy and Lincoln.”

Thank goodness Lexi had yet to understand about sex. That was one wormhole that May was incredibly glad she was still ignorant about. 

“You are too observant,” May said, shaking her head. “For your own good.”

Lexi smiled. “I got it from Daddy.”

That caused the smiles in the room to fade a little. Lexi glanced at her mother.

“Momma, please,” she said softly. “If you don’t want to be in the room with her, Lincoln can take me. Or Daisy. Or if you don’t want them anywhere near us in case I lose control, Ward can. Or Bobbi. I don’t want her to hurt you.”

“The only way she can hurt me is by hurting you,” May told her. 

Lexi’s smile faded. “That’s not true,” she said. “She killed Daddy...and I could have helped Daddy if I’d had my powers earlier. I’m sorry, Momma. I’m so sorry.”

Lexi pulled the blanket over her head, looking for the first time like an eight-year old. May immediately hopped onto the bed with her and drew her, blanket and all, into her arms.

“I’m not mad at you,” May said. “Not in the slightest. No one is. Lex, Daddy’s death made you grow up. You were mature, but not nearly as mature as you are now that Daddy’s gone. Who knows what your brain would have gone through after Terrigenesis if you’d gone through it earlier?”

Lexi hugged her mother fiercely, but May could see that her palms were starting to glow again.

“Deep breaths, Lex,” May said, shifting her daughter sideways so that she was lying in her lap. “You can control this.”

“Or you could let me go cause an avalanche on Raina,” Lexi suggested, a slightly mischievous glint in her eyes. “And don’t worry. I’ve got this under control. I’m as much you as I am Daddy.” 

May stroked her hair, but there was a concerned look behind her eyes that she was trying to suppress. For all she knew, Lexi still had some steps left in her Terrigenesis process. Suddenly, Lexi sat upright and stared at Bobbi.

“Bobbi?” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” Bobbi said. “Why?”

“Because I’m glowing,” Lexi said, staring at her palms. “And it doesn’t affect you. So my powers don’t affect ‘stolen’ powers? Will it affect physical transformations? It didn’t seem to affect Daisy and Lincoln when they weren’t touching me. Am I a danger to you?” 

Bobbi picked up a pencil and a piece of paper from the table. “Well, I’m feeling fine. But let’s test it out.” 




“Okay,” Jemma said, rubbing her forehead. “The cycle will last fifteen minutes. We’ve modified a healing pod to help transfer Gordon’s powers to Lincoln. We’ve made it into a sort of serum, rather like the Centipede serum, but instead of Jiaying’s healing component, we’ve infused Gordon’s teleporting component into it instead. Also, there’s no GH. in it because Lincoln’s already got GH. in his system, but it works in a similar way. It’s more similar to the GH. in the sense that it will last, as opposed to the Centipede serum that Lincoln recently took that boosted his energy, but teleportation can’t hurt. Just think of it as a power upgrade.” 

Daisy looked at the machine. “It looks a little like the Particle Infusion Chamber,” she said. “The one that Talbot and Ruby went in?”

Jemma and Fitz looked at each other. 

“Oh God,” Daisy said, her voice now horrified. “You took components from that machine too? First Gordon’s DNA, then Hive, then Aida’s experimentation, now von Strucker and Hydra again? What is _wrong_ with this timeline?” She glanced at Lincoln and then back at Fitzsimmons. “No, we can’t do this. Talbot and Ruby both went insane -”

“Daisy, calm down,” Fitz said. “This is science. Von Strucker senior experimented on Lincoln, yes, but he also was the one who gave Creel his powers, and he knew how Lincoln’s DNA worked. The Particle Infusion Chamber was upgraded for Gravitonium and now we’ve modified it to work with Gordon’s DNA. And we’ve also modified it with my knowledge of how Lincoln and Gordon’s powers work in tandem. It’s science. Combinations of knowledge and experimentation to produce a successful result.”

“Talbot and Ruby went crazy!” Daisy protested.

“Because the Gravitonium had absorbed Franklin Hall and Ian Quinn,” Jemma said. “Gordon’s DNA is just Gordon’s DNA. No inside voices, nothing.”

Daisy blew out a breath. “This is insane,” she decided. “Are we reliving Hive or the Framework or the end of the world? Because it feels like all of those rolled into one.” She paused. “Add on Raina and Afterlife and we’re back with the insane parents. Not to mention there’s the whole time-travel thing or the Izel debacle or the nanomask disaster or, or, or, finding out about future kids or -”

“Daisy, breathe,” Lincoln said, rubbing her shoulders with his hands. “I’m not going to go crazy. If anything, I’ve already got the different voices in my head, remember? Kora gave me back a whole ton of memories. But they’ve settled. Because of you. This is going to be fine.”

Daisy nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist to hold him close. He kissed her softly, just the gentlest brush of his lips against hers.

“It’ll be fine, Dais,” he said softly. 

It was simultaneously reassuring and not-reassuring that he had shortened her name. Usually when they did that, they were going through a more personal or intimate moment, but Daisy didn’t like it that now it was happening because he knew she was worried for him. 

“The machine is all set,” Deke said, climbing out of the modified healing pod; he had been checking the last of the wires. “It’ll take fifteen minutes tops. Daisy and Jemma can sit with him, but the only downside is that once we power the machine, there won’t be any more juice in the other machine for Fitz.” 

“What if something happens with the machine?” Daisy asked anxiously. “Will -”

“That’s what Deke’s here for,” Fitz said. “He knows everything I know. He’ll keep Lincoln safe, Daisy.” 

Deke and Fitz traded glances and nods. As much as it meant to Daisy that Jemma and Fitz were supportive of her relationship, it meant just as much to Deke that Fitz was trusting him to fix the machine if anything went wrong. All of them were family, biological or not.

“We’ve got this, Daisy,” Lincoln said, reassuringly. “Jemma and I have been over the biological components a gazillion times, Fitz and Deke have worked out all the machine mechanics; it’s as safe as it’s going to get.” He paused. “It’s a whole lot safer than being experimented on by Hydra.”

Daisy let out a half-laugh, half-sob. “You are not reassuring me in the slightest,” she said. “Not when List and von Strucker killed you the first time and in the Framework, well, Aida took you from me then too.”

That was the polite way of saying that Fitz had also been at least partly responsible for Lincoln’s demise in the Framework. 

“That’s exactly why it’ll be okay this time,” Lincoln said. “Because Fitz knows exactly how to do this to make sure that I don’t die. And he made sure that Jemma knows the biology and Deke knows the engineering stuff. That’s why this isn’t going to be a problem.”

Daisy blew out a long breath. “And I’m here to jumpstart your heart,” she said.

“Exactly,” Lincoln said. “It’ll be the safest procedure in the history of procedures.” 

Daisy sighed. She didn’t say anything, just wrapped her arms around him. She hesitated for a split second and then whispered in his ear.

“Whether or not I’m actually pregnant, don’t you dare leave our babies without a father,” she said. “Or me without a husband. Okay?” 

Lincoln kissed the top of her head. “Okay,” he said softly. 

Daisy squeezed him tightly and then let go. “Okay,” she said, turning to Jemma. “Let’s do this.”




It had been much harder watching her friends push needles into Lincoln’s skin and hook him up to a machine with electrodes on his chest and head than it was to go through it herself or have insane Hydra doctors do that to Lincoln. Now that the machine was working, Daisy was perched on a stool next to the machine, twisting her engagement ring around and around her finger, staring at Lincoln through the walls of the glass machine. Jemma was sitting next to her, watching Lincoln’s vitals on a tablet. Deke and Mack were helping Miles track possible warhead sites, hunt down the missing Zephyr and contact any agents closer to the Playground; Miles had a gazillion programs running at the same time, _again_. Ward was upstairs, communicating with Hand, Piper and Davis about the now silent silo; and Trip was flying the plane. May and Bobbi were still in with Lexi and Hunter was updating Jemma via another tablet. Sousa was leaning against the counter, poking a finger at a tablet that Miles had given him, trying to Google whatever it was that he had figured out about ‘rebirth’. 

“I wish it didn’t look like he was suffering,” Daisy whispered, watching as Lincoln clenched his hands on the armrests of his seat. He had closed his eyes and wasn’t moving, although Daisy could see the rise and fall of his chest. Blue serum was dripping into his veins and Daisy was staring at him like she could will the process to go faster, just by looking.

“We gave him anesthesia,” Jemma said. “Which was as much dosage as his body could handle without compromising the transfusion of the serum. There’s nothing more we could do. But it’s nothing like the pain you went through with Nathaniel or he went through with von Strucker and List. It’s much more mild.”

Considering how painful those doctors’ experimentation had been, that was not much progress, but Daisy nodded all the same, playing with Lincoln’s wedding band. Seeing as it was made of metal and there was Terrigen in it, none of them had wanted to take the chance of him wearing it within the chamber, just in case something happened with the serum, which was already infused with a liquified version of Terrigen. 

“How’s Lexi?” she asked. “What updates do you have on her?”

Jemma stared at Daisy in surprise. “You’re thinking about Lexi?” she asked.

Daisy looked at her. “Just because Lincoln’s going through a crazy and dangerous procedure doesn’t mean that I can’t worry about Lexi at the same time.”

Jemma smiled.

“What?” Daisy asked.

“Nothing,” Jemma said. “It’s just...I saw you with her earlier. Lexi, I mean. You and Lincoln were very...caring.”

“She’s May’s daughter,” Daisy said, guessing at what Jemma was thinking, but not wanting to go there yet. “And she’s a sweet kid.”

“And you care about her,” Jemma said. “A lot. Maybe even love her.”

Daisy eyed her suspiciously. “Spit it out, Jemma.”

“It’s nothing,” Jemma said, smiling. “I just...I think you’ll be a great mother.”

Daisy elbowed her. “Tell me that again when you’ve figured out a more definitive way of testing my pregnancy than Kora or Raina predicting it or Ward diving into the Framework ten months into the future,” she said. “I haven’t even missed a period yet.”

“Come on, I learned that I had a grandson before I even had Alya,” Jemma pointed out. “And promptly threw up afterwards, which of course gave the impression that I already was knocked up. So you’re not doing much better than me!” 

“Point,” Daisy admitted. “I did do the false alarm puking already. More than once.”

“Bucharest,” Deke told her, looking up from his computer. 

Daisy smirked. “Don’t regret it,” she said. “Although you definitely saw more than I ever want you to.” 

“Better Deke than Miles,” Mack pointed out. “Miles would never let you live that down.”

“I already walked in on them making out next door,” Miles said, smirking. “When we get back to the Playground or the Lighthouse or wherever, just make sure you guys sleep in a room that has walls made of the containment module material. Or the entire base will know when you guys have sex.”

“When you get a girlfriend, Miles, there is going to be absolutely zero mercy,” Daisy decided, but she knew what the guys were doing. They were trying to distract her from worrying about Lincoln. It was nice that they had her back, with or without Lincoln there to help. They cared about her beyond her just being Lincoln’s wife. 

“Do they tease you this much, Mack?” Sousa asked curiously. “Or does Miles just like egging these two?”

“Lincoln’s been single for as long as he’s been on the team up till now,” Mack explained. “I’ve been married for as long as Miles has known me. So has May. Plus Lincoln and Daisy are both younger than Miles, May and I, so Miles feels like he’s more on their level to tease.”

“I’d like to see Miles try to tease May,” Daisy said, raising an eyebrow at Miles. “She’d have your head.”

Miles grinned. “Or Lexi would have my head,” he admitted. “That little girl is both her parents rolled into one in every single way.”

At that moment, Hunter’s face appeared on Miles’ computer; he was upstairs, outside Lexi’s room, but it was easier for him to communicate with the others this way, seeing as May and Bobbi were still in there with her. 

“What’s up, Hunter?” Miles asked, causing Deke, Mack and Sousa to cluster at the screen, looking over his shoulder at it. Daisy and Jemma remained by Lincoln’s teleportation machine, although they were still listening. 

“Lexi has a proposition that May is kind of opposed to, but Lexi might be able to, you know, wear her down,” Hunter said. “If the rest of you think it’s a good idea too.”

“What’s the idea?” Deke asked.

“Lexi wants to either blackmail or bribe Raina,” Hunter said. “She isn’t sure if her powers can affect physical transformation, but if she’s in the room with Raina, she can threaten to take away her psychic abilities. You know how much Raina likes being manipulative. Or, if she can affect physical transformation, she can try to bribe Raina with appearing normal again.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Can Lexi...do that?” Deke asked at last. “I mean...I guess she can, seeing as she can reverse Terrigenesis, but...is that right? Can we let her do that?”

“She’s a child,” Daisy said worriedly. “The burden of knowing that she removed part of an Inhuman that makes them whole...that would hurt her. And I’m not saying that because I think everyone should go through Terrigenesis - Lincoln’s right that some are better off not going through that - but because she’ll have to live with the knowledge that she hurt someone. Even though it’s Raina. Lexi shouldn’t get hurt because we want to hurt Raina.”

“It might not be a burden,” Deke pointed out. “If that’s her power, it might help if she uses it.”

“Just because my power is quaking things doesn’t mean that I want to kill people when I quake them,” Daisy countered. “I can use them for holding Monoliths open or for flying or non-lethal things other than killing people.”

Daisy had a very good point, but some powers didn’t always have that luxury of choosing how they worked. 

Deke looked at her. “Would you like to try to get answers out of Raina?” he asked. “Because she’s not talking to me.”

Daisy nodded. “Rather me than Lexi.” 

“I’ll do it,” Sousa interrupted. “She gives me answers, in riddles, yes, but she still gives me answers.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What’s ‘rebirth’, then?” Jemma asked curiously. “Because I am well aware that Cap survived and went to be with Peggy, but I am equally aware that Daisy, Lincoln, Cap and Peggy were all alive at the same time, so rebirth is definitely not a thing.”

Sousa sighed. “There are two things it could refer to,” he said. “Technically three, but well, Raina does love making things fit in more than one way. Project Rebirth was the project that Howard Stark worked on that ultimately resulted in the creation of Captain America. Steve Rogers.”

Jemma snapped her fingers. “Project Rebirth included the super soldier serum that was included in the Centipede serum.”

“And we’ve used components - or a similar process - of the Centipede serum on Lincoln,” Daisy finished. “To give him teleportation. Holy crap. We are _seriously_ going in circles.”

Sousa shrugged. “I mean...Cap survived the second time round, so things look good for you guys.” 

Daisy blushed slightly, her fingers running over the stones on Lincoln’s wedding ring. Her hair fell across her face as she looked down, not really knowing what to say. 

“So...we’re not going to let Lexi test out her powers?” Hunter asked after silence had reigned for a moment. “Or is that still a possibility?”

“She needs to practise to get some semblance of control,” Deke said. “Right?”

Daisy nodded reluctantly. “Practise is necessary to gain some sort of control,” she admitted. “And I do think that Lexi would feel more comfortable using her powers on someone like Raina. But it shouldn’t be for revenge for what Raina did to her dad. And I don’t want her questioning her intentions for doing so.”

“That’s what May said,” Hunter agreed. “She doesn’t want to burden Lexi with that, although she’s obviously divided about this, seeing as Andrew is - was her husband. And part of her wants revenge for that too.”

“Maybe Lexi could do it with both you and Lincoln in the room,” Mack suggested. “And May. So she wouldn’t go overboard.”

Almost everyone shook their heads. 

“Her control isn’t good enough to safely do that,” Jemma said. “She barely held it together earlier when they were in the room and she asked them to leave. If Lexi does this, the only Inhuman who can be in the room with her will be Raina. How’s Bobbi?”

“Still drawing,” Hunter said. “Lexi has no effect on ‘stolen’ powers.”

“That’s good, right?” Deke asked.

“Yes and no,” Jemma said. “Lexi’s powers are based on Inhuman genes. The powers given to her by the natural intelligent design of the Inhuman species. The reason her powers have no effect on ‘stolen’ ones is because they go against the laws of nature. If Hive wants to steal powers from other Inhumans and put them into humans of his choice, Lexi can’t stop that.”

Hunter grimaced. “So...um...decisions about Lexi and Raina?’

There was a brief silence again.

“I’ll go in again,” Sousa offered. “Now that I’ve figured out ‘rebirth’ she might tell me more.”

Daisy glanced at him. “Was that all she said to you?” she asked.

“No,” Sousa admitted. “But it’s like a trading game to her. Not like with Malick, when he wanted to give answers in exchange for personal information about you and Lincoln. She gets to say something awful, then she gives me an answer in exchange. It’s worth it.”

Sousa was downplaying how cruel Raina was being. She knew exactly where to hit him the hardest to make him hurt. But he didn’t want to divulge to Daisy how much Raina was hurting him. It was humiliating to be told that Daisy would never love him, but it would be much worse to have her know that as well.

“Sousa -” Daisy began, but Sousa shook his head.

“I’d rather bear the brunt of her emotional jargon than let Lexi do it,” he said. “I can only imagine what Raina would say to her. ‘You’re a monster like your father’, ‘you’ll never be able to live in peace with those like you’, ‘they will always be afraid of you’, ‘they will never trust you’. She shouldn’t try.”

Daisy played with Lincoln’s wedding ring again, twisting it loosely around her thumb; it was too big for her to wear. If Sousa had such a good idea of how cruel Raina could be, she must have said some seriously awful things to him.

“What did she say to you, Sousa?” Daisy asked. “Let me go in, or Lincoln, when he gets out. She would never be that cruel to us.”

Sousa shook his head. “For all we know, that’s exactly what she wants. You two have so much future stuff floating around, she could just say something that Kora has already shown you both or Ward has told you and you’d believe her. With me, at least, there’s less of that risk.” He paused. “I know what she’s going to throw in my face now and it’s not like I haven’t heard it before.”

Everyone looked at him.

Sousa shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It kinda sounds like a big deal,” Jemma said. “Raina loves her riddles. She loves feeling like she knows more information than the rest of us. It sure sounds like she’s trying to hit the emotional jugular with you.”

“It’s me or them or Lexi,” Sousa pointed out. “And I’d much rather it be me.” He paused. “Besides, won’t Lincoln’s control be a little...fluctuating when he emerges? Plus, it’s safer if she doesn’t know that he gets teleportation. And we all know that Daisy isn’t going to go in alone.”

Daisy frowned. “I am fully capable of taking care of myself -”

“That’s not what I mean,” Sousa said. “I know you are more than capable of looking after yourself. But you’re not going to leave Lincoln while he’s in the machine. And when he gets out, you’ll want to be here for him. Both of you can’t do _everything_. You have to let some people help you.”

Daisy was almost overwhelmed with the realization that things hadn’t changed. Even after she’d chosen Lincoln, even after everything, Sousa was still willing to take the bullet for her. Metaphorically _and_ literally. He wasn’t saying as much, but he was still trying to be the person who would pick her up after she ran into a wall. He still wanted to be that person for her, even though she was married to Lincoln. It wasn’t because he wanted her to reciprocate his feelings. It was because he wanted to be there for her...and now she had a pretty good feeling she knew what emotional bombshells Raina was throwing at Sousa. 

Sousa hesitated, and then spoke again. “Besides, going to her might be giving her exactly what she wants. It’s not worth it.”

At that moment, the glass chamber door hissed open. Daisy gasped, leaping to her feet, all concern about anything else leaving her mind as Lincoln filled her thoughts. She, Jemma and Deke rushed forward, even as Lincoln fidgeted slightly in his seat.

“Lincoln?” Daisy asked, tentatively, stepping into the chamber. “Are you okay?”

Lincoln slowly opened his eyes. Gingerly, he unclenched his fists from the handlebars of his chair, wincing as Jemma checked vitals, nodding at the level counts. Deke glanced at the information over her shoulder, before moving around to check that the machine was properly switched off.

“I’m good,” he said softly. “Would be better if I had my wedding ring back, though.”

Daisy laughed, utterly relieved that he was making jokes. Her fingers moved quickly, undoing the buckles that held his wrists to the handlebars of the chair. 

“Well,” Daisy said, sliding the ring onto his finger and leaning closer to him. “Your wife is just very glad you’re okay.” 

She kissed him softly and he slid his hands around her waist drawing her closer, till she was sitting sideways on his lap, hands sliding into his hair.

“I told you I’d be fine,” he said in her ear as she hugged him close. “It was nowhere near as dangerous as we thought it might be. I’m good. Just got to, you know, practise some, and then I can teleport anywhere.”

Daisy smiled. “As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters,” she said, utterly relieved that she hadn’t lost him. She slid off his lap and pulled him upright; he smiled back in response.

“That was easily the least painful experience I have ever been through, Jemma,” Lincoln said as they stepped out of the chamber. “Diagnosis?”

“Complete 100% transfusion of the Gordon version of the serum,” Jemma confirmed. “I need to take a blood sample or two, but everything looks good. You’re right, though; you’ll need to practise some.”

She looked intensely relieved; it had been a lot of pressure, carrying his life in her hands. All the same, she knew that he was downplaying how painful that experience had been for Daisy’s benefit; it definitely hadn’t been as painless as he was pretending it had been. All the same, she was glad that he was doing well. She knew that he wouldn’t downplay it if he was feeling that the transfusion hadn’t been good; in science, they shared. But with pain, that was something he could safely pretend had been less intense, provided that he knew his body was okay. Carefully, Jemma poked him with a needle to withdraw a blood sample; Lincoln caught sight of Deke’s anxious face over her shoulder.

“I’m all good, Dad,” he said, his tone reassuring. “Seriously.”

“Thank goodness for that,” Deke said, relief evident in his voice as well. 

“Put a shirt on, Sparky,” Miles teased, throwing his shirt at him, using jokes as usual to cope with his own stress. “Your wife is making more heart eyes at you than ever before.” He paused. “Actually...you’ll need a new nickname now. Cuz you can teleport.”

Daisy hid her blush, although she was glad that Miles had changed the topic from her eye candy. Lincoln _did_ look very good shirtless and it was hardly his fault that he was unintentionally teasing her. 

“Ports,” Hunter said from the tablet, distracting Daisy. “Teleporting and the electrical ports.”

“That sounds seriously wrong,” Lincoln told Miles and Hunter, flapping open his shirt so that he could pull it on. 

“Kora had a good one,” Deke admitted. “Dr McSparky.”

Hunter and Miles howled with laughter. 

“Whose side are you on?” Lincoln asked Deke, but he was grinning. 

“Don’t,” Daisy said, unable to resist teasing him, as he moved to pull his shirt over his head. “You need acupuncture.”

Lincoln’s smile turned to her, an eyebrow slightly raised. “Are you going to do it?” he teased, knowing exactly what she was thinking of.

“I thought that that might be how it works,” Daisy flirted. “Remember what I said to you the first time on the hill? ‘You show me yours, I’ll show you mine’.”

Lincoln’s grin grew wider. “I thought that you said that _wasn’t_ how it worked.”

“I also said I couldn’t control it then,” Daisy teased, stepping closer to him. “But you know very well that sometimes it’s good to lose control.”

“Hmm,” Lincoln said, also stepping closer. “That’s your solution?”

“You’re the one shirtless this time,” Daisy said, tilting her head at him, a teasing smirk on her face. “I would have thought that that was your line.”

“It’s like we’re not even here,” Miles said, amused. “I think there were more innuendos in those last few sentences than we’ve ever heard from them all strung together. I think the newlyweds need to find a room.” 

Daisy and Lincoln turned to look at Miles, both with a slight blush on their faces; it was easy to get caught up in one another and forget that the others were around. 

Jemma jumped in before Miles could make any more jokes, handing Lincoln the tablet to show him his anatomy analysis so that he could see for himself that he was fine.

“Lincoln’s scans are all clear,” she said. “The transfusion went perfectly; he’s fine. If you want to practise, you guys can go to the gym, if you like.”

“To train?” Daisy asked cautiously. “Safely?”

Jemma nodded. “It doesn’t have containment module walls, but it’ll be pretty safe. There aren’t any other places on the plane with containment module walls. But it shouldn’t matter; getting teleportation won’t affect his electricity manipulation. And Lincoln’s not Lexi; although these powers are new, it’s not like Terrigenesis. It’s like riding a bike. It’ll come more easily to him. I think.”

The ‘I think’ was because Jemma had never gone through Terrigenesis herself. She was hypothesizing about powers, but her hunch sounded good, not to mention that she had a very good point about Lincoln’s ‘power upgrade’ not being the same thing as Terrigenesis.

Lincoln glanced at Daisy. “You want to come?” he asked. “I don’t want to hurt you, just in case -”

“You won’t hurt me,” Daisy said softly, placing one hand on his cheek, her thumb tracing over his skin, her tone serious, all playfulness gone. “I know you won’t. I trust you. And I can help. With your control.” She paused. “No innuendo intended.”

Lincoln laughed. “Oh, I know. Let’s go.” 

He took her hand and pulled her out of the room.

Miles grinned at the others. “Training,” he said. “Is that what kids are calling it nowadays?”

Everyone looked at him.

“I am not going to dignify that with a response,” Mack decided. 


End file.
